On February 3rd, the 25th day of the last month on the Chinese Lunar Year calendar, staff members of School of International Education (SIE) visited international students studying at SCUT at their dormitories, celebrating and cherishing together.
Nearly 190 international students stayed in the campus for this Spring Festival, as 160 of them joined the celebration party, which created a good opportunity for them to feel the atmosphere and the culture of the Chinese New Year.
Along with festival greetings from SIE staff, gifts and red envelopes were also brought to the students. SIE staff explained to the students that a red envelope, also known as lai see or hongbao, is a traditional monetary gift that is given from elders to youngsters during holidays like the Lunar New Year. The color of the gift envelope is red, which is Chinese people’s favorite color, inidicating vitality, joy and good luck.
Daria, a Polish girl studying law for master degree, and Alia, a Russian student receiving scholarship from the Confucius Institute, both spent their first Spring Festival in China. They traveled together to Xi’an, where they tried Chinese hamburger and said hello to the Terracotta Warriors. Enjoying the air of the festival, the girls took the chance to have a close look at the long-standing Chinese culture.
Considering too much distance traveling to their home countries, a lot of international students chose to spend their winter vacation in China. Valentim, an undergraduate student from Angola majoring in mechanical engineering, is one of them.
He said he was fond of the life of Guangzhou very much, and as a first team player of SCUT Soccer Team at Wushan Campus, he planned to continue training with his teammates during the vacation period, preparing for a friendly game to celebrate the Spring Festival.
As return, the international students send their gratitude to the university and SIE for making kind and thoughtful arrangements. They said they felt warmness and joy regardless of long distances from home, and they were able to celebrate a pleasant and harmonious Chinese Spring Festival just as the local people did.
Chinese version by School of International Education
Translated by Xu Peimu and Lin Jiaxin
Edited by Xu Peimu