Introduction of Chinese Debate Club at Monash University

Monash University's love affair with Chinese Debate originated from the passion and dreams of a group of international students who loved debating at Monash University in 1997. It has participated in many debate tournaments hosted locally in Australia. In particular, in 2008, Xiao Han, Stanley Liu and Bai Heron won the first Australian Interstate Four Schools Debate Competition. In the second tournament in 2009, we lost to the University of Melbourne and won the second place. In the same year, the team was invited to Malaysia to participate in the Sixth China Cup (New Malaysia-Australia) Tertiary Chinese Debate Invitational Tournament, with one win and one loss in the final eight.

The Monash University Chinese Debate Society was formally established. Based on the motto of "Be sensitive to thoughts and actions, be knowledgeable and skillful in debating", the club has been registered as an official independent student club with the Student Organizations Committees of Monash University's two main campuses in Caulfield and Clayton and will represent Monash University to participate in tournaments both inside and outside of Australia. The motto of the society, "To think keenly and act conscientiously, to discuss and argue skillfully", is aimed at building a pure spiritual high ground for contemporary university students. Contemporary university students not only need to have academic background, but also need to have solid thinking and critical power. They should not only be the minds but also the souls of this era. They should know how to learn, think and research, how to listen and express, how not to follow blindly and how to be independent. The Monash University Chinese Debate Society brings together Chinese students to practice "Knowledge is King, Reason is King", so that Chinese voices can take root and blossom in Australia and beyond. This is a pirate group with Chinese debate at its core.

In the desert of Chinese debate, with no coach and no support, the Monash University Debate Team began its journey. After a first-round loss at the first Australian Mandarin Debate Championships, it picked up where it left off with the cohesion of family. In the summer, the team traveled to Malaysia to compete in the 3rd World Tertiary Chinese Debate Championships, winning all three of its group matches and finishing 10th overall, earning the best result for any Australian school at the time. In the second half of the Sing Tao Cup Australian University Chinese Debate Tournament held in Sydney, the Monash University Debate Team led by Wang Mei, Liu Sun, Li Ting and Li Luyi won the championship by defeating the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales, and it was also the second team to win the Australian Championships at an all-Australian level. In the third Australian Chinese Debate Championships, Monash University's team of Li Luyi, Wang Mei, Li Ting, Liu Sun, Zhang Shijia, Tan Jiaying, and Ding Kaiqi are once again in the tournament as a team that no one can underestimate in the Australian debate arena. They won 8:1 against University of Queensland in the preliminary round, lost 4:5 against University of Melbourne in the final round, and won 9:0 against University of New South Wales in the final round, and finally came in third place. In the second half of the year, it was back for the third Sing Tao Cup, where Monash finished third in the national round for the third time against a veteran and strong Sydney University.

In October, Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney were invited to Malaysia to participate in the 8th China Cup "Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia" Tertiary Chinese Debate Invitational Tournament, with Wang Mei, Li Ting, Li Luyi, Zhang Shijia, Feng Haitian and Tan Jiaying representing Monash. Faced with tough opponents, Monash University beat Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 8:1 in the preliminary round, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 12:3 in the rematch, Nanyang Technological University 14:1 in the semi-finals and National University of Singapore 17:4 in the finals, winning the best debater in four consecutive matches to win the championship. This is not only the first international championship for Monash University, but also the third championship team of the China Cup after University of Malaya and National University of Singapore, and the first international championship in the history of Chinese debate in Australia. The judge, Mr. Leung Yew Seng, said that this was the most exciting final in the history of the China Cup, and the new elements presented in the tournament were even more touching to the senior debaters. The so-called new elements are the two teams have the depth of exchange, performance with solid reasoning, emotional speeches, but also the strength of the attack, which in the past it is difficult to take into account the full range of the debate field. The finalist, Wang Mei, was the best debater in three consecutive matches, the best debater in the grand final and the best debater in the whole tournament, and the first best debater in the whole international tournament in the Australian debating circle. In April, Monash University was invited to represent Australia to participate in the 3rd Chinese Debate Championships hosted by Nanjing Audit Institute. In the group stage, Monash University encountered University of Electronic Science and Technology (UST), Institute of International Relations (IIR) and National University of Singapore (NUS), and all of them won the victory and the best debater, and came out first in the group. In the knockout stage, we lost against Imperial College of Science and Technology, and in May, Monash University Chinese Debate Society hosted the first Australia University Chinese Debate Invitational Tournament, which is the largest and the highest level of tournament in Australia. In May, Monash University Chinese Debate Club hosted the first Australian University Chinese Debate Invitational, the largest and highest level tournament in Australia, and invited Mr. Xiong Hao and Mr. Huang Jiezhi to Australia for the first time. The Monash University Debate Team won 9:0, 15:0 against the University of New South Wales and Deakin University, and advanced to the final with the University of Melbourne. The Melbourne Town Derby, which took place at Melbourne Town Hall, one of the city's most glorious venues, ultimately took the crown 17-4. Meanwhile, the captain of the debate team, Zhang Shijia, was awarded the best debater of the whole tournament with two best performances in a single match. The performance match between Huang Jizhong and Xiong Hao, which was held after the final, also became a classic battle in the history of Chinese debate, "The Debate of Fudu".

