Have you ever tasted or perhaps heard of sugar painting? As fewer people choose to make sugar paintings, the traditional Chinese folk craft might have been become a     1     (distance) memory in some ways. However, a craftsman, Li Jianzhong, is devoted to     2    (keep)the art of sugar painting alive.

Li worked as a miner for more than ten years. After     3     mine closed down, Li turned     4     housing decoration until he     5     (force) to give that up due to a finger injury. Later. he discovered sugar painting, something he really had an interest in.

Since there was no sugar painting craftsman in his village, he studied by     6    (he) through large quantities of videos and information on the Internet. Li loved painting when he was young, and he found it easy to learn the skill and could make     7     (vary) of sugar paintings. A sugar painting is made with     8     (melt) brown or white sugar. Craftsman     9     (basic) paint animals and flowers on a stone board with the syrup. When the sugar cools down, what     10     (appear) is a piece of sugar art.

Flames in kilns (窑) around China have been burning since the Xia and Shang dynasties. Along the way, porcelain (瓷器) was born.

Porcelain     1     (make) by heating raw materials, often a mix of china stone and kaolin clay, in a kiln at a temperature as high as 1,200 degrees Celsius. Temperature is key to making porcelain. Going through the fire of recreation at a high temperature makes porcelain with greater     2       (strong).

Celadon (青瓷) produced in Longquan, Zhejiang Province, with a technique passed down for more than 1,600 years,     3     (be) a typical example of craftsmen’s pursuit of the perfect green flash. It takes 72 steps     4     (produce) Longquan celadon’s jade-like green. Plum green and light green, or tianqing (the color of the sky after a rain), are the     5     (good) of all colors in quality.

Porcelain has also been a carrier for cultural exchanges. Along with China’s silk and tea, porcelain was one of the first supplies to receive worldwide trade.

As it travelled around the globe through the ancient Maritime Silk Road, porcelain was popular     6     royal (皇家的) families and upper classes in Europe, who were interested in these beautiful containers they named after China, the country     7     produced them.

Porcelain began as     8     useful tool and developed into art. Even when it is broken into     9     (piece) and buried deep in mud,     10     (it) cultural values will never disappear. As a memory that can be felt with both hands, porcelain is history that can be touched.