董帅：山东政法学院选手，第17届21世纪杯全国英语演讲比赛获得者。

演讲稿：

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen: 

I feel very honored and delighted to give you a speech in this breath-taking alluring city. Kunming is the place where I always wanted to go and it even appeared in my dream for many times. I often fancy myself walking on the cobble stone paved road, going through the ancient cultural street, touching the history imprinted wall, and admiring the complete antiquity and charm of natural beauty and ethnic customs. What a serene paradise for meditation! I used to picture it in that way. But this time, I personally come here and I discover something different, something special. Yesterday I visited a street named foreigner’s street. In there, I got a real taste of the local traditional food and western food. I heard the mixed sound of Chinese folk music and western symphony. I noticed that a group of people with different skin colors were either playing Chinese chess in the delicate wooden decorated teahouse or excitedly chatting in the elegant Gothic featured coffee bar. All these cultural elements harmoniously interweave together, picturing a beautiful view of cultural coexistence and defining the real happiness of global era. I can’t believe what’s on my eyesight, the perfect blend of Chinese and west culture. No matter where do you come from, no matter what is your skin color, no matter which language do you speak, there’s one thing in common, signaled by every smiling face, they look so happy.

With the improvement of our material life quality and spirituality, people cherish more about what they’ve already possessed while willing to have a fresh experience of the exotic culture. Our life has been fully nourished and our horizon has been widely broadened. Every one of us starts to situate our role in the cultural promotion course as a communicator, a speaker and a performer.

However, we also encountered the severe challenges and pubic arguments. With the born high respect and strong conviction on our own cultural identities, many cultural clashes have been inevitably generated. In 2001, Starbucks struggled to settle inside of the palace’s 600-year-old walls of Forbidden City. To the investors’ disappointment, what is waiting for them is not the tourists’ satisfaction on grabbing the coffee whenever they need, neither the positive market feedback, instead, is the overwhelming public criticism voice. Some people called it as the most incongruous sights of the globalised age and advocated that we should unite together to ban this from happening again. Is this what we called the cultural integration or is this the west culture invasion? In 2007, Starbucks had to relocate somewhere else after serving for 6 years, not peacefully but reluctantly. And many critics called it a victory of protecting the culture, belonging to the public. I have full confidence in the journey of cultural union. One day, we might stand at the top of the mountain, and what is lying down on our feet is a great world, with peace, harmony and guaranteed humanity.

Thank you very much.