A total of around 1,600 domestic and international students and teachers from these five universities are staying on campus for scientific research over the Chinese New Year holiday, said the organizer.

Among the 400 representatives attending the celebration, many were international students pursuing their dreams in China. Atanimango Karotu, a 23-year-old graduate student from the Pacific island state Kiribati, is one of them. Serving as a temporary official for the statistic unit at the Ministry of Fisheries and Resource Development in her country, she is pursuing a master's degree in fisheries resources at Shanghai Ocean University. Wearing a traditional Chinese dress, she said she was "so excited" as she celebrates her first Chinese New Year.

"Our country is a very small one and we don't have many resources. We depend on our marine resources to drive our economy, especially the tuna. I hope I can become an expert on the marine resource field. Also, there are a lot of projects that China is now doing in our country, and I do hope I can learn the Chinese language well and contribute to the cooperation between the two nations in the future," she said.