Great opportunity

"It's a great opportunity," he said in Chinese. He said Chinese and Hungarian are among the most difficult languages to learn.

He plans to study AI at the Anhui school, saying he has always liked mathematics and computer science. And he knows iFlytek offers good jobs in AI.

"If I have China work experience, it will be easier for me to find a job back in Hungary," he said.

Sipos Bendeguz, another iFlytek's full scholarship winner, also plans to pursue studies in AI in China.

"I was always curious about China and its culture. I'm looking forward to studying in China," said Sipos, whose Chinese name is Gu Tianle. He shares his name with Hong Kong's famed actor Louis Koo Tin-Lok.

He admitted he will miss his home, friends and family in Budapest, especially his pets — four cats and a French bulldog.

A total of 10 of the bilingual school's 30 graduates will study in China this year on a full scholarship.

Besides iFlytek, many other companies have offered support. Bank of China Central and Eastern Europe Ltd, based in Budapest, has been making donations to the bilingual school for many years to help build its language lab, provide sports facilities, conduct Chinese language summer camps and reward students and teachers for excellence.

Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Gong Tao, who took up his role in September, has already visited the school three times, including granting the Chinese Ambassador Scholarship.

He invited Varga and Imre to the embassy early this year when they returned from China to visit their families during the school's winter vacation.

"I firmly believe that these youngsters who study Chinese will be the main force promoting China-Hungary friendship," Gong said.

Wang Yue is the representative of the Capital Normal University, the Chinese partner of the Confucius Classroom at the bilingual school. She said the cooperation between the Capital Normal University and the bilingual school is "very good".

The Confucius Classroom was officially inaugurated in 2017 as a partnership between the Capital Normal University and the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School.

"The students are quite interested in learning the Chinese language," said Wang, also a Chinese language teacher and a fluent Hungarian speaker who interpreted for China Daily during the interview with Erdelyi, who spoke Hungarian.

The school, where Chinese language class is mandatory, only had 87 students when it was founded in 2004. Now, it boasts 530 students and two-thirds of them are Hungarians.

"This shows the growing interest in learning Chinese," she said.

"The increasing numbers of Chinese language learners in Hungary and Hungarian students studying in China reflect the growing interest and appreciation for each other's culture and traditions," said Csizmadia Norbert, external director of Bank of China Central and Eastern Europe Ltd.

Erdelyi has visited China several times since her first visit in 2007, just a year before the Beijing Olympics.

"The city was changing every day and the construction of sports facilities was in full swing. And I felt how Chinese were looking forward to the sports extravaganza," she said.

She also visited many other Chinese cities.

"China is such a populous country compared to Hungary. But whichever city I visited, I saw the dedication to preserving its own traditional culture and history," Erdelyi said.