China is widely known for its ancient civilisation     1     has continued all the way through into modern times,     2     the many ups and downs in its history. One of the main     3     (factor) has been the Chinese writing system. At the beginning, Written Chinese     4     (date) back several thousand years to the use of longgu—animal bones and shells on which symbols     5     (carve) by ancient Chinese people. By the Shang Dynasty, these symbols    6     (become) a well-developed writing system. Emperor Qinshihuang united the seven major states into one unified country     7     the Chinese writing system began to develop in one direction. That writing system was     8     great importance in     9     (unite) the Chinese people and culture. Written Chinese has also become     10     important means by which China’s present is connected with its past.

Three years ago, Li Ziqi, 29, started her video blogs on traditional food and crafts after     1     (give) up city life to return to the village where she     2     (bring) up by her grandparents.

Li has a library of 100 videos that have been     3     (wide) followed by audiences across the world. She also has about 20 million fans on Weibo, where a discussion about her contribution was started by network opinion leader Lei Silin     4     an article that asked: “Why is Li Ziqi not exporting culture?”

“She displays a happy countryside life and sends out positive energy,” said one user. “watching her videos reduces my pressure and makes me feel     5     (comfort) and relaxed. The     6     (scene) in her videos are very beautiful.”

Another wrote that official media failed     7     (send) out attractive messages about Chinese culture, but Li’s videos did. “Whether you question her or not,     8     she shows is traditional culture,” the user wrote.

Others disagreed. “We Chinese don’t live that way.     9     is a negative culture output to show the underdeveloped aspect (方面) of China to foreigners.” One user said.

State broadcaster CCTV weighed into the debate on Tuesday. “Li     10     (promote) Chinese culture in a good way and tells a good China story.”

China’s Shenzhou-13 crew members Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu livestreamed the first science lecture from the country’s space station on Thursday afternoon,    1    amazed numerous students on Earth.

The lecture started at 3:40 p.m.(Beijing Time) and lasted about 45 minutes. A total of 1,420 primary and middle school students    2    (attend) the lecture from five classrooms across China.

At the beginning of the class, Wang, the first female taikonaut    3    (enter) China’s space station, gave the students a tour of    4    (they) living and working areas    5    the help of her two male crewmates. She showcased the bedrooms and toilet, a    6    (full) functional kitchen in which the taikonauts prepare their meals each day, the area where they conduct scientific experiments and their fitness    7    (equip), including a treadmill(跑步机) and a spin bike. In    8    (respond) to a Hong Kong student’s question about water, Wang said the water they drink is recycled,    9    (note) that there is no difference in taste    10    regular and recycled water.

The Shenzhou-13 crew went into space aboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship and entered the Tianhe core module on October 16, setting out on their six-month stay in space, which is China’s longest-ever crewed mission.

Dating back to the Qin Dynasty, the incense (香料) craft and its culture developed fast during the Song Dynasty and found wider popularity during the Ming and Qing     1     (dynasty). In ancient times it was used     2     (prevent) disease, insects, mosquitoes and preserve people’s health. For decades, Yang Jinqing, an inheritor of incense making, has committed himself     3     the traditional craft, which     4     (name) a national intangible cultural heritage in June 2021. Initially, he purchased incense production equipment and raw materials while visiting senior incense masters, from     5     he obtained valuable information. With all the resources ready, Yang experimented repeatedly     6     restored many ancient incense recipes. His efforts     7     (pay) off when he made it to present a dozen ancient incenses, including ambergris (龙涎香) and those featuring the scents of rose and lily. Yang also makes sure his products move with the times,     8     (roll) out thousands of incense products with a modern appeal. To date, he has innovated     9     traditional craft by making smokeless incense and developing a legendary product which, after burning, displays promising patterns and characters. They have won him multiple national patents     10     (succeed).

Nathan Sawaya’s childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and so on. Nathan Sawaya was     1     (interest) in building blocks when he was young. At the age of 5, his grandparents bought his first set of building blocks and he     2     (play) with them ever since. He even took his building blocks to college with him. Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village     3     (make) of bricks on his desk.

Nathan started as a lawyer     4     gave up his well-paid job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks     5     are used by him to make pieces of art in his office in New York. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait. It took him two days just     6     (build) the eyes.

Nathan’s works have appeared in museums around     7     world. People love his arts because they are     8     (fascinate). Since it began in 2007, Nathan’s exhibition “The Art of the Brick” has been very popular with museum     9     (visitor) everywhere.

“I have fulfilled my childhood dream, and I have actually made a job out of it,” Nathan says     10     (proud). “To do what you love in life is the most important thing.”

A black slate (石板), an alloy steel needle and decades of practice are what Li Yahua needs to create the perfect Huihe stone shadow carving work of art. With her left hand     1     (gentle) leaning against the mirror-like stone to support the heavy chisel (凿子) she’s holding in her right hand, the artist creates a black-and-white landscape by intensively chiseling dots in various sizes and density on the stone.

Different from traditional Chinses art types that emphasize the beauty of lines, stone shadow carving highlights the size and     2     (deep) of dots. “We use an alloy steel needle to chisel white dots to create image on a polished and smooth black slate,” Li explained, adding the pressure     3     (use) to chisel them was the key to getting the carving right. “On an A4-paper-size black slate, we need to chisel about 100 million dots     4     (create) an image,” she continued, adding it would take 7 to 20 days to complete the work depending on its level of complexity. Born into a family of stone carves, stone and alloy steel needles     5     (be) Li’s best friends since childhood and the sound of chisel     6     (knock) on the slate is the soundtrack to her life.     7     56-year old has devoted nearly 40 years to the craft, which made someone laugh at the     8     (absurd) of the situation. For her, shadow curving is about preserving history, culture and art,     9     recording the stories of the times. “It is vital that we should be prepared     10    twists and turns.” She said.