East China's city of Hangzhou is known as "China's Silicon Valley." It is home to some of China's biggest tech giants such as Alibaba and NetEase. The city has attracted numerous foreigners to invest and work there. French national Julien Dreyfuss is one of them.

Dreyfuss is chief operating officer of OptivaDarna, a French business. He has worked in China for nearly nine years. He came to Hangzhou for a China-France cooperation project called French Village. It focuses on deep tech innovation in urban lifestyles.

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, their operation was halted for some time but resumed work at the end of February.

However, their French team are still quarantined at home. The company is adapting to the situation. For instance, they will move their annual big event online, possibly on Bilibili or other Chinese online video platforms, Dreyfuss said.

They plan to do an international live event that will be hosted by their team in France, with each hosting from their home.

"We're completely confident that all the goals will be fulfilled and the project will go on as before," Dreyfuss said. "The message is we have to stay strong, stay united and we have to learn lessons from this situation and move on together," Dreyfuss shared with CGTN.

Dreyfuss has been in Hangzhou for a year and a half now. The city is the epicenter of China's tech industry, so he gets the chance to meet professionals in science and technology.

In his free time, Dreyfuss likes drinking Chinese tea, jogging in the beautiful natural surroundings and hiking with friends. "It's really the kind of city I want to live in. And I think I'm gonna stay here for some time now," he said.

Cover: A night view of Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. /VCG