HAIKOU /China/, January 5. /TASS/. The Sanya Aviation and Tourism College awarded 13 expats including several Russians, with Junior Tea Art certificates this week in the city of Sanya (southern coast of China's Hainan province), the Hainan Daily newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, there have been no precedents of Hainan educational institutions issuing such documents to foreign nationals. The exams, attended by 20 foreigners, were held after the completion of the program to study tea culture and technology, organized in the college in the second half of 2023.

One of the Russian students who received a basic certificate stated that she plans to continue studying this profession and eventually hopes to upgrade her status to advanced as well as high-level specialist. Hainan Free Trade Port is noted to have taken another step in developing an open mechanism for assessing in-demand foreign specialists.

According to Associate Professor Lin Juan, who teaches the subject of tea studies in Sanya, Chinese tea culture is attracting more and more professionals from abroad. The intensification of international cooperation in this area is expected to stimulate the promotion of promising innovation projects.