Helmi Hamami, a Tunisian who works as a senior manager at a company in the Tianjin Economic and Technological Area, said he loves to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Tianjin.

“The culture there is particularly different from South China.”

In Tianjin, cultural celebrations, art appreciation including Yangliuqing New Year prints as well as wandering on the Ancient Cultural Street in Hebei district are a must for local residents.

“Also, I enjoy shopping at the empty shopping malls as well as meeting friends,” he said.

During Spring Festival, migrants in Tianjin go back to their hometowns and the streets and shopping malls turn empty.

In a bid to help his son Baraa Hamami, 5, to get more involved in the local Chinese community, Hamami has sent him to kindergartens for Chinese students, rather than international ones.

“He is much more involved in the environment,” the father noted.

Barra Hamami is already good at writing fu with better calligraphy skills now, the local calligraphy tutor Meng noted, when he was showing his works to other participants during the event.

The event also highlighted the Forbidden City’s collections including posters of imperial households, paintings as well as artificial winter sweets.

Han Rui, an expert from the art creativity department in the Palace Museum, came to the event to display the profound cultural secrets of Chinese silk tapestry collected by the Forbidden City.

The event was organized by Pizza Hut and a local foreigners’ service organization and supported by iTianjin, a WeChat public account devoted to proving service to local international citizens made by China Daily and the local cyberspace administration.