International families present their calligraphy of fu, or blessing, as well as couplets to celebrate Chinese New Year on Jan 16. [Photo by Yang Cheng / chinadaily.com.cn]

International families living and working in Tianjin joined an event to practice calligraphy of the Chinese character fu, meaning blessing, a traditional custom in China, in celebration of the Spring Festival, which falls on Jan 25 this year.

Meng Wei, director of the Tianjin Youth and Teenager Calligraphy Academy, a calligraphy education organization, taught the international families living in the northern coastal city with Chinese customs and calligraphy knowledge.

He taught foreigners how to write fu, improving their calligraphy skills with enriched culture horizons. 

"Every new Spring Festival, Chinese people prefer to hang the posters of the 'gate god', 'fu', as well as couplets on their house doors," said Meng.

Chinese people believe that there are different kinds of blessings, including those for longevity, wealth, rank, health and peace, and believe a sincere blessing before the Lunar New Year could ensure good fortune for the coming year.

"The event helped foreigners to understand Chinese culture and get more involved in living in China and Tianjin," he said.

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.”

Robert Paul Burke (center) from the UK, who has just worked in Tianjin for two weeks at the Tianjin Juilliard School, appreciates Chinese calligraphy. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

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.