A sailor learns to write spring couplets. [Photo/Tide News]

Red lanterns swayed gently as fu (fortune) characters adorned the walls of Gangxing Industrial Community Party Service Center in Beilun district, Ningbo, on Feb 11, with more than a dozen Chinese and Southeast Asian sailors gathering to experience the charm of a traditional Chinese New Year.

For many foreign crew members, it was their first close encounter with Spring Festival customs. Indian sailor Vanka Nooka Raju beamed as he opened a customized "lucky bag" filled with festive bookmarks, notebooks, and a horse-themed pendant symbolizing good fortune. The gifts also included maritime safety reminders, blending holiday cheer with professional care.

In the folk culture zone, laughter echoed during zodiac quizzes and Spring Festival customs activities, as volunteers guided sailors in making dumplings and writing spring couplets. Filipino crew member Eyas Rich Roven carefully wrote his first fu character and proudly said he would display the couplet on his ship's bridge.

The sailors then shared a reunion feast for lunch, featuring the dumplings they had made and local specialties, with songs in Chinese and Southeast Asian languages filling the room.

As cultural ambassadors of global trade, the sailors carry not only cargo but friendship and the warmth of a Chinese New Year back to the seas.