International friendships shaping in Chinese cultural tradition

Jun 4, 2025, International Office，5-minute read

While celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival of 2025, Intl students of 12 at the AXHU School of International Education joined the local ‘big family’ at Shu-Lu-Yuan蜀麓苑Community of Hefei City and gathered with 20 parent-child groups in residence, having a Chinese traditional culinary arts experience by making zongzi粽子—pyramid-shaped dumplings mingled with glutinous rice and various fillings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, where they all enjoyed a cozy time amid family-like romantic ambience.   

In the beginning, the secretary of the Community Services gave his welcoming address, and the student representative addressed a crowd in Chinese and English languages, expressing their hopes and expectations to learn much more about the Chinese cultures from the local warm-hearted people.

The Community staff (via bilingual interpretation) introduced the origins, customs and cultural iconic glamour of Chinese traditional Duanwu Jie 端午节in Mandarin for a national history of lasting up to at least 1,500 years.

Then they became highly sentimental during the hands-on process at the ‘Cooking Is Fun’ Competition for annual [must-do] signature cuisine at the time—rising again and again with the sounds of meet-and-greet merriment there, throughout the paired work of both the family units—taking up their posts as the ‘chef’ to tutor in a way and help materialize the refined ingredients, such as sticky rice, date, bacon, salted yolk, and pea nut, with such tricky skills: Folding, Scooping, Stuffing, Wrapping, and more—and the foreign youngsters, some of whom also win the awards of “Innovation Making,” “Best Shape Design,” “International Flavor,” etc.

In conclusion, every group shared their creative thinking while making zongzi.  

What’s more, the front-of-house Community attendants presented the savory dumplings and souvenirs like Sachet with golden embroidery and Chinese Knot to the international friends and local mass residents as the festival’s greeting gifts.

While marking the occasion in a big group photo, the cultural exchange event wrapped up successfully, which helped the current overseas students at AXHU know much of the Chinese traditional life style and the greatest cultural treasures, and engage them into a kind of career experience, to promote the intercultural convergence and social practices to the next level.

So, the AXHU School of International Education administration will be fully functional to expand the cultural communication in varied and colorful forms, offering the localized opportunity for International students to be cultivated in a multiple cultural education community.