International students celebrate New Year in Shanxi gala

An international student New Year's gala was held on Friday evening in Jinzhong, Shanxi province, bringing together more than 200 students from 16 countries and regions to perform music, dance and martial arts ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival.

The event, titled the Shanxi International Students' 2026 New Year Gala, featured performances by students from countries including Russia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and others. Rather than focusing on a single tradition, the program moved between cultures, with students presenting art forms rooted in their own backgrounds alongside performances inspired by Chinese culture.

Miah Md Rabbl, a 22-year-old Bangladeshi student at Taiyuan University of Technology, took part in a South Asian dance performed by a student team. He said the group hoped to use dance to share New Year wishes with the audience.

Al-Bara Kareem, a Yemeni student at Shanxi University, performed a poetry recitation. Speaking afterward, he reflected on his four years of study in China, noting that language barriers had been a challenge early on. He said support from Chinese classmates helped him adapt, and that preparing the recitation gave him a deeper appreciation of Chinese history and culture.