International students showcase their culture at USST festival
International students tried their best to introduce their hometowns at the Sixth USST International Students Cultural Festival on Thursday.
International students at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) showcased their local culture and their understanding of Chinese culture at the Sixth USST International Students Cultural Festival on Thursday.
Students from all over the world set up their own country booth on the university's basketball court. A "passport" was handed out to those attending the festival as students, both Chinese and foreigners, lined up to get it stamped at each booth.
The festival's "passport"
"I'm reciting and singing a Chinese poem with a fellow student, also from Turkmenistan. We have composed new melody for the poem," Agajan Allakulyyev, a senior computer science student told Shanghai Daily in fluent Chinese, before going on to the stage.
"It is a poem I learned in my Chinese class when I first arrived in Shanghai in 2019. There is a Chinese company near my home in Turkmenistan, and I have been interested in Chinese culture since I was a child."
His performance was one of the 15 cultural shows at the one-day festival. The repertoire included songs and dances from different countries, as well as re-inventing Chinese poems like Allakulyyev did.
The Kenyan booth at the festival.
"The International Students Cultural Festival is a signature event of the USST, and an important platform where different cultures appreciate and learn from and integrate with each other," Cai Yonglian, the university's vice president, said at the site.
"The festival also showcases the friendship between foreign and local students, and provides an opportunity for them to exchange cuisines, deepen cultural exchanges and improve understanding of each other."
International students set up booths showcasing their cuisines, art and culture from their countries.
Yuyan, a third-year Chinese student, became a volunteer at the festival for exactly this purpose.
"This is the first time I am participating in such an event," she said. "I really hope to help my fellow students from abroad, while satisfying my own curiosity for other cultures at the same time."
The Mongolian booth
