The program “China Year in Russia” has ended, but the cultural relationship between the two countries grow stronger. “Chinese fever (中国热)” continues in Russia.

Fifty-year-old Wei Dehan     1     (study) Chinese culture for thirty years. He was one of the first Russians to open     2     Chinese teahouse in Moscow. That was in 1995. Now he also     3     (teach) Chinese. During “China Year in Russia,” he set up a magazine     4     (introduce) Chinese culture. It is popular     5     local readers.

In Russia, young people who can speak Chinese     6     (be) welcome everywhere. Young people who are able to speak Chinese language find jobs     7     (easy). Some 15, 000 people attend Chinese language classes in Russia. The Confucius Institute (孔子学院), the worldwide Chinese language and culture education center, has been set up in thirteen of Russia’s     8     (university).

Also, Chinese way of life is commonly seen in the daily lives of Russian people. Green tea, Chinese food     9     Tai Chi are becoming more and more popular.

Russian newspapers and magazines praised “China Year in Russia” as a great event.     10     (them) said that the program deepened understanding between the people of the two countries. It also opens the way for future culture exchanges.

The sweetest memory of my childhood is about a round table. When I was still little, my whole family would get together on different traditional festivals to have dinner. We kids would be setting around or playing hide-and-seek under the table while the grown-ups     1     (have) a discussion.

When I got a bit older, my aunt     2     (bring) back her boyfriend and my grandma cheerfully added another seat to the round table. It seemed a little more crowded, but we all felt much closer to each other. When I was twelve, my grandpa passed away. That made us     3     (feel) sad.

However, when the whole family got together once again, we totally agreed that his chair should     4     (remain) the same, even though his seat was empty.

We all have a table like this in our homes. It is a sign of reunion of our family showing our feelings. Although the reason why we     5     (come) together may be different, the feelings behind it are the same. Usually different cultures     6     (accept) by us around the table. What’s more, we express the love not only for our family, our nation and even the whole world.

The history of our nation has been the stories of looking for or running to the round table which we belong to. The round table     7     (be) a symbol of the Chinese feeling. It was, it is and will always be.