A foreign student hits the rice dough at the activity, one of the steps in making niangao. [Photo/zhoushan.cn] 

A group of foreign exchange students in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, toured the Qingqing Shijie Scenic Spot in Ma'ao town, Dinghai district on Dec 29, and had great fun learning its distinctive folk customs. 

They learned to make niangao, a special glutinous rice cake typically eaten at the Chinese New Year.

Niangao, literally meaning "higher and higher year after year", conveys a wish for prosperity and abundance in traditional Chinese culture.

"It's really fun making the niangao," said a student from Nigeria, expressing his excitement at this activity and introducing a similar food variety in his hometown, called Eba, which is made of cassava. 

The local paper-cutting art also impressed the students, who tried to make one themselves after seeing the fine paper-cuts with distinctive marine features, such as those in the pattern of fish, crabs and lobsters. 

In addition, they were taken with the beautiful fishing rope knots and fishermen's paintings and tried a little of the local boxing. 

The activity, organized by Zhoushan.cn, the official news website of the city, and the Ocean College of Zhejiang University, was aimed at promoting the city's folk culture and enhancing Sino-foreign cultural exchanges.

Zhoushan.cn established an English channel on August 2010 to better introduce the city to the outside world, and cooperated with chinadaily.com.cn to launch the new version of the channel in July 2018, presenting a brand new window for foreigners to learn about the city.

A foreign student shows the paper-cut he made. [Photo/zhoushan.cn]

Foreign students practice the local boxing. [Photo/zhoushan.cn]