"Those residential buildings built more than seven decades ago still look graceful and awesome today. After visiting the neighborhood, it helped me better understand why the country has been developing rapidly. The people are diligent and the government is forward-looking," said Niyayesh Mehralipour, a 22-year-old university student from Iran who had been in Shanghai for only a week.

"I visited the 632-meter-tall Shanghai Tower, the world's second-tallest skyscraper, with one of the fastest lifts on the planet days ago. That allowed me to see how modern the city is. While the visit to Caoyang today is like witnessing a condensed history of the development of Chinese workers' residences, which is also very interesting to me," she said.

At a community activity center, the students experienced making Chinese dumplings, or jiaozi, after watching a demonstration by local residents. Ramon Parellada Martin, from Valencia Spain, forgot that the dumpling he'd made needed to be cooked first before eating it. Cries rang out as he put the raw dumpling into his mouth.