In the second half of July, Monash University took the place of the forfeited team to compete in the 6th Asia-Pacific Tertiary Chinese Debate Championships in Singapore, led by Li Luyi, with Li Ting, Feng Haitian, Zhang Shijia, Tan Jiaying and Bao Jianghao representing Monash University. Monash University defeated Tsinghua University 6:3 in the preliminary round, Nanyang Technological University 9:6 in the final round, Chongqing University 13:2 in the semi-final round, and Central University for Nationalities 18:3 in the grand final round. In addition to the preliminary rounds, Monash University won the Asia-Pacific Tertiary Chinese Debate Open Championship Perennial Cup by winning the three consecutive best debaters. This is also the second international championship won by an Australian team. Li Ting was also awarded the Best Debater in the Grand Final, and in November, Beida Zhuhai hosted the "Tribute to the 20th Anniversary of National Debate" First International Chinese Debate Invitational Tournament in Zhuhai, China, inviting 24 top debating giants from all over the world. Monash University was invited and represented by Li Ting, Zhang Shijia, Bao Jianghao, Wang Mei and He Lu. The draw was unfavorable, as the top half of the draw was filled with strong teams. In particular, there were three Asia Pacific Championship winning teams in the group, which was known as the "Group of Death". However, Monash University beat the University of Hong Kong and the University of Malaya 8-1 in the group stage, the University of Macau 6-3 in the rematch, and Wuhan University 9-6 in the semi-final to break through and enter the final. In the final, she was defeated by National Taiwan University, but Wang Mei finally locked the best debater of the whole tournament in advance with the best debater of four matches. Mr. Jiang Changjian praised Wang Mei's performance in the tournament and said, "If I were to turn the clock back 30 years, I would write you a love letter that I probably won't send", which brought the whole room to a boil. This year, the Monash University Debate Team was ranked first in the world in a world ranking. In May, the Monash University Chinese Debate Society once again organized the second All-Australian Invitational Chinese Debate Tournament, which not only continued to be held at Melbourne Town Hall, but also maintained the largest scale and influence in Australia. More importantly, the tournament cooperated with the World Chinese Debate Championships, and the winner will be the representative team of Australia to participate in the World Chinese Debate Championships in the following year. The tournament even invited, Huang Jiezhong, Wang Mei and Lin Zhengjiang, who has been out for twenty years, to sit on the judging panel and performance rounds. The new generation of Monash University debate team was represented by Bao Jianghao led by Chen Chuhao, Zhang Shijia, Sun Jiaxin, He Lu, Xiao Yunxin, Han Han and Han Yu. Monash University then won the preliminary round 8:1 against Deakin University and the repechage 7:2 against RMIT University, and once again faced off with the University of Melbourne in the Grand Final. The Melbourne Derby, watched by more than 1,500 spectators, ended 10:5, taking the title into the bag. By coincidence, the new captain of Monash University, Bao Jianghao also won the best debater of the whole second tournament after Zhang Shijia with the best performance in two matches, topping Australia. And after this, Lin Zhengjiang and Huang Zhizhong and Wang Mei led Australia's star debaters in a fascinating showdown of the ages.

In the second half of the year, Monash University's debate team experienced both renewal and multi-front warfare, and folded several times in the second half of the year in Australia's local tournaments, losing to the University of Melbourne in the V.I. tournament to come second, and failing to make it out of the group in the Chennai International Tournament. The Malaysian team, led by Chan Chor Howe, made an unexpected exit in the 9th China Cup. However, it is encouraging to see that the young team members have not given up and have fought back again and again. Finally, in October, the Sydney team led by rookie Xiao Yunxin and comprising of Jingzhao Yang, Shan Zhuhang, Zhang Yushan and Sun Jiaxin, surprisingly stood out in the 4th Sydney Debate Championships after hard preparation, defeating the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and winning the Australian Championships once again under the brand-new Oregon system. This is a "one year, two titles" achievement for Monash University. In the first half of the year, the Monash University Debate Team was going through the final stages of the transition from old to new. At the 5th Australian Chinese Debate Championships, the new lineup only made it through one round before finishing in third place. It's May, and it's another year of the All-Australian Championships. The All-Australian Tournament has gradually made Melbourne Town Hall a spiritual totem for Australian Chinese students. Every year, the debaters prepare for the Town Hall, and it is the most desired honor for all of them to stand here and lift up the trophy. Also this year, the 1,800-person Town Hall was packed to the rafters, with a long line at the door to get in. In order to promote the fairness and professionalism of the competition, the third All-Australia Tournament invited two big seniors, Huang Jiezhong and Lin Zhengjiang, as well as the representative star debaters of the new generation, Wang Mei, Luo Miao, Wan Huaming and Zheng Qiuhua, to act as judges for the whole tournament. The new generation Monash University debate team led by Chen Chuhao and comprising of Jing Zhaoyang, Xiao Shuyuan, Li Manqi, Qu Teng and Zong Yuchen lived up to the expectation and won 8-1 against Queensland University of Technology, 7-2 against University of Sydney, and once again dueled with the city rival, the University of Melbourne, at the Town Hall. In the grand final of Artificial Intelligence, Monash University won the All-Australian Championship for the third time with its outstanding performance. The Malaysian defender Tan Chor Hock was also awarded the best of the best for his three best debaters in the competition.

Growing up, the Monash University Chinese Debate Society has not only built up deep friendships with its Australian counterparts, but has also established friendships and exchanges with East China Normal University, University of Macau, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Nanjing Audit Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sun Yat-sen University, Sichuan University, Multimedia University of Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, City University of Hong Kong, etc.

This is the first time that the Chinese Debate Society has been invited to participate in this tournament. The foundation of friendship and exchange has been laid.

On the other hand, in the past five years, the Monash University Chinese Debate Society has hosted nine Monash University Rookie Challenges. With the emergence of a number of outstanding debaters and the exposure of Chinese students to debate, the Monash University Rookie Challenge has become a traditional tournament that is of great interest to all Chinese students. The best debaters throughout the tournament are often the stars of the campus.

Not only that, but the club is also committed to building itself into a cohesive and influential Chinese community. Therefore, in addition to debating activities, the club also actively organizes many student activities. In particular, it organizes camping, landlord competition, werewolf night, and president's house warming party. In addition, the club is concerned about the rights of international students, and as an extremely active and influential Chinese club in Australia, it also participates in the defense of international students' rights and organizes safety lectures and other activities.

In just five years, Monash Chinese Debate Society has grown from only four members to the largest, most active and influential Chinese society in Monash University with more than 3,000 members. Members include Chinese students from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. It has been awarded the MONSU Best Newcomer award by the student society organization MONSU.

The Monash University Chinese Debate Society has passion, dreams and partners!

First president, Li Hui;

Second president, Cao Ye;

Third president, Xiao Xinnan;

Fourth president, Zhou Chujiang;

Fifth president, Cao Ye;

Sixth president, Ding Kaiqi;

Seventh president, Shen Yijie;

Eighth president, Zhang Shijia;

Ninth president, Zhang Shijia;

Seventh president, Shen Yijie.

Ninth President, Jin Yu;

Tenth President, Zha Ling;