The Dunhuang Academy’s cultural relics protection team was honored with the title of National Outstanding Engineering Team early this year, China’s highest honor in the field of engineering.

Su Bomin,     1     (direct) of the Dunhuang Academy and head of the protection team, has been involved in protection work for nearly 40 years, and the protection team has expanded (扩大) from four members in 1992     2     over 200 members today. However, during     3     protection process, Su’s team met many challenges.

They have     4     (successful) rescued and protected cultural heritage sites (文化遗址) in153 locations across 13 provinces and regions,     5     ( provide ) a Chinese solution for the protection of ancient murals (壁画) worldwide.

“Through the continuous efforts of several     6     (generation) at the Mogao Grottoes, effective results of protection and management     7     (achieve) until now,” Su said.

The Mogao Grottoes,     8     meets all six standards for World Cultural Heritage, is the largest     9     best-protected Buddhist cave art site in the world.

“There is nothing that can be kept for a very long time; the fate (命运) of the Mogao Grottoes is continuous degradation (退化). What we, throughout our lives, are doing is trying our best     10     (stop) destruction, making the Mogao Grottoes stand for a longer time,” said Su.

In 2000, Xidi and the nearby Hongcun village     1    (declare) world heritage (遗产) sites by UNESCO for their outstanding     2     (preserve) of rural architecture dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now, walking along the bluestone streets in Xidi or Hongcun, visitors can appreciate the distinctive Huizhou-style houses,     3     (feature) white walls, dark tiles (瓦片) and horse-head gables (山墙), and feel like they are immersed in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

Huizhou architecture, with its long tradition and great diversity, occupies     4     important place in Chinese architectural landscape. Since Huizhou is a     5     (mountain) area with few flat areas of land, its houses tend to be built to match the natural features.

Huizhou is famous for its stone, wood and brick carvings, which are     6     (wide) used in the decoration of local houses. In this way, native people integrate their aesthetic values and emotions     7     the buildings, making them more beautiful and educating their children through the meanings     8     (contain) in the patterns.

Features of Huizhou houses display the characteristics of local people. “If you look at the outside of a Huizhou house, it seems enclosed (封闭的) by walls,     9     the insides are open and broad. It is just like Huizhou people,     10     are often reserved toward strangers but friendly when you get to know them,” says Zhou Hu, director of Shexian’s cultural heritage administration.

The dragon, or loong in Chinese, is the only imaginary creature among the 12 Chinese zodiac signs (生肖). It has been present in legends for thousands of years, and     1    (recognize) as a national totem (图腾) and has a long-held spiritual importance in Chinese culture.

According to the legends, the dragon is capable of changing     2    (it) size and visibility at will. It can be found flying through the clouds on the spring equinox (chunfen), or    3    (hide) in water on the autumn equinox (qiufen). Its     4    (mystery) powers—particularly its control over rain—     5    (be) central to agricultural society. The lucky creature was historically associated with the East,    6     used as a symbol to represent imperial power, explaining the significance of the dragon in Chinese culture.

Dragons can be found throughout ancient Chinese art. The jade Jue dragon from the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology     7    (date) back around 7,000 years to the Neolithic period between 5,500 BC to 5,000 BC. It is     8     object from the late Hongshan culture period. It has a large head, with pointed ears and protruding (突出的) jaws. Jue objects are widely believed to be the earliest     9    (image) of the dragon, and archaeologists have supposed that the image could     10    (original) have been based on a pig, bear or even a silkworm.