[Reported by the Secretariat of Hubei Provincial Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association] On August 16, 2020, the 23rd Abacus and Mental Arithmetic (Online) Popularization Competition of Hubei Province officially kicked off. This competition received strong support from Hubei Provincial Department of Finance, finance bureaus at the city, prefecture and district level, and the abacus and mental arithmetic associations, as well as the cooperation from various member institutions, schools, kindergartens and teaching institutions. Beijing Youzhiyue Culture Development Co., Ltd. provided all-round support for the organization of this online event.
As the epicenter of the epidemic, Hubei Province was hard hit. Faced with a difficult teaching and learning environment, our teachers were still insisting on online teaching, and the little students never gave up practicing abacus and mental arithmetic. To better inherit and promote the culture of abacus and mental arithmetic, improve the teaching level of abacus and mental arithmetic and provide a platform for everyone to show their learning results, the Hubei Provincial Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association organized the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic (Online) Popularization Competition during this special period, which was conducive to encouraging more children who learnt abacus and mental arithmetic to participate and feel the charm of abacus and mental arithmetic.
With 815 players from 30 participating teams (including two teams from other provinces), and nearly 1,000 team leaders, coaches and parents, the Competition became the most special event with the largest number of participants unprecedentedly seen in Hubei Province.
The competition divides six groups A, B, C, D, E, and F according to the age of players, and sets the individual all-around award and team award. Corresponding competition events are set for different groups, including: Three visual mental arithmetic items of addition and subtraction, multiplication, and division for Groups A, B, and C; while visual mental arithmetic, audio abacus calculation and lightning calculation of addition and subtraction for Groups D, E and F.
The competition started at 9:30 am. Before the official competition, the opening ceremony was held. The winners of special prizes of the individual all-around award for each group were announced immediately after the competition. Among them, a total of 17 players from Chongyang No. 3 Primary School, 14 players from Wuxue Office Xiaoqiao Primary School in Wuxue City, 9 players from Hubei Xiangyang Shangwo Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, 7 players from No. 2 Experimental Primary School in Chongyang County, 7 players from Shiyan Oriental Gold Tower Children’s Potential Training School, 4 players from the Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Education Promotion Center of Hubei Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association, 4 players from Shenmo Education Xianning Branch, 4 players from Xiantao Shenmo Educational Institution, 3 players from Domino Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, 3 players from Wuhan Dingdingdang Education, 2 players from Baini Town Kindergarten in Chongyang County, 2 players from Hubei Macheng Yihai Education, and 2 players from Golden Key Abacus Mental Arithmetic Training School in Nanyang City won special prizes in various groups; 1 player from Only International Education Wuhan Ruizhi Branch won the special prize in D group; 1 player from Shenmo Education in Enshi City, 1 player from Lexue Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Training Center in Fangxian County, 1 player from Huayu Abacus and Mental Arithmetic in Hanchuan City, and 1 player from Xianning Future Abacus and Mental Arithmetic won the special prize in E group.
After the competition, 23 team awards were awarded by Hubei Provincial Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association. Chongyang No. 3 Primary School and Wuxue Office Xiaoqiao Primary School in Wuxue City won the special prize of the team award; Shiyan Oriental Gold Tower Children’s Potential Training School, No. 2 Experimental Primary School in Chongyang County, Hubei Xiangyang Shangwo Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Education Promotion Center of Hubei Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association, Xiantao Shenmo Educational Institution, Shenmo Education Xianning Branch, Wuhan Dingdingdang Education, Domino Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, and Golden Key Abacus Mental Arithmetic Training School in Nanyang City won the first prize of the team award; Only International Education Wuhan Ruizhi Branch, Zhiduoxing Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, Huayu Abacus and Mental Arithmetic in Hanchuan City, Lexue Abacus and Mental Arithmetic in Fangxian County, Qingwei Education Abacus and Mental Arithmetic in Xiangyang City, Baini Town Central Primary School in Chongyang County, Baini Town Kindergarten in Chongyang County, Shenmo Training School in Enshi City, Xianning Future Abacus and Mental Arithmetic, Experimental Primary School in Chongyang County, Chongren Hanbin Primary School in Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, and Hubei Macheng Lesi Education Technology Co., Ltd. won the second prize of the team award.
Upholding the mission of carrying forward the quintessence of Chinese culture, inheriting abacus and promoting the inheritance and development of intangible cultural heritage of humanity, this event is not only an exploration and development of the abacus and mental arithmetic competition under special circumstances, but also a test for the results of introducing the paperless teaching and training platform in our province. Through these efforts, the popularization and promotion of abacus and mental arithmetic education and teaching in Hubei Province will be lifted to a higher level. Although the online competition is of less ornamental value than previous competitions in terms of form and effect, it has broken the geographical and time constraints under special circumstances, so that children from different places can meet and compete online during the epidemic. Moreover, the contents and question types of the competition have not been affected in any way, achieving the purpose of better learning and improving abacus and mental arithmetic ability, as well as testing and showcasing the teaching and training results.
As the saying goes, “There is nothing impossible, only unexpected things”, this competition has helped players gain more honors of abacus and mental arithmetic in an enterprising spirit.