National High School Debate League of China

The National High School Debate League of China was founded in 2011 by two American education entrepreneurs who had the dream of bringing English-language competitive debate to China. Tapping into a desire for experiential learning in both public and international schools, the NHSDLC quickly grew into the largest debate league in Mainland China. Today, the NHSDLC operates 60 debate tournaments every year in roughly 35 different cities. Tens of thousands of students compete annually, including an increasing number of middle school students. At the culmination of every school year, the top students from each regional tournament compete at the NHSDLC National Championship. The NHSDLC views competitive debate as vehicle for promoting critical thinking, creativity, self-expression, and awareness of global issues in Mainland China. Recent topics have addressed the merits of affirmative action, China's relationship to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the effects of artificial intelligence. To make debate more accessible to students in second and third tier cities, the NHSDLC provides free debate training sessions to all interested schools in China, free online training materials, and resources for teachers who wish to build debate into their curricula. The league also operates debate camps and an online coaching platform.