Students dressed in Hanfu, the traditional Chinese attire, celebrated the upcoming Spring Festival with a flashmob show aboard a red double-decker bus in London on Friday.
Students from China and many other countries celebrated the Chinese New Year with music and a fun zodiac-themed quiz during the Hanfu flashmob as the bus toured major landmarks across the UK capital.
Paddington Bear also joined the celebration and brought festive cheer throughout the city.
"It's very significant for me. Of course, (it's) just me in London and my family is in China. I always miss them. This holiday is very meaningful for me," said an overseas Chinese student.
"When I'm in China, people get together and celebrate it. It is a new beginning. It means reunion. So it would be nice when we were getting together," said another overseas Chinese student.
The event featured live music played on the erhu, a traditional Chinese string instrument, along with an interactive zodiac quiz. Even British table tennis star Liam Pitchford got swept up in the festivities.
"Table tennis is a massive sport over in China and they've been the best in table tennis for a long time now. We had a Chinese coach growing up, and he took us over to China a lot when we were young to train. My New Year's message is to enjoy life and try and see the positive in every day," said Pitchford.
For many students, the celebration was about sharing a piece of home despite being thousands of miles away.
"This is the Year of the Horse. Obviously, we're both born in 2002, so this is our year. We have never been wearing these clothes and we never come this close to Chinese culture before in the UK," said an international student.
"I'm really having a good time and I'm very happy. I was so lucky to wear this outfit as well!" said another international student.
The Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, lands on Feb 17 this year, and is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese and a time for family reunions. This year's Spring Festival holiday runs for nine days from Feb 15.
Students in London celebrate Spring Festival with Hanfu flashmob
South China's Guangdong Province is accelerating its transformation into an international medical tourism hub, positioning itself as a destination for patients worldwide seeking affordable, high-quality care.
The push follows a joint initiative announced in late March by nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, aimed at boosting spending by foreign tourists and enhancing exports of tourism services as part of broader efforts to expand the country's service sector.
Every day, some of the most complex surgeries are performed here. Li Zilun, deputy director of the division of vascular surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat‑sen University, is among the doctors capable of carrying out these intricate procedures.
He recently completed surgery on a patient with an aortic aneurysm, a condition often described as a "time bomb" in the body’s main artery, increasingly common in aging societies around the globe. Li also specializes in highly difficult and pioneering procedures, including repairing leaks caused by failed grafts.
"This was a very challenging case. And then, we implanted the covered stent to eliminate the endoleak. Actually, the outcome was pretty good. The patient will be discharged today," said Li Zilun.
The ability to handle such complex cases -- combining international techniques with domestically produced devices -- is drawing patients from around the world to seek treatment. In addition, high safety standards and low costs are also major draws.
"Our government is encouraging innovation. So, lots of physicians -- including our vascular surgeons -- we are actively involved in the innovation that helps to increase the effectiveness and safety, and also bring down the cost," said Li.
This hospital is one of the first in Guangdong to be designated by the provincial health commission as a pilot site for building an international medical service hub.
The growing number of patients has pushed the hospital to explore new ways to transform every step -- from treatment to payment and everything in between -- into a seamless experience, reducing waiting times and delivering better care for patients.
"I think it's fast. When the patient come here for just about, I think, one week, you can solve the problem," said Xiao Haipeng, president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
The hospital is also deepening its international cooperation with top-tier medical institutions, including those at Harvard University.
"Not just for China, for the whole globe, we are facing health care challenges -- emerging infectious disease and chronic, lung infectious diseases, and also the aging population, also the shortage of healthcare workforce," said Xiao.
In response to these challenges, China is promoting its own solutions, including aggressive innovation in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven workflows, while stepping up research and development investment and global engagement along the way.
"In recent years, the innovation in Western medicine is dramatically growing. An example of my hospital -- in the past few years, we have 140 innovations and seven of them are international leading innovations," said Xiao.
As global demand for medical tourism grows, China is positioning itself as a new destination. Official data shows that the number of foreign patients in Guangdong increased by 20 percent last year. Among them, the growth in inpatient admissions was even faster, rising by 76 percent.
Guangdong fast-tracks pilot for int'l medical service hub
