LANZHOU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Aman Khan, a Pakistani student at Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu Province, has decorated his dorm with Chinese New Year decorations such as red lanterns and banners bearing auspicious handwritten words to celebrate the holiday.

For the last seven years, bar 2018 and 2020, he has spent every Spring Festival in China. He has become quite familiar with the traditional customs associated with the Spring Festival.

Khan, 36, has been studying in the university's school of life sciences for seven years. He obtained a doctoral degree in microbiology in 2019, and began his postdoctoral research in 2021.

He said it is heartwarming to see the school give Spring Festival gift packages to all its international students every year.

The Spring Festival in China and the Eid-al-Adha festival in Pakistan share some similarities, Khan said. "On Eid al-Adha, we visit relatives and exchange red packets, the same as what Chinese people do during the Spring Festival. That's why the Spring Festival always reminds me of family gatherings at home," he said.

One of Khan's Pakistani friends traveled from south China's Shenzhen City to visit him before the holiday, and his festival dorm gathering attracted many international students at the school.

He said this has been the most lively Spring Festival in the past three years. The students made decorations together and prepared a lot of Pakistani food to go with the Chinese dumplings.

He said the Spring Festival provides opportunities for exchanges among friends, and allows expats to experience the charm of traditional Chinese culture.

Khan plans to return to Pakistan after completing his project of isolating probiotic bacterial strains from fermented Pakistani food, which could lead to a method to prevent digestive tract inflammation. Enditem

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