A new year in Nantong

An expat working in Nantong learns how to write Spring Festival couplets. The foreign community celebrate the traditional Chinese event with locals. [Chen Wei for China Daily]

For Chinese people, the eve of Spring Festival is an important occasion for families to reunite, say goodbye to the past and look forward to the future.

New Year’s Eve in the Chinese lunar calendar fell on Feb 18 this year. According to the traditional Chinese calendar 2015 is the year of sheep, which holds auspicious traits. It is traditional for family members to eat together, set off fireworks and visit relatives during the Spring Festival holiday.

In the past, Spring Festival was often a vague notion for foreign people who worked and lived in China but more and more foreigners now join in the celebrations.

People from countries around the world, including Britain, Australia and South Africa, enjoyed the festival with locals at their second homes in Nantong, in East China’s Jiangsu province this year.

To celebrate they made food including Tangyuan, sweet balls made of rice powder, and dumplings. They also wrote Chunlian, a type of poetry that follows specific rules and is hung up as decorations during Chinese New Year.

Jillian Peterson, a teacher at Nantong International School, celebrates this year’s Spring Festival with her family in their home in the coastal city. [Wu Xiaopei for China Daily]

The foreigners also sent out hongbao or red envelopes, which are traditionally packed with money and given to family and friends as gifts during the festival.

At a training company in Nantong, five foreigners celebrated the festival by making Tangyuan and writing Chinese calligraphy with the help of their Chinese colleagues.

Angus Silverstone, an English teacher at Jiangsu College of Engineering and Technology who has lived in Nantong for almost three years, celebrated with his wife Li Si, a Chinese native who was born in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality.

To add a taste of home to the festival celebrations, Li’s family brought the couple spicy hot pot from their hometown, which is known for its fiery cuisine.

Silverstone said he was fond of Chinese culture and that he fell in love with his wife when he first saw her wearing a traditional Chinese qipao. He even has a tattoo of her in the traditional dress on his arm.

To mark the ever-changing city around him, Silverstone regularly takes photos from his balcony.

Jillian Peterson, a South African teacher at Nantong International School, experienced her first Spring Festival celebration since coming to the city in October 2014.

According to Peterson, her 10-year-old daughter Makaylyn and 8-year-old son Ethan were excited to receive red envelopes. Her son said he also looked forward to getting sweets while Peterson’s daughter said she looked forward to making more friends in Nantong this year.

Contact the writers at dingcongrong@chinadaily.com.cn

An Baijie contributed to this story.