China is in the middle of a boom in rural tourism as city residents escape the country’s     1     (rapid) expanding urban centers to head out to small communities and farms for a taste of the simple life. And the tourism industry couldn’t be     2     (happy).

With international tourism all but impossible due to     3    ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a demand for domestic alternatives isn’t     4     (surprise) , especially as China is home to 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

But Chinese tourists aren’t just heading to their country’s historic and natural wonders; some     5     (seek) something a bit different. In posts to Chinese social media site Weibo, one user named Ancailie said after spending a day watching rice grow     6     eating home-grown food, she was “much more delighted”.

Chinese-owned Trip. com Group, one of the world’s largest online travel     7     (agency), said rural tourism trips in China had increased year-on-year     8     more than 300%. The trend is so     9     (profit) that Trip. com is planning a “five-year action plan” to promote rural tourism.

Zhou Mingqi, founder and general manager of Shanghai Tour Guide Enterprise Management Consulting, said Chinese people were getting tired of lives in big cities. “There is a need     10     (experience) a different kind of life to change a lifestyle on the weekend,” he said.

Mount Hua is famous for its breathtaking cliffs.     1     has always been my dream to climb it. Finally I had the chance to make my dream come true.

We got to the foot of Mount Hua at 9:40 pm. We started at about 10:00 pm, and it took us the whole night     2    (climb) to the top. Ninety-five per cent of climbers were campus students. The whole atmosphere was like we were from one campus, participating     3     a large PE class.

We got to the North Peak first. It is the only way to reach the East Peak in order to watch the sunrise. It was about 4:40 am     4     we reached the East Peak. There was still another hour     5    (remain) until sunrise. The time passed     6    (quick) as we chatted and imagined the great scene of sunrise while staying close to each other for comfort. The     7    (east) sky reddened little by little.We all watched intently (专心地), not     8    (make) a sound. But unfortunately more and more clouds gathered. “It is cloudy,” someone said. “Although the sunrise on a cloudy day is not so amazing, it is still charming and attractive. The combination of clouds and sun     9    (create) a totally different feeling. Look! The sun is like     10     fireball in the claw of dragon.”

In some parts of northern China, “dikengyuan” in Mandarin, which means “ground hole courtyards,” is a type of cave dwellings (“yaodong”) commonly     1     (find) in the Loess Plateau in northern China. Academic literature mentions they came into     2     (exist) about 7,000 years ago.

The soil of the Loess Plateau,     3     these cave dwellings are built, is an effective substance that can keep people warm during the winter. More     4     (important), the yellow earth of the Loess is not only soft and easy     5     (dig) into, but also strong enough that it can hold together even without support.

While the size of the courtyard     6     (vary), the cave dwellings can go up to 12 meters long. After a ground hole is dug for the courtyard, the rooms     7     (carve) out from the four walls of the sunken courtyard.

Some scholars outside China consider the dwellings to be a natural adaptation to the climatic patterns in that region, with     8     (freeze) and long winters, and extremely burning summer heat.

While these houses have been around for thousands of years,     9     government only listed them as part of China’s intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

Many of these ancient homes, especially in the Shanzhou district of Sanmenxia City in China’s Henan province, have been restored and turned     10     tourist attractions.