Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 10 -- Dumplings are made to eat Chinese New Year's Eve rice, traditional Chinese art is experienced, and ethnic culture is learned in museums... This Spring Festival, foreigners in China in many places "tricks" to feel the Chinese New Year.
The Spring Festival, a traditional Chinese festival, has been a day of family reunion since ancient times, and as a Chinese son-in-law, Mo Bei, a 36-year-old Pakistani, chose to celebrate the festival in China this year. "During the New Year, a large family had a reunion dinner together, and my daughter and the children of chinese relatives had a lot of fun." He said.
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, Mo Bei posted the Spring Festival League at his doorstep. Courtesy of respondents
In 2007, Mo Bei came to the School of International Education of Ningxia University to study Chinese. After completing his studies at the master's level, he not only learned fluent Chinese, but also gained sweet love on campus, and now the family lives in Yinchuan, Ningxia.
"I cried sadly when I was homesick before, but now this is home." Mo Bei said his family and friends in Ningxia did not make him feel alone.
Like Mobei, Zafa Iqbal, a Pakistani expert working for the Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, also chose to "stay" in China, "I spent several Spring Festivals in Ningxia, and every time it was unforgettable." ”
This year, in order to let foreign experts and international students feel the taste of the New Year, the local government and relevant departments organized a series of cultural activities for the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger in the Year of the Tiger, experiencing the Spring Festival customs such as learning paper-cutting, painting Chinese paintings, and writing calligraphy.
This was Zafa's first attempt at paper-cutting in his life. "It's a bit difficult, but it's a nice surprise to experience this art." He said, "I also learned to hold a brush, write Chinese characters, practice calligraphy, and tried several traditional Chinese instruments, which was very interesting." ”
During the Chinese New Year, Zafa (second from right) was invited to a reunion dinner at a friend's house in China. Courtesy of respondents
For Luo Da, a 29-year-old international student from Uzbekistan, the biggest gain she has brought from the three Spring Festivals spent in China is learning to make dumplings.
Luo Da remembered that when she first arrived in China, one day her teachers and classmates suddenly wished her a "Happy New Year", and she wondered: Many days have passed since the New Year. "The third time I spent the Chinese New Year, I was very comfortable." She said, "Now I can do everything with noodles, rolling out the skin, chopping the stuffing, making dumplings. ”
In 2019, Luo Da came to Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) in Jinan, Shandong Province as an exchange student. Six months later, she was admitted to the school's graduate school of translation, and now she has entered the second year of graduate school. Also studying abroad was her fiancé Oscar.
"When I came to China, I found that the two countries still have a lot in common, such as the bride price for marriage and dumplings in food." Luo Da said that because of the epidemic, she has not been home for a long time, and Luo Da told her parents on WeChat: She is in China for the New Year and has a good life.
Lu Roman took his son to learn about ethnic minority culture and customs at the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Qinggang
Experiencing Chinese culture in the museum has also become a New Year's option for some foreigners in China.
Originally from the western French city of La Rochelle, Rue Roman, in his 40s, is now a full-time French teacher at Guangxi University for Nationalities and has lived in Guangxi for nearly 15 years. During this year's Spring Festival holiday, he took his 5-year-old son into the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities to feel the culture and customs of ethnic minorities in Guangxi. "This is the second time I've brought my son over to see the place where he can better understand life."
The Guangxi Museum of Nationalities visited by Lu Roman is a special museum of guangxi ethnic culture, which currently has a collection of more than 50,000 pieces (sets) of copper drums, costumes, embroidery, stone tools, bamboo and wood ware, covering the crafts of 12 ethnic groups in Guangxi.
Pictures of ethnic minority costumes, pieces of magnificent brocade with national characteristics... In the Exhibition Hall of Ethnic Culture, Lu Roman admires the costumes of ethnic minorities. "These national costumes have their own characteristics and are very beautiful." He felt that all ethnic groups were "as close as a family" and "harmonious but different" in the Ethnographic Museum, and that "each ethnic group is different, but everyone respects each other and gets along harmoniously." ”
Ethnic minority culture is not only reflected in daily life, but also engraved on the cultural landscape. In the Zuojiang Huashan Rock Painting Exhibition Hall, the "Wordless Heavenly Book" full of portraits, brass drums, suns and other pictures attracted Lu Roman. "More than two thousand years later, most of these petroglyphs are still clear and colorful."
Lu Roman believes that the museum provides a good platform for him to learn about the customs of various ethnic groups in China, and he also intends to explore new cultural landscapes around Nanning during the Spring Festival.
Although they have left their hometowns, foreigners in China feel at home and are full of expectations for the new year.
Some international students hope that they can move forward fearlessly like tigers and have greater gains in their studies; Zafa looks forward to the early end of the epidemic and can return to Pakistan to reunite with his family; Luo Da is ready to open his own account on foreign social media to share his stories and fresh stories about living and studying in China.
"In the new year, I wish my family all health and happiness, peace and happiness, and the wealth is rolling in." This is Mobei's biggest New Year's wish. (Reporters Meng Jia, Xie Jianwen, Liu Hai, Xiao Haichuan, Huang Qinggang)