Foreigners in Yiwu learn Wuju Opera on Jiangdong Road in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 5. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

Yiwu, a county-level city in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, is helping forge friendships between locals and foreigners via a series of cultural activities, local media reported on Dec 5.

In Jimingshan community, Jiangdong Road, a group of expats learned Wuju Opera from Song Chuanfang, a highly respected practitioner of the traditional art.

Wuju Opera is a type of opera unique to the city of Jinhua and its neighboring areas in Zhejiang. In 2008, it was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in China.

The municipal Wuju Opera troupe is popular among overseas audiences and has visited Turkey, South Korea, France, Italy, and North America in recent years.

With the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Yiwu, home to a famous small commodities wholesale market, has attracted around 15,000 foreign residents, 1,388 of whom are living in Jimingshan community.

In addition to the opera, the community's resident committee is also encouraging expats to participate in other cultural and public welfare activities, including vigilante patrol, dispute mediation, garbage sorting, and language classes.