On April 15th, students from Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and other countries and regions held a water festival to celebrate the traditional new year of Southeast Asian countries at the basketball court of Huaqiao University.

      The traditional new year of Southeast Asian countries comes in the middle of April. At this time of year countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos will hold splendid water festival to celebrate New Year. Zhang Fanjiao, a Thailand student from Business School of HQU, told us that water splashing is meant to drive out bad luck of the previous year with clean water, an embodiment of holiness and good luck that brings health and happiness for the coming year.
       As a senior student, Zhang is about to graduate from HQU where he has acquired unforgettable experience. He has made a lot of friends from different countries and regions. Although they have different cultural backgrounds, experiences and dispositions, in his view, they could always understand each other and integrate as a whole in the HQU family through all kinds of featured activities.
       In the morning, students from Southeast Asian countries gave excellent performances such as 24 Festive Drums and hip-hop dance. Later, girl students from 6 countries including Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc. competed for the title of Miss Water Festival.

       Under the direct leadership of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, HQU dedicates to recruiting students from abroad, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Home to nearly 5,000 students from over 50 countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, HQU is among universities recruiting the largest number of international students in China. Since 2004, HQU has held the water festival annually for the students from Southeast Asian countries and it has gradually attracted more and more teachers and students from different countries and regions.