Expats enthralled by dynamic Wuxi

A prosperous area in the Jiangnan region, Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province is known as the Pearl of Taihu Lake because of its vitality and beautiful scenery.

The dynamic city wowed a group of expats from 11 countries on March 18 when they embarked on the latest two-day Go Jiangsu trip.

"In Russia, people don't train together like that in parks and they don't smile that much, but here (in Wuxi) everybody is smiling," said Salikhov Amir, a travel and photography enthusiast from Russia, after he encountered friendly local exercisers at Wuxi's Bodu River Park, the trip's first stop.

At the park, the expats tried square dance, baduanjin, a traditional Chinese form of aerobics, and shisuo, a stone dumbbell shaped like an old-fashioned padlock.

After cheering for runners at the 2023 COLMO Wuxi Marathon on March 19, the expats broke a sweat and showed off their high kicks at the World Taekwondo (Wuxi) Center under the tutelage of two Chinese national champions.

Jihane Chiaar from Morocco, who is pursuing her bachelor's degree at the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that she has been practicing taekwondo for almost eight years and that she enjoyed training with the Chinese experts.

Wuxi culture was another theme of the Go Jiangsu trip. At the Meicun Erhu Industrial Park, these expats watched as craftsmen put together an erhu, a two-stringed bowed traditional Chinese musical instrument. At the final stop of the trip at Hongshan Museum, they admired cultural relics that date back more than 2,000 years.

Since 2018, more than 200 expats from over 20 countries have been invited to Go Jiangsu trips to experience Jiangsu's profound culture and beautiful scenery.