​Xuzhou international students love dragon dances

International students from Xuzhou University of Technology in Xuzhou, East China's Jiangsu province love the dragon dance, a traditional Chinese performance, and said they hope to bring the dance to their home countries.

The university has provided dragon dance classes to its international students since 2017, said Dong Liangfeng, deputy director of the School of International Education. Its dragon dance team now has students from countries such as Tanzania, Yemen, Benin, Kazakhstan and Indonesia, according to Dong.

The classes can help international students learn more about traditional Chinese culture and are conducive to cross-cultural exchange, said Dong.

A Comorian student at the university said he is trying to integrate African culture and dances with China's lion dances to offer a multicultural visual feast.

The lion dance team has won many prizes in national competitions. At the 9th China College Student Lion Dance and Dragon Dance Championships held in 2016, the team won first place. Wang Qianqiu, a Togolese student who was then team leader, said he planned to set up a dragon dance team when he returns to Togo.

More and more universities in China are opening dragon dance classes for international students, said Zhang Dan, an international referee for lion and dragon dances at the university's sports school. This is expected to help with the spread of Chinese intangible cultural heritage, said Zhang.