Tricks of the mind: China’s memory masters battle for place in world championships
Competitors tackle series of challenges to test their mental agility
Competitors ranging in age from eight to 68 took part in a wide variety of memory tasks over the weekend as part of the Chinese qualifying rounds for the World Memory Championships.
The event in Hefei, Anhui province, attracted 99 participants, according to China News Service, from cities and provinces including Nanjing, Yangzhou, Henan and Anhui.
The tests included memorising names, binary numbers, historical events, the order of a pack of playing cards and random vocabulary tests.
In one event, contestants had to memorise hundreds of numbers in five minutes.
University student Li Yang from Huainan in Anhui, a contestant in a memory card game, said he used a visualisation technique in the competition.