Chongqing- On February 14, more than ten foreigners from the United States and Russia participated in a cultural activity themed "2022 Foreigners@Chongqing - I Learn Chinese Characters in Tongliang" in Chongqing Tongliang District., to celebrate the Lantern Festival. They experienced the folklore of the Lantern Festival and enjoyed the strong festive atmosphere.

In the morning, at the Tuo's Painting and Calligraphy Art Museum, foreigners learned to write Chinese characters with Chinese writing brushes under the guidance of calligraphy educator Tuo Chunshuang, and experienced the magical Chinese character spelling technique with great enthusiasm. Some foreigners were surprised, "How can I write Chinese characters so well today?" and "How easy is it to write Chinese characters?"

Ben from the United States happily showed off the Chinese characters he wrote. (Photo/ Tongliang District)

 "This is the second time I come to Tongliang, and I've always been fascinated by Chinese culture." Ben from the U.S. is a famous blogger on Douyin, and this time he also brought his son to experience Chinese traditional culture during the New Year.

"I learned brush writing when I first came to China more than 20 years ago." Under the guidance of Mr. Tuo, Ben wrote the Chinese character for "spring" quickly and well, and happily showed it to the crowd.

Foreigners learn to write Chinese characters intently. (Photo/ Tongliang District)

Based on Tongliang's profound copywriting culture and the important contribution of Chinese character spelling technology to Chinese calligraphy culture, Tongliang is striving to build a "Chinese calligraphy culture town". This time, more than 10 foreigners stationed in Sichuan and Chongqing were organized to participate in this activity. It is to use the opportunity of the Lantern Festival to celebrate the New Year, as well as to start a new fashion of "Learn Chinese characters in Tongliang".

At the end of the session, Mr. Tuo presented each foreign guest with a set of copybooks (for calligraphy), and expressed his appreciation, "You are all good at writing Chinese characters!"

Foreigners experienced making rice glueballs. (Photo/ Tongliang District)

Later, at the Lantern Corridor of Xuantian Lake, after listening carefully to the staff's story about the origin of the Lantern Festival and introducing the raw materials and process of making Lantern, the foreign friends could not wait to experience the process of making Lantern.

"It's wonderful!" In the skill Interaction session, the dragon dance performance brought by Tongliang competitive dragon dance team caused a burst of excitement, and everyone raised their cell phones and cameras to record every wonderful moment.

Expats performed dragon dance. (Photo/ Tongliang District)

The performance of the professional dragon dance team made many foreigners eager to try. Under the guidance of the coach, they also had the chance to experience a Tongliang dragon dance.

"Tongliang has a good ecological environment and a unique culture, which gives me a good impression." Natasha, a girl from Russia, exclaimed that it was very interesting to spend the Lantern Festival by experiencing traditional Chinese culture, not only to experience the authentic Chinese New Year but also to learn a lot of new knowledge.