International students are not only happy with city life in Zhejiang, but also take great interest in its more traditional aspects. Following their attendance at the video contest and the cultural gala, some 150 international students joined the travel group to visit Wuzhen. During the trip, they toured ancient alleys, tasted local foods, and appreciated traditional dyeing and printing.

"I have been to numerous Zhejiang villages. The last one I visited was in Anji county, which used to be extremely poor but has now made a fortune by developing it forestry economy," said Ngambou Lontsi Gervais from Cameroon, a postgraduate student majoring in agricultural machinery at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. A farmer's son, Gervais is determined to help his home country mechanize its agricultural sector, like what China had been doing over the past several decades.

It was the third time for Gervais to attend the "Dreams Come True in Zhejiang" event. He was appointed as a foreign host of the cultural gala this year.

Akutteh David Papa Percy performs a traditional folk art in the Wenzhou dialect at the cultural gala on Dec 11. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

An even more experienced, and probably the most seasoned, participant of the cultural exchange series is Akutteh David Papa Percy, a Ghanaian doctorate student at Wenzhou Medical University. Percy has been living in Wenzhou for 10 years.

"This is probably the fifth or sixth time that I've attended the 'Dreams Come True in Zhejiang' event. Maybe even more than that," Percy said in fluent Chinese.

At this year's cultural gala, Percy made a splash by performing local folk art in the Wenzhou dialect. He is now a volunteer promoting local culture abroad and helping other expats integrate into local life.