From 18th to 19th October, the 2024 Shijiazhuang First International Open Brain Sports Competition, hosted by Shijiazhuang Municipal People's Government, co-hosted by the University and Shijiazhuang Sports Bureau, Shijiazhuang Sports Federation, and co-organised by Shijiazhuang Brain Sports Association, was successfully held in the University. Dong Peng, deputy director of the Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs Working Committee of the CPPCC of Hebei Province, Zhang Fengzhen, deputy mayor of Shijiazhuang Municipal Government, Zhao Lifen, director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Bureau of Education, and Chen Liang, secretary of the party committee of the university, attended the opening and closing ceremonies.

At the opening ceremony, Chen Liang, Secretary of the Party Committee, on behalf of the university, extended a warm welcome to the competitors from various countries. He said that hosting this competition is an important embodiment of the university's efforts to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, help the construction of a strong sports and cultural country, and strengthen international humanistic exchanges, and is also a vivid practice of the university's efforts to serve the local community and empower the construction of a modernized, internationalized and beautiful provincial capital city, and he hoped that the competition would provide a stage for the elites from all over the world to communicate, interact and collide ideas, and contribute to promoting the development of global brain sports. Ren Weiwei, Party Secretary and Director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Sports Bureau, said in his speech that this competition is not only an event to show wisdom and courage, but also an event to promote exchanges and enhance friendship. Finally, Zhang Fengzhen announced the opening of the competition.

The competition aims to scientifically tap the unlimited potential of the human brain and build an international stage for brain competitions, attracting more than 500 players from more than ten countries, including China, the United States, Malaysia and Thailand. The competition was divided into children's group, teenager's group and adult group according to age, covering seven competition items such as random vocabulary, random numbers, virtual history, fast numbers, fast poker, listening to and remembering numbers, and people's names and avatars. Nine international students from our university participated in the competition.

The competition decided seven major projects, three major groups and the whole field of the overall champion, runner-up and third place. Shijiazhuang Hongyuan Experimental School and 32 other schools were awarded excellent organizing units. Thirty-three foreign players, including international students from our school, won the Foreign Player Excellence Award. Zhang Fengzhen, Vice Mayor of Shijiazhuang Municipal Government, Chen Liang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the University, Ren Weiwei, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of Shijiazhuang Municipal Sports Bureau, and other leaders presented awards to the winners respectively.

Undertaking this competition is important initiatives and specific practice of the university to implement the “1396” development strategy, to create “open Shiyuan”, “beautiful Shiyuan”, “cultural Shiyuan” scene, grasp the “sports +”development opportunities,to dock strong provincial capital construction and development, to adhere to the modern international beautiful provincial capital city construction to provide intellectual support and help Shijiazhuang to create the “international city of brain science”.

(Contributed by: Centre for International Exchange and Cooperation, School of International Exchange Written by: Wang Sheng)