Making dumplings, writing Chinese characters, and viewing traditional shows... as the Spring Festival is just around the corner, a special celebration for the Chinese New Year has been held at the international talent home in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province.

About 30 foreigners in the Hainan Free Trade Port enjoyed traditional activities. Wearing a traditional Chinese costume, Ikpeoha Nkiru Joy from Nigeria performed Peking Opera, a highlight of the celebratory event.

"I like Peking Opera because it's cultural and related to Chinese traditions," said Joy, a postgraduate of Hainan University. In 2020, she was picked by her teacher to join a Chinese talent competition for foreigners held in Hainan. It took her about two weeks to learn the Peking Opera under a teacher's guidance.

"I didn't really have the courage to do it at first. But my passion for it made me become more interested in learning it," she said.

"The Chinese Spring Festival, like Christmas in foreign countries, is a time for family and friends to get together, and it's a happy time for everyone," said Joy, adding that the celebratory event was awesome, especially the Chinese art performances such as the flute and Chinese zither.

"We watched different shows, played games, and made food," said Daria Lebedianskaia from Russia.

When making dumplings, Daria taught her 4-year-old daughter how to wrap a dumpling. She said dumplings in Russia are shaped differently and use other flavors.

"Though the flavors are different, I like them both," said Daria, adding that she likes Chinese dumplings filled with chive, meat and eggs best.

Daria has been in Hainan for almost 10 years and now works as the project manager of Hainan College of Economics and Business. Because her husband is Chinese, the family celebrates the Spring Festival each year. "It's a good reason for the family to get together," she said.

The Haikou international talent home, which opened its doors in September 2021, is the brainchild of the Haikou Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs and a local human resource company. Nearly 200 foreign talents have joined the family.

The purpose of the international talent home is to create a platform for foreigners to feel at home, said Pi Jinyu, general manager of Fu'an Talent Human Resources (Hainan). "We provide services and help them alleviate any issues or difficulties, like visa problems or job issues," he said.

In order to better help the foreign talents start their businesses, the talent home offered a business incubation training class lasting for four months. Nearly 20 foreigners from different countries and areas including the United States, Russia and Africa participated in the course, and Joy was one of them.

"The training is the best thing that has happened to me," said Joy, noting it was quite different from what she learned in university.

"The particular training has given me a lot of ideas. It has opened up my thoughts on what to do in the future, how to plan my way, how to plan my life and how to become a better entrepreneur," she said, adding that the Haikou talent home really did a nice job organizing such training for foreigners.

"We hope to make contributions to the construction of the Hainan free trade port in this way, and attract more international talents to work in Hainan," Pi said.

Chen Lanfang, an official with the Haikou Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, said the talent home will continue to play a better role in introducing foreign talents and boosting exchanges.