China on October 12     1     (official) announced the first group of national parks. Home to nearly 30 percent of the key wildlife species found in China, they cover     2     protected land area of 230,000 square kilometers.

The     3     (establish) of the first group of national parks is a practical move by China     4     (show) its effort to promote natural ecological protection.

The Three-River-Source National Park     5     (locate) on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau—known as the world’s “third pole”. The Giant Panda National Park protects the major habitats of 70 percent of the country’s wild giant pandas. The Hainan Rainforest National Park is home to China’s largest rainforest and the Hainan gibbon. The Wuyi Mountain National Park experimental area is the only park in China     6     is listed as a UNESCO cultural and     7     (nature) heritage site. It emphasizes sustainable development between     8     (human) and nature,     9     (reflect) China’s environmental protection principle.

Commercial activities are banned in the national parks and are all put     10     the control of the national rules for ecological protection.

A group of researchers and scientists from China and abroad are working together to help increase knowledge and     1    (appreciate) of China’s ancient cultural heritage. They are recording and collecting digital     2    (image) of cultural relics from the Mogao Caves,     3     were a key stop along the Silk Road throughout China’s ancient history.

Today, the Mogao Caves are just as international as they     4    (be) at the time when people travelled the Silk Road. Tourists from all over     5     world visit Dunhuang to see the caves, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles has even reproduced a copy of the caves and paintings for people to admire in America.

By     6    (share) so many digital photos over the Internet, the group hopes     7    (promote) even wider interest around the world in China’s ancient history, culture, and traditions. They want to further educate people about the importance of safeguarding     8    (history) and cultural relics for future generations to understand and appreciate. As one researcher who is working     9     the project explains, “Appreciating one’s own cultural heritage is very important for understanding     10    (one). Appreciating the cultural heritage of other countries is very important for international communication and understanding.”

More than 500 pieces of relics     1     (discover) at the Sanxingdui Ruins site last year. The relics include golden masks, jade and ivory artifacts and bronze wares     2     were exquisitely (精美地) built and     3     (unique) shaped, said the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration on Sept 9, 2021.

Tang Fei, chief of the Research Institute, said, “The new discoveries demonstrate once again that the imagination and     4     (create) of the ancient Chinese far surpassed     5     people today had expected.”

Tang     6     (add) that the excavation of the new pits entered a critical stage,     7     more items yet to be unearthed. He also anticipated that the items found would challenge the     8     (convention) wisdom of archaeologists.

    9     (locate) in the city of Guanghan, around 60 km from Chengdu, the ruins covering an area of 12 square km are believed to be the relics of the Shu Kingdom,     10     (date) back some 4,500 to 3,000 years.

An event featuring papercutting,     1    aims to familiarize students with traditional Chinese culture through intangible cultural heritage,     2    (hold) on Wednesday at the Second Primary School of Fengning Manchu autonomous county in Chengde city, North China’s Hebei province. Guo Fengzhi, one of the     3    (inheritor) of Fengning papercutting, instructs students on paper-cutting techniques,     4    (include) folding, cutting and engraving.

Fengning Manchu papercutting, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911), has     5    (distinction) cultural characteristics and ethnic style. It was listed as     6     national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006. In 2009, it was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In recent years, Fengning county     7    (take) the school as a base for the inheritance of traditional culture.     8     offering intangible cultural heritage courses such as paper-cutting, students are guided     9    (understand) and care about intangible cultural heritage, and then     10    (active) participate in the promotion of Fengning’s traditional culture.

On September 17, 2023, the Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er     1    (gain) World Heritage Site status, becoming a new Chinese entry on that list. This means that it has been recognized     2     an important place of cultural significance.

The heritage site in Pu’er, Yunnan province is located about 1, 500     3     (meter) above the sea level. It     4     (have) five large-scale, well-preserved old tea forests. It is the first World Heritage Site with the theme of tea. It was jointly created by ancestors of Blang people, who immigrated to Jingmai Mountain in the tenth century, and by the ancestors of Dai people.     5     (they) contributions have turned it into an unique and beautiful place     6     we see today.     7     (make) sure lastingly inherited (继承) outstanding universal values of the old tea forests, China will better guide local communities to join in protection     8     regulate tourism. It will also advance international cooperation and cultural exchanges in     9     World Heritage circle. The heritage site presents the ecological wisdom that can be     10     (inspire) for sustainable development of the world today.

Bridges made out of living roots (根) of trees have been put forward for UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The root bridges are in the Meghalaya region of northeast India. The region gets a lot of rainfall and is one of the wettest     1     (area) on Earth. That creates     2     number of lakes, rivers and waterfalls,     3     (make) it difficult to build roads. However, for hundreds of years the local Khasi people have been trying     4     (they) best to grow root bridges across rivers and streams to make it much     5     (easy) for them to move around the area.

The bridges     6     (build) by stretching (延伸) the roots of living trees over the river and winding them around bamboo structures to guide them in the right     7     (direct). The roots can take up to 20 years     8     (grow) into a complete bridge.

The India government has suggested Meghalaya’s root bridges should be added     9     the UNESCO World Heritage List.     10     means they will be recognized officially. They will attract more tourists and money to the area, just like Egypt’s pyramids (金字塔) or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Morningstar Khongthaw from Meghalaya said, “We want to spread this knowledge so that future generations will benefit.”