On Dec 7, 2024, Associazione Amici della Cina held a celebration event at Huafa MSCE themed on "Farewell 2024 • Happy 2025". More than 100 Chinese and foreign friends from Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Belgium, Norway, Bulgaria, the USA, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and China's Macao region and Taiwan region ushered in the New Year together at the outdoor garden of Huafa MSCE.

The event kicked off in a sunny afternoon with gentle breeze. Chinese and foreign friends gathered together, savoring Italian mulled wine and traditional Nonna's hot soup while chatting freely with each other. Children played games happily on the lawn, making the scene full of joy. In bursts of laughter, Chinese and foreign friends raised their glasses and wished each other a better and more colorful 2025.

Nico from France said: "It is a great event! The mulled wine and Italian traditional soup taste really good! The children are also very happy. They had fun in the games you prepared and even won prizes in the lucky draw! I didn't expect to meet so many friends here. It's a great pleasure to spend such a lovely afternoon with friends from different places around the world, and it's amazing that we gathered here to celebrate the coming new year together!"

Carlo, an Italian artist from Zhuhai's sister city, La Spezia, Italy, is one of our special guests. He said: “This is my first visit to Zhuhai. I'm here to get some ideas for my work. On my way here this afternoon, I saw several parks, and many people were walking and exercising there. This makes me feel that Zhuhai is such a vibrant city. Today's event is also full of surprises. The wine and the soup are the taste of home! I am so happy to be here in this event. It's very impressive to celebrate the coming new year with so many foreign friends. This will definitely inspire my creation. I am eagerly anticipating more opportunities for cultural exchanges between Italy and China!”

The event was initiated by Mattia Pinza, vice president of Associazione Amici della Cina and invited overseas director of Zhuhai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. In 2019, it was Mattia's connection that made his hometown of La Spezia, Italy, and Zhuhai become sister cities.

Last year, Associazione Amici della Cina held a new year's celebration event at Huafa MSCE for the first time, being the first activity initiated by foreign friends in our community. This year, the event was held for the second time. Foreign friends' active initiation and participation of events held at Huafa MSCE fully demonstrate that our center's efforts in establishing an internationalized community have come to fruition. The friendly atmosphere in the community helps foreigners better fit into the local life and promotes the construction of a harmonious community. In the future, Huafa MSCE will cooperate with more foreign friends to organize more and better activities and events so as to promote multicultural integration and build a platform for friendly exchanges between Chinese and foreign friends.

The event venue.