TUNIS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A qualification contest selecting Tunisian participants in the 17th "Chinese Bridge" Chinese-language competition was held in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, on Saturday.

A total of 11 students from the Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis (HILT) competed in the qualifier co-organized by the Chinese Embassy in Tunisia, the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) and the HILT.

The winner was 19-year-old Ben Hazem Lynda. She will travel to China and represent Tunis in this year's "Chinese Bridge" event, also known as Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students.

Lynda told Xinhua she chose to learn Chinese because she wants to learn more about Chinese culture and make more Chinese friends.

The HILT is the only college in Tunisia that offers a bachelor's degree in Chinese language, beginning to recruit students majoring in Chinese language in 1998. So far, about 500 students have graduated and most of them work in China now.

Bai Guangming, the cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Tunisia and member of the competition jury, said that there have been more and more exchanges between China and Tunisia in the field of education, and that Tunisian people have a growing demand for learning Chinese.

"This year, the Hanban decides to establish a Confucius Institute in Tunisia, which is jointly organized by China's Dalian University of Foreign Studies and the HILT," Bai said.