【推荐2】A new study involving nearly 50,000 people from four continents offers new insights into identifying the quantity of daily walking steps that will best improve adults’ health and longevity(长寿), and whether the ideal number of steps differs across people of different ages. The study represents an effort to develop an evidence-based public health message about the benefits of physical activity. The often-repeated 10,000-step-a-day saying grew out of a decades-old marketing activity for a Japanese pedometer(计步器), with no science to back it up.

Led by physical activity professor Amanda Paluch, an international group of scientists conducted an experiment among adults aged 18 and older. They grouped the nearly 50,000 participants into four comparative groups according to average steps per day. The lowest step group averaged 3,500 steps; the second, 5,800; the third, 7,800; and the fourth, 10,900 steps per day. Among the three higher active groups, there was a 40—53% lower risk of death, compared to the lowest step group.

More specifically, for adults 60 and older, the risk of early death leveled off at about 6,000—8,000 steps per day, meaning that more steps than that provided no additional benefit for longevity, while for adults younger than 60, about 8, 000—10,000 steps per day.

“So, what we saw was this continuing reduction in risk as the number of steps increases, until it levels off. Interestingly, the study found no definitive association with walking speed.” Paluch says.

The new study supports and expands findings from another study led by Paluch before, which found that walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people’s risk of early death. “There’s a lot of evidence suggesting that moving even a little more is beneficial, particularly for those who are doing very little activity.” Paluch says. “More steps per day are better for your health.”

【推荐3】The US government has come out with new advice for Americans about how much exercise they should get each week.

In 2008, the US government came out with its first set of exercise advice, called Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines were based on research by scientists into how people could stay healthy by being active.

Since 2008, scientists have learned more about how helpful exercise is. For example, they’ve learned that being active can make it much less likely that someone will suffer from illnesses. Exercise also makes people worry less, sleep better, and makes their brains work better. So, now, ten years later, after the government has studied the findings, they’ve come up with a new set of guidelines.

Much of the advice is the same as it was in 2008, but there are a few changes. One change is that the government has added activity guidelines for children aged 3 to 5. This was not included in 2008, because younger children were usually very active then. But now, as young children spend more time looking at screens, they are moving less. The government says that children between 3 and 5 should have at least three hours of active play a day.

For children aged 6 to 17, the guidelines have not changed much since 2008. The government says they should get at least an hour of medium to very active movement every day. Most of these activities should be strong enough to raise the heart rate. Children should also do activities that build muscles at least three times a week.

In 2008, the government said that adults should get at least 150 to 300 minutes of medium strength activity every week. But only 20% of Americans actually move that much. Now based on new scientific findings, the government says that even short periods of movement that raise the heart rate are helpful.

The government is starting a program called “Move Your Way”, which it hopes will help encourage Americans to get healthier by meeting these movement goals.

【推荐1】“It is the honor of a lifetime to repair precious ancient works, “says Hou Xue, a representative inheritor (继承人) of the state-level intangible cultural heritage of producing gold-inlaid lacquerware (金漆镶嵌).

Hou majored in art and design at the North China University of Technology. At that time, he hoped to find a job in a newspaper as an art editor. But, as chance would have it, he met Bai Qun, the inheritor of the craft of gold-inlaid lacquerware, who invited him to visit an exhibition of palace arts. Elegant works there appealed to Hou, and more importantly, he was surprised and deeply impressed by the extremely beautiful craftsmanship. Hou was so impressed, that when Bai asked whether Hou would like to learn this craft and start a career, he nodded without hesitation.

At Bai’s recommendation, Hou formally joined Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlaid Co. Ltd. in 2009. Every day, he got up at 4 a. m. in order to be at work by 8 a. m. , and took a bus to go back to his dormitory in the evening. In summer, it was very hot in the workshop, while in winter, it was freezing. From 2014 to 2016, he worked in the Palace Museum, focusing on protective restoration (修复) and replication (复制) work. Through several years of devoted study and practice, Hou has won many honors and titles.

In early 2022, the company joined hands with other local museums to launch handcrafted watches. The highlight of these watches lies in their appearance, which combines Po-phase flowers, highly favored in the Tang Dynasty, and the artistic concept of Maurits Cornelis Escher, a famous Dutch printmaker. The watch was soon sold out after being put on the market. Hou was thus inspired by this experience. “Excellent intangible cultural heritage works are not those thrown into museums for exhibition, but those that live up to modern aesthetic (审美的) level and modern life, “he said .

Hou said that he gauges an intangible cultural heritage item by the value it produces and the profits it brings. “If consumers are not interested in such works and inheritors can’t earn a living by doing the job, then these works have no value and the inheritance is worthless,” he added.

【推荐2】Books are the most valuable cultural heritage. However, there are many ancient Chinese classics suffering from different degrees of damage due to various reasons.     1    

Bai Yuzhi,a post-90s restorer (修复师) at the Wuhan Library,graduated from Wuhan University in 2016 with a major in restoring ancient books. She is now the fourth generation of restorers at the Wuhan Library, Bai started practicing this technique during her after-class activities at college in 2014.     2     “I’m shy and not good at socializing, so this job suits me very well,” she said

    3     The restoration steps cannot be rushed. When restorers receive an ancient book, their first task is not to directly restore it but to observe it and record the book’s important details. After that, the restorers will open the book,remove every page, and repair it on the back side.     4     It may take one or two days to restore a single page. So it could take at least a month to complete the restoration of a whole book.

Bai has restored about 10,000 pages of ancient books in her over 10 years of work. The most difficult part of the restoration, according to her, is keeping everything under exact control over every stage.     5     If the paste (面糊) is too thin, the repaired pages may easily come off and become broken, which could affect the quality of the restoration. However, if the paste is too thick, the fixed pages will be tough, challenging to open.

With the advancement of science and digital technology, the methods for protecting ancient books have become more various.

【推荐3】What did people do for fun before smartphones and computers were invented? After conducting research, I learned that Cantonese opera (粤剧) was the top form of entertainment in China for centuries. With singing and spoken lines delivered in the Cantonese dialect, Cantonese opera is one of several operatic types born in Guangdong province.

To learn more about the art form, I spoke with Lui Hung-kwong, program director of the Cantonese Opera Academy of Hong Kong. He’s also a well-known performer. Here is something from our conversation.

From the 19th century through the early 20th century, opera troupes (剧团) would perform along the Pearl River Delta in southern China. They lived on boats that were painted red and transported them to various temple festivals during the performance season. A troupe typically stayed in a city for a few days, performing different plays each day. By the 1930s, the major performing places for Cantonese opera had moved to big cities, and more convenient forms of transportation began to be used. As a result, the red boats began to disappear.

In each opera production, the story is told through the “four basic skills” of singing, acting, delivery of spoken lines and martial arts. These are improved by stage makeup, costumes, props and the beats on gongs and drums. The performance is a mix of literature, drama, ballad singing, dance and martial arts.

Cantonese opera is supposed to mirror real life. Older generations read the old stories, and listened to them on the radio. It was like pop culture to them. But our lives today differ greatly from the stories told in the opera. So Cantonese opera begins to tell some themes that will interest kids today. For example, a fairy fails an exam and is forced to come to the earth, where she must learn from human children.