In the middle of April, if you walk through Jinghong, which is     1     capital of the Xishuangbanna region in Yunnan province,     2    (chance) are that you’ll get very, very wet. The Dai people will be celebrating their Water Splashing (泼水) Festival from April 13 to 16, marking the new year for the Dai ethnic minority.

Lonely Planet, one of the world’s     3     (large) travel brands, has described what happens: “People race around the streets of Jinghong and the surrounding villages, soaking (浸透) every person     4     sight with buckets of water.”

    5    (tradition), water would be collected and poured only on family members as a symbolic way     6    (ensure) good luck in the coming year. The Dai people believe that the wetter you get, the luckier you will be.

Although water     7     (play) a vital role in the celebration, there is much more to the festival, especially during the first two days     8     water splashing is comparatively kept under control, according to Lonely Planet. People wear their best clothes, while older women in nearby villages     9    (dress) in traditional outfits (服装). They gather with their families and visit Dai temples. There, they wash the statues of the Buddha (佛) with water, a practice     10    (know) as “Bathing the Buddha”.

Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox (秋分), the 16th solar term of the year, lies at the midpoint of autumn,     1     (divide) autumn into two equal parts. After that day, the location of direct sunlight moves to the south, making days shorter and nights longer in the northern hemisphere. Since the Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China have entered the cool autumn.     2     the cold air southward meets the declining warm and wet air, , precipitation (降水) is     3     result.

As     4     (say) in the ancient book, The Detailed Records of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), “It is on the Autumn Equinox day that the Yin and Yang are in a balance of power.” Thus the day and night are of equal length, and     5     are the cold and hot weather. “In South China, there is a custom     6     (popular)-known as ‘having Qiucai (autumn vegetable) on the Autumn Equinox day. Every Autumn Equinox day’, all the     7     (village) go to pick Qiucai in the wild, which is taken back and made into soup with fish,     8     (name) Qiutang (autumn soup).”

On Autumn Equinox day, there are thousands of people in the world trying to make eggs stand     9     end. According to experts, on the Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox, the earth’s axis (轴), on its 66.5 degree tilt, is in a relative balance of power with the earth’s orbit around the sun. Thus it is an     10     (easy) time for people to practice the game.

A 50-minute drive northwest of downtown Beijing, pops up a village,     1     houses a shadow puppetry troupe (皮影戏剧团) and a theater, Beijing Long Zaitian Shadow Puppetry Theater.

Shadow puppetry    2     (see) as the prequel (前篇) to film and animation in China. In2011, the art landed a spot on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

Besides performances    3    (create) by light and shadow, performers must master multiple skills as the plays combine painting, carving, opera    4    literature. However, due to low income and a small market, few young people are willing    5    (learn) shadow puppetry.

This particular troupe, however, stands out from the crowd: Average performer age is only 25. Moreover, of the 300 performers it has trained over the years, many are under 1. 4 min    6     (high).

In 2006, Wang Xi, inheritor of Beijing Western-School Shadow Puppetry,     7     (establish) the troupe in Beijing, and     8     first four very short persons joined her two years later. After a four-month training, they picked up basic performance skills and started working in the theater.

In 2021, the team designed Winter Olympics-themed shadow puppets. The puppets were gifted to foreign athletes during the Games. The troupe also staged    9    (variety) plays introducing ice and snow sports through fairy tales.

”We are lucky to have these people. They have been devoted    10    the inheritance of shadow puppetry for over a decade, “Wang Xi said.