During the Chinese New Year, the streets and cities were full of festival vibe. Bhatti Saifullah, an international student at Jiangnan University, celebrated the festival with a Chinese family in a village of Jiangsu’s Nantong city. He recorded all this with his camera and shared them on his social media.
Compared with the brilliant lights in the city, Bhatti especially likes the idyllic and quaint countryside. He likes to sit in front of the farmhouse earthen stove to burn the fire, likes to set off fireworks with children, and also likes to watch the elder’s chitchat. "In 2019, when I was still studying in Shanghai, I went to the countryside for the first time to celebrate the Spring Festival," Bhatti said. "Everyone pasted Spring Festival couplets, ate Chinese New Year's Eve meals, and children kowtowed to their elders to wish them a happy new year. We visited relatives together, and I always remember the lively atmosphere."
Bhatti filmed what he saw, cut them into a video, and shared it with his family. "Chinese New Year’s eve emphasizes on reunion, and I will soon reunite with the whole family," Bhatti said. He said excitedly that his family plans to come to China again in March and April to make up for the regret from three years ago. At the beginning of 2020, Bhatti's parents and younger brother came to China for the first time, but they happened to encounter COVID-19 and hurriedly returned after visiting Beijing and Shanghai. This time, Bhatti made several plans and intends to take them to fully appreciate the beauty of China.
Bhatti is from Pakistan and came to Shanghai in 2016 to study at the Shanghai International Studies University. Bhatti loves kungfu movies and used to wonder about Chinese "kungfu". After coming to China, Bhatti realized "everyone can do kungfu" is a beautiful misconception. At the same time, Bhatti was deeply shocked by Shanghai's prosperity and internationalization.
Bhatti spent four pleasant and fulfilling years in Shanghai. He likes to travel to cities around the Yangtze River Delta, Taihu Lake landscape in Wuxi, rich history in Nanjing, beautiful dialects of Suzhou... Bhatti used his leisure time to feel the beauty of Jiangnan to the fullest, and he also liked Jiangsu more and more.
After graduating from university, Bhatti returned to Pakistan to work for about a year. In 2022, he returned to China again to continue his study and life in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Like many young people, Bhatti runs his own short video account. Speaking of his original intention, he said: "First, to record life and preserve precious memories; the other is to give people from other countries the opportunity to see China." In the process of documenting his life in short videos, he found that many people shared his passion. Bhatti recalled that once he saw two girls in Hanfu on the street and wanted to take photos of them, but the two girls declined. However, when he expressed his hope to spread Chinese culture to the world through short videos, the two girls readily agreed and became good friends with him. Bhatti’s posts on social media like Facebook and others are widely loved, and many fans are expecting to learn more about China through him.
"I suggest everyone come to China to feel its charm." Bhatti said that he will continue to record his story with China.
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