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As they recited some of English literature's best-known phrases this week, students from Wuhan University pondered whether it was 'to be or not to be'. In the end they need not have worried.
The students have won a week-long trip to Britain after impressing the judges with their performance of Hamlet at the Chinese Universities Shakespeare Festival.
Chinese University of Hong Kong, the host of the competition, came second with the students'  performance of Antony and Cleopatra.
Students from 12 universities were selected to perform this week from a field of about 30 universities in Hong Kong, Macau, the mainland and Taiwan who submitted videotaped performances to the judges in January.
The chairman of the festival's organising committee and CUHK's chair professor of English, David Parker, said the standard of the students' performances had improved in recent years.
'I think there's no question that the standard is rising,' he said.
'It's interesting that some very famous universities who have been regularly getting into finals didn't get in this year. I think that the reason is a lot of the universities are putting a huge amount of effort into it.'
Professor Parker said the major universities in China were asking themselves about the place of literature in the curriculum.
'What we believe is really important is that Shakespeare is seen as a kind of icon of English literature.'
Professor Parker said the festival also helped introduce Shakespeare to the hundreds of Hong Kong schoolchildren  who attended the performances.
He said even if they could not understand every word, the festival gave students an opportunity to see how lively Shakespeare's plays could be.
'They see that drama can be a really passionate experience.'
The Wuhan University students will spend a week in London, where they will watch professional performances of Shakespeare's works at venues like the Globe Theatre and other drama in the West End.
Shakespeare on victory: headline quote is from Troilus and Cressida



'Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing'