【推荐1】China has rich food culture. There are interesting stories behind some cuisine (菜肴), as well as table manners relating to tableware (餐具).

Hotpot

Hotpot has been popular among Chinese people for a long time. As early as in the Shang Dynasty (16th century—11th century BC), people boiled foods in bronze cauldrons (青铜鼎). The cauldron had two parts-one was the pot to cook foods in soup, and the other part was a layer (层) or a space inside the cauldron to hold firewood.

People started to have lattice (分格的) hotpot during the Han Dynasty (206 BC—AD 220). They divided pots into several parts to enjoy different flavors (口味).

Yuan Mei was a poet and foodie (美食家) in the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). He mentioned huoguo, the Chinese name for hotpot, in a book about all kinds of food. At that time, hotpot was very popular. People put all kinds of meat and vegetables into the hotpot. They also used different materials, such as copper (铜) and iron (铁), to make pots.

Dongpo pork

There is a famous Chinese dish called “Dongpo pork”. Does it have anything to do with the great poet Su Dongpo?

Yes. Su Dongpo (Su Shi) was a poet who lived during the Song Dynasty   (960—1279). He was the first to make this dish. When he was a local official in Huangzhou, Hubei, he fell in love with cooking pork. In his article Ode to-Pork (《猪肉颂》), Su wrote about how to cook it.

According to folk stories, the dish became well-known when Su went to Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to take office. One day, there was a big flood and Su went out to help people. People heard that Su loved eating pork, so they gave him a lot of it. But Su wanted to give it back. He/cooked the pork in his own special way. Then he gave the dish to every family in the city and every worker on the street. Very soon the dish became famous in Hangzhou and got the name “Dongpo pork”.

Chopsticks

What are the dos and don’ts of using chopsticks?

For Chinese people, chopsticks are not just simple tools to pick up food. They come with their own special rules and traditions.

First, people should not make noise with chopsticks. Playing with chopsticks is seen as rude, just as playing with forks and knives in a Western country is.

There are also some superstitions (迷信) related to chopsticks. For example, some people believe that chopsticks should not be left standing upright in a bowl. It looks like the incense (香) that Chinese people use to honor (祭奠) the dead. Doing it at the dinner table is believed to bring bad luck.

You should not tap chopsticks on the edge (边缘) of the bowl either, as beggars do this to ask for food.

【推荐1】Paper cutting is a traditional art in China. It has a long history. The kind of art went after the invention of paper in the Han Dynasty. It became one of the main forms of arts, and was popular with the people of the time.

Most of the paper cutting artists are women. The themes (主题) of their works usually include everything in people’s everyday life. The main tool for paper cutting is scissors. Once they are owned by a master of paper cutting, they will do so well that they become so supernatural and their paper cuttings are beyond imagination of a common pair of scissors.

Arts come from life and serve life. Paper cutting is very popular in the countryside. They are often found in wedding ceremonies (结婚典礼) or festivals in China. And people like to decorate their windows and doors with colorful paper cuttings of different shapes and sizes whether they are birds, animals or flowers.

【推荐2】If you are ever in Vietnam, don’t miss Water Puppetry. Water Puppetry is exactly as it sounds—puppets dancing and moving on the water. It is a traditional Vietnamese art form enjoyed by people of all ages.

Vietnamese Water Puppetry originated in the Red River Delta one thousand years ago. During the harvest, farmers came together for singing and dancing with puppets in the rice fields filled with water. Slowly, Water Puppetry developed to be an art form. In the 12th century the best puppet shows in the country were chosen to entertain the king and his guests. Today Water Puppetry becomes a symbol of Vietnamese culture.

Water Puppetry is performed in a pool of water about one meter deep, with the water surface as a stage. When performing Water Puppetry, puppeteers stand in the water behind a bamboo screen throughout the show. They control the wooden puppets with long bamboo sticks and strings underwater. The puppets enter from either side of the stage or appear from the water. On the water, they move, dance jump and so on.

A traditional Vietnamese band provides background music. Musicians sing the songs which tell the stories acted out by the puppets. The musicians and the puppets collaborate during the performance. The musicians may shout to warn a puppet in danger or to encourage a puppet in need. And the puppet makes movements accordingly. Different scenes are usually introduced by the comedic host called Tễu. He leads you through different stories humorously.

The water puppet show tells daily lives in the countryside of Vietnam. Stories about the harvest, fishing and festivals are highlighted. National history is also told through short performances.

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【推荐1】You may think that bacteria（细菌）should be kept away from priceless old works of art. But some people are using bacteria to bring art back to life!

According to Popular Science, special microbes（微生物）have been used on everything from centuries-old frescoes（壁画）to oil paintings to ancient walls. People use them to clean and bring back the bright color of these pieces of cultural heritage（文物）.

Recently, an Italian art restoration （修复）team tried to clean the marble（大理石）in the Medici Chapel in Florence. It was carved（雕刻）by the famous artist Michelangelo（1475 一 1564）. They chose eight of the most useful types of bacteria from about 1, 000 and tested them on the marble. The bacteria successfully cleaned the contaminants （污染物）while leaving the marble unharmed.

“Biocleaning” - using bacteria to clean artworks - was first used in the 1990s by Italian biologist Giancarlo Ranalli. A team was trying to clean frescoes at a cemetery（公墓）in Pisa, Italy. When the cemetery was ruined in World War II, people used animal glue to hold the works together. The team wanted to clean away the glue. They turned to Ranalli and asked: “Dr. Ranalli, can’t you do anything with your bugs?”

It turns out that bacteria are perfect for this kind of task - if you choose the right one. For Ranalli, it was Pseudomonas stutzeri（施氏假单胞菌）. It ate through the animal glue while leaving the original color of the artworks. Now scientists have grown different types of bacteria for certain contaminants, reported Forbes.

It is the artists who create artworks, but it is the bacteria that help people enjoy them in the future.

【推荐2】As the global pandemic (大流行病) speeds up, many are wondering about the effectiveness of masks and when it's necessary to wear them. Most people from the East believe that wearing a mask is essential to control the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP). But people in the West generally would argue that, unless one is already ill, wearing a mask is simply unnecessary.

In Eastern countries like China, mask-wearing is ingrained in their cultures. In fact, people in the East wear masks not just to protect themselves from illness but also for a variety of other reasons.

In many Asian countries, masks are worn in many scenarios (情景) in daily life, such as doing housework or visiting patients in the hospital. They can give people the comfort of being protected. In recent years, they are worn simply for cosmetic reasons. Young people in Japan, for example, wear masks as a fashion statement, expressing their personal style through unique designs and patterns.

In Asia, wearing a face mask, deeply rooted in the culture, is also an outward expression of group-oriented values. With one's face partially covered, one becomes part of a giant collectivist (集体主义的) whole. "People communicated their responsibilities to the social group of which they were members," wrote Peter Baehr, a research professor in social theory at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. "By disguising an individual's face, it gave greater salience (突显) to collective identity. Just like we need to wear uniforms when we are at work or at school."

In Western countries, however, individual values are the most important. As a citizen, it is one's duty to prevent the spread of illness by following proper hygienic procedures, such as washing one's hands and limiting one's contact with others. However, a face mask is taken as something only for those showing symptoms (症状) of illness.

Whether from the East or the West, social culture and peer pressure have played an important role in one's decision about whether