From August 7 to August 8, 2025, the seventh national abacus and mental arithmetic competition of the Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association (hereinafter referred to as the CAMAA) was held in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. This competition is hosted by the CAMAA, organized by the Shanxi Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association, and co-organized by the Shanxi Finance and Taxation College. Ou Wenhan, President of the CAMAA, and Chang Guohua, Director of the Finance Department of Shanxi Province, attended and delivered opening speeches. Jia Rong’e, Director of the Tax Department of the Ministry of Finance and Vice President of the CAMAA, Yang Zhiyong, President of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, Liu Lei, Director of the Shanxi Supervision Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, Jin Li, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Ministry of Finance, Ma Hongbing, Deputy Director of the Science, Education and Culture Department of the Ministry of Finance, Chen Xinmin, Deputy Director of the Shanxi Provincial Department of Finance, Zhang Yan, Chief Accountant of the Jilin Provincial Department of Finance, Liu Jian, Deputy Director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Finance, Cheng Beiping, Executive Vice President of the CAMAA, and Vice Presidents Wang Weida, Zhang Baozheng, Lu Ping, Xu Yangsheng attended the opening ceremony.

(Opening Ceremony)

Ou Wenhan pointed out that Chinese Abacus is a human intangible cultural heritage listed as a representative work by UNESCO, and is an important part of the excellent culture of the Chinese nation. Abacus-based mental arithmetic is the innovative development of abacus and the cultural wealth for the benefit of future generations. It is our common responsibility and mission to inherit and develop abacus and mental arithmetic. The National abacus and mental arithmetic competition held by CAMAA aims to promote the practical inheritance of the intangible cultural heritage of abacus, cultivate the inheritance team of the intangible cultural heritage of abacus, highlight the contemporary value of abacus and mental arithmetic education, carry forward traditional culture, and enhance cultural self-confidence. He emphasized that education should be the foundation, and the vitality of abacus intangible cultural heritage should be activated in competitions and performances; Emphasize communication and demonstrate the cohesion of abacus intangible cultural heritage through mutual learning and appreciation; With innovation, expand the influence of abacus intangible cultural heritage in live dissemination.

(Ou Wenhan, President of the CAMAA)

Chang Guohua said that abacus is a great creation of ancient Chinese working people, a brilliant treasure of Chinese excellent traditional culture, and plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the development of human civilization and the modernization process. In recent years, Shanxi has promoted the "abacus" to be included in the provincial intangible cultural heritage list, and systematically promoted the inheritance and development of the intangible cultural heritage of abacus by organizing research projects, standardizing teaching and appraisal, holding staff abacus competitions, children's abacus and mental arithmetic performances, etc. Shanxi is willing to take this competition as the link to deepen exchanges and discussions, stimulate the spark of thought, gather the strength to forge ahead, and jointly sing the colorful movement of strengthening the inheritance and innovation of abacus and mental arithmetic culture.

In the competition, 726 excellent players from 37 teams participated, which was the largest number of participants in previous years. The competition consists of seven groups: Elite Group, Youth Group, Children's A Group, Children's B Group, Children's C Group, Children's D Group, and Kid Group, covering multiple items such as addition and subtraction, multiplication, division, square root calculation, table calculation, listening and mental calculation, marathon calculation, lightning calculation, obstacle calculation, and bead code memorization. In addition, the competition adds "extreme challenge" competition segments including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and lightning calculation, providing a wonderful stage for participants to compete on the same stage and climb new heights. In the fierce competition, the contestants bravely competed and surpassed themselves, upholding the competitive spirit of "faster, finer, stronger", fully demonstrating their high spirited and excellent competitive level.

(At the competition venue)

During the competition, the outstanding abacus and mental arithmetic players from Hebei, Jilin and Hunan also showed the various forms of extremely difficult abacus-based mental arithmetic presentations, such as "abacus-based mental arithmetic square root calculation with 4 digits and 5 digits root", "100 numbers addition with 5 digits" and "100 numbers addition and subtraction with 6 digits" marathon by watching, "9 digit 10 numbers  addition" and "10 digit 10 numbers addition and subtraction mixture", fully demonstrate the wisdom and extraordinary charm of abacus and mental arithmetic. The CAMAA has specially organized a cultural exhibition with the theme of "Eternal Inheritance of Civilization, Youth of Abacus Intangible Cultural Heritage", which presents the inheritance and innovative development of abacus intangible cultural heritage in the continuation of Chinese cultural heritage with vivid pictures and text. The poetry show and intangible cultural heritage song and dance performances selected from Shanxi, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and other places integrate the profound connotation of traditional abacus culture with innovative forms of modern performing arts, vividly playing the artistic movement of inheriting national spirit and promoting abacus mental arithmetic culture.

(Award Ceremony)

Since the first national abacus and mental arithmetic competition was held in 2002, the CAMAA has successfully held six sessions, with nearly 1600 outstanding players participating.