University warms students’ hearts with festive dinner
(ec.js.edu.cn) Updated：2017-02-10
More than 300 Chinese and overseas students from Jiangnan University in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province have a festive lunch on Jan 27 to celebrate the Spring Festival. [Photo from WeChat account jnu-1958]
Like Christmas in the West, Spring Festival is traditionally a family holiday in China. But the 300 students and teachers who stayed at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, Jiangsu province during the holiday remained in high spirits thanks to a celebratory Lunar New Year’s Eve lunch thrown by the school on Jan 27.
The mixed group of Chinese and overseas staff and students were treated to a big banquet, with several classic Wuxi dishes really tickling the students’ taste buds, such as the tangy-sauced spare ribs, deep-fried eel with sugar, and pickled bamboo shoots.
The students also tried their hands at making jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), a most popular dish eaten during the Spring Festival that symbolizes extending best wishes for the coming year.
“It’s sweet and tasty,” said Taher from Iran, who had been studying in the university for four years. This was also the fourth time he had attended a New Year’s lunch.
“Much like Chinese people, I also regard the Spring Festival as the start of a new year,” he added.
Overseas students stage folk art performances during the festive dinner at Jiangnan University on Jan 27. [Photo from WeChat account jnu-1958]
The celebration concluded with the presentation of a red packet, or hongbao, to each student. A popular Chinese New Year tradition, hongbao are envelopes stuffed with cash usually given by older generations to children and young people, which are designed to wish the receiver fortune and happiness in the new year.
“This is my first Spring Festival, my first hongbao, and it’s amazing,” said Adnan, a Pakistani student, excitedly.
As a school tradition, Jiangnan University has been offering festive dinners to students staying at school over the holidays for 34 years. “I still have warm memories of the celebratory dinner the university offered me 32 years ago,” an alumni said.
Overseas students receive hongbao, a traditional New Year gift, from their teachers at Jiangnan University in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Jan 27. [Photo from WeChat account jnu-1958]
