Performers from South-east Asia took part in an International lion dance competition in Singapore ahead of the lunar New Year，    1     most important holiday in the Chinese calendar．

The participants at the 11th International Lion Dance Competition     2     (come)from Vietnam，Singapore，Myanmar，Indonesia，Hong Kong China and Malaysia．They were judged according to their skills，grace and music．This year’s     3     (win)was a team from Hong Kong China．

“Lion dancing is a     4     (fade)tradition as we are seeing less interest among the young people，who are more interested     5       spending time on their electronic devices indoors，”said Joseph Low，the head judge．

The traditional dance includes performers     6    (dress)in a lion’s costume and mimicking(模仿) the animal’s movements．The lion dance is believed to bring good fortune．Usually，the lion dance       7    (perform)during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional festivals．It may also be performed at important occasions such as business opening events，special celebrations or wedding     8     (ceremony)．

There are two main forms of the Chinese lion dance，the Northern Lion and the Southern Lion．Both forms are     9     (common)found in China，but around the world especially in South-east Asia，the Southern Lion is more common as it is spread by the Chinese communities     10     are mostly of Southern Chinese origin．

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is Qixi, widely     1     (regard) as China Valentine’s Day. But do you know the origin of this     2     (romance) festival?

The story goes that the Weaver Girl     3     (fall) in love with a cowherd. The Jade Emperor was strongly against the couple’s union and then separated them by the Milky Way, leaving them torn apart by the galaxy and only allowing them     4     (meet) once a year.

    5     that, the distance could not stop their love for one another and they looked forward to meeting once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

However, with the development of high speed railways, the tragedy of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl could not happen in modern China. A ride between Beijing and Shanghai on the high-speed rail only takes four hours. The     6     (efficient) of modern travel has shortened the”galactic distance“ between couples.

On Qixi, more and more young people are going on dates and exchanging gifts to express their affection,     7     are quite impressive. Love is in     8     air at the gate of the Civil Affairs Bureau(民政局), and long queues     9     (form) when couples rush to register for marriage. This is because Qixi carries     10     (it) a symbolic meaning: choose your own love and remain faithful to life.