International students celebrate Spring Festival at Jiangsu College of Engineering and Technology. [Photo/jschina.com.cn]

During the Spring Festival holiday, Jiangsu College of Engineering and Technology organized a series of cultural and hands-on activities for international students who stayed on campus, offering them an immersive experience of Chinese traditions.

A student tries her hand at making a sugar painting. [Photo/jschina.com.cn]

At the School of Economics and Management, international students joined a workshop on sugar painting, a traditional Chinese folk art. Teachers introduced the history and techniques of the craft before guiding students step by step as they used ladles to pour melted sugar into intricate shapes. Under their hands, thin streams of sugar gradually formed lively patterns.

The School of Intelligent Manufacturing organized a visit to the university's cultural and history museum, where bilingual guides introduced the institution's development and the legacy of vocational education. Students also toured the intelligent manufacturing training lab, where they observed and tried out 3D printing technology. They even colored a 3D-printed zodiac mascot created for the Year of the Horse.

At the School of Textiles and Fashion, professional skills such as fabric cutting and stitching were creatively combined with traditional Spring Festival customs, including pasting couplets, hanging lanterns, and making rubbings. Students used their expertise with fabrics and needles to craft bright red lanterns and carefully print golden "Fu" characters.

The School of Information Engineering hosted a Lantern Festival celebration with students from Laos. Participants learned to make sweet glutinous rice balls. They also assembled and decorated rabbit lanterns, gradually moving from unfamiliar attempts to confident creations while enjoying the fun of traditional folk customs.