Sokolov Valeriy (center) looks on as his son shows him a lantern he made with his mother (second right). Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn

Looking at the lantern made by his wife and son, Sokolov Valeriy, a Ukrainian psychology teacher at a school in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, said, "We have lived in Sichuan for four years and see something new every day."

He was one of some 100 foreigners invited by the Sichuan Provincial Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries to participate in the Lantern Festival celebration at the Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu on Feb 14.

Guests included consul generals from the German, Singaporean, Thai and Australian consulates in the Sichuan capital.

Representatives from foreign firms and foreign teachers in Sichuan learned how to make rice dumplings and lanterns in the museum whose artifact of a sunbird is the symbol of China Cultural Heritage designated by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

They also listened to a lecture on early history and culture on the Chengdu Plain given by Jiang Zhanghua, deputy curator of the Chengdu Museum.