Hundreds of foreigners got together in a small neighborhood in Qingdao on the afternoon of April 20 because of the Neighbor Day, an 18-day event celebrated across Qingdao. They learned the arts of Chinese handwriting, dumpling making, paper cutting, and discovered the culture of Chinese family trees.
The festival started 12 years ago after a 10-year-old girl called Sun Ruihan was refused when paying a New Year's visit to her neighbor. Upset by this incident, she wrote to the Shibei district government of Qingdao, suggesting that they should introduce a "Neighbor Day" to encourage greater spirit.
As the birthplace of the festival, Shibei hosted the opening ceremony of this year's Neighbor Day on April 19. With the theme of" ▲ ", people from across the city got together to share their homemade food and discuss the family stories. They also set up a mobile neighbors' library to share books.
Sarah from the United States said she had a great time with her neighbors as she experienced the art of Chinese paper cutting for the first time. Masha from Russia, who is studying Chinese at the Ocean University of China, described the event as a great chance to make friends with her Chinese neighbors and learn about the local culture with them. She tried her best at Chinese handwriting and also had great fun learning how to make dumplings. "I love eating dumplings but I never knew how to make them before, "she said." Now I can come to my neighbors' homes and learn in their kitchens."
Neighbor Day grew from the needs of the people. With the big support from the government, it has become another culture symbol of Qingdao.
