Foreigners learn to write the Chinese character of fu, or fortune, in a community of Yuncheng. [Photo by Li Zhiqian for China Daily]

Foreign guests from across the world invited to stay with Shanxi families over Spring Festival

Spending Spring Festival with families in China is a fun experience for foreigners and a valuable opportunity to learn about Chinese culture.

This is especially true in North China's Shanxi province, which is renowned for its folk traditions, rituals and unique dishes, when people celebrate this most important Chinese festival.

On Jan 21, Chinese New Year's Eve, the family of Yu Yanping, a resident in the village of Dongkaizhang in Yongji city, was busy preparing a big dinner. They welcomed two foreign guests – Pinas Lloyd Lucien from Suriname, South America, and Nahla Karay from Tunisia, North Africa – to their home.

Among dishes on Yu's menu were jiaozi (dumplings), fried bean curd and hotpot.

Pinas Lloyd Lucien (second from right) and Nahla Karay join in making jiaozi dumplings at Yu Yanping's home in Yongji. [Photo by Li Zhiqian for China Daily]

"Jiaozi is the No 1 food for a Spring Festival Eve dinner and our local version with a beef stuffing is renowned throughout the country," Yu said. "So we are going to give a special treat to our foreign guests with beef-stuffed jiaozi."

The preparation of jiaozi during Spring Festival usually involves the participation of all family members and guests. Lloyd and Nahla joined in to make this traditional food by learning from Yu's family.

When making the dumplings, Nahla said: "I like cooking and tasting the food of various regions. And making jiaozi is a really fun experience."

Making jiaozi reminded her of preparing dishes with her family at New Year in Tunisia. She told the hosts that couscous is the signature food for New Year's Day celebrations in her home country.

Couscous is made from the North African variety of millet. Nahla noted that Shanxi is a globally renowned producer of millet and the province has a big portfolio of food with millet as an ingredient.

Yongji is part of the southwestern Shanxi city of Yuncheng. During this Spring Festival holiday, Yuncheng invited a great number of foreign guests from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Tunisia and Egypt to spend time with local families.

These foreigners were offered a rare opportunity to experience local lives. They enjoyed Lunar New Year dishes, watched the CCTV Spring Festival Evening Gala and took part in many traditional celebrations during the holiday.

In Hejin, another city under the administration of Yuncheng, foreign guests attended community fire-holding parades, rode in wedding wagons, learned to walk on stilts and played traditional Chinese musical instruments like the gong and drum.

One exception was Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, which has the largest community of expatriates in the province. As such, it is common that foreigners are seen at various celebratory activities for Spring Festival.

The central Shanxi county of Pingyao is among the favored destinations for foreign tourists in Shanxi. During the recent Spring Festival holiday, it held 27 events relating to folk traditions, giving foreign visitors a glimpse into local culture with a history spanning thousands of years.

Expatriates play percussion instruments during a celebration in Yuncheng. [Photo by Wu Yongmei for China Daily]

Shanxi has also promoted its Spring Festival-related culture to the world through various online platforms.

Shanxi Radio and Television Station, for instance, produced a Spring Festival program for foreign audiences, with a focus on local food. The program was shown on international social media outlets like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

The province also held Spring Festival celebrations in foreign countries. On Jan 14, the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce in the United Arab Emirates hosted a Spring Festival celebration in Dubai. The event included such activities as dragon and lion dances, a fashion show featuring cheongsam and Chinese-style decorated umbrellas. There was also a rabbit-themed parade performed by children to mark the Year of the Rabbit.

Chen Jiqing, chairwoman of the Shanxi CoC in the UAE, said she hoped this celebration could bring luck and fortune to all the Chinese expats in the country and help Chinese culture, especially that of Shanxi, be better known in the country.

A number of organizations for Shanxi's businesses and natives in Canada hosted a Spring Festival evening gala in the city of Toronto on Jan 27. About 500 people, including Chinese and Canadians, attended the event.

The Shanxi Chamber of Commerce in Singapore hosted a similar event on Lunar New Year's Day. More than 300 people joined the celebration.

Meanwhile, Shanxi's medical assistance teams in the African countries of Djibouti, Cameroon and Togo held Spring Festival celebrations in local communities. The medics sent gifts to local people and treated them to Chinese food like jiaozi.

Wu Jia contributed to this story.