Hangzhou has sent 6,200 surprising Spring Festival gift kits to the Chinese nationals living abroad with the help of the Chinese embassies in Argentina, Kuwait and the Czech Republic.

The packages, bringing the best wishes for a safe and happy festival from the Hangzhou Municipal Government and people of Hangzhou, have already reached their receivers.

Each shipment to a different country is brushed with a special message. Parcels sent to the Czech Republic are marked with “Together we weather the storm”, a reference to the collective resolution and the support given to the Chinese there while overcoming the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Packages heading to Kuwait bear the Hangzhou Asian Games slogan, “Heart to Heart, @Future”. This is to signify the role that the Asian Games has played in building the relationship between the 2022 Asian Games host city Hangzhou and Kuwait where the Olympic Council of Asia has its home. The packages for Argentina feature a Chinese idiom, “When brothers come together, there is nothing they cannot achieve”. This saying echoes an Argentine proverb “Real brothers are united in everything”, reinforcing the camaraderie between the two sides.

Inside each kit are face masks and medicine, souvenirs of the West Lake and Xixi National Wetland Park and a beautifully designed Spring Festival couplet.

Co-operation between Hangzhou and the rest of the world has never ceased in the battle against COVID-19 since it emerged during last year’s Spring Festival. When the first outbreak occurred, donations arrived in Hangzhou from sister cities, from the Chinese living abroad and from friends around the world. When the pandemic was largely brought under control in China, the city repaid this kindness by donating or helping source medical supplies to the sister cities and international organizations and by sharing its experience, methods of smart governance and the measures taken to resume work and production.