Wandering sounds, irregular rhythms and a carrier of gentle emotions. This is the musical language of guqin, a plucked seven string instrument created in ancient China.

The earliest piece of guqin in China,     1    (unearth) in Hubei province in 2016, dates back to the Zhou Dynasty. The body of a guqin is made of lacquered wood and the strings of twisted silk.    2     its seemingly simple appearance, making a guqin is extremely demanding.     3     outstanding piece can take anywhere from two to several decades to craft. It is a crystallization of art and time.

The guqin was favored by the literati in ancient China. The most renowned guqin     4    (music) was Yu Boya in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.     5     he played his guqin in the mountains, a woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi heard the music and understood exactly     6     Yu wanted to express.

This deep understanding formed a strong bond between them,     7       they became close friends. This is the famous tale behind the guqin masterpiece, Flowing Water, High Mountains. The piece     8    (pass) down through generations and is considered one of the most famous and important     9    (compose) in Chinese guqin music. This graceful dialogue,     10    (flow) from brushed fingertips and travelling for thousands of years, is continuing to this day.

La rou, or preserved meat, is a winter season specialty in China. They are customarily made during the last lunar month on the     1    (tradition) Chinese calendar when the temperature is cool     2     not freezing to dry and preserve these staples. La rou, generally refers to pork products while other cured meat, la wei, is made across China     3    (depend) on local availability, using goose, duck, rabbit, and even seafood.

The preserved meat     4    (consider) a form of cultural heritage in many places. Similar to bacon, the Chinese preserved meat is made with large quantities of salt, some of     5     are smoked over with fire     6    (achieve) more flavor. There are many kinds of preserved meat in China with     7    (incredible) diverse ingredients and recipes, bringing a wide range of flavors from sweet to hot.

Each region has its own seasoning and flavor profile. The Cantonese     8    (vary) is sweet, flavored with sugar, rice wine, and so y sauce. In Sichuan, it tends to be hotter, seasoned with chili pepper and Sichuan pepper powder. Both of them are great choices     9     ingredients for dishes like fried rice and vegetable stir-fry. Cured poultry products are commonly found in South China. They are slaughtered, butchered, and rubbed with alcohol before salting, which     10    (dry) out the meat and prevents bacteria growing on it.