In order to let the international students who stay in Guangzhou during Chinese New Year fully understand the customs of Chinese traditional cultural festivals and experience the strong flavor of Guangzhou, the dean and teachers of the school of International Education together with more than 20 international students from Asia and Africa to the Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center flower street on the afternoon of February 13th.
Firstly, the dean introduced the customs and the history of the Guangzhou New Year flower street. And then, while walking around the flower street, the dean explained the name and the meaning of the flowers, especially the relationship of the flowers and Cantonese, the students understand why Gaungzhou citizens put the orange tree at home, why the young people buy peach flowers, what is the meaning of different shape of Dracaena sanderiana, why local people call Pachira macrocarpa"Facishu”(money tree) ,why many people buy Solanum mammosum Linn,etc. Finally, the students also learned the origin story of the couplet and the custom of posting the character "福（fu）".
The whole event lasted more than 2 hours, students listened carefully and actively asking questions, although the flower street is very crowded, but the students felt the festive atmosphere of Guangzhou. They said: "this is the first time visiting the flower street, very lively, very happy, Guangzhou people love flowers, it worth the name of flower city. We understand and love Guanghzou more than before and be proud to study here".
In addition, that day is just happens to be Gloria’s (a girl from Republic of the Congo) birthday. All the teachers and students gathered around and sang the birthday song for her. The dean gave her a warmly hug and a birthday gift. Gloria was so excited and burst into tears. She said she spent a wonderful and special birthday, she will never forget that day. It makes her feel the warmth of a big family.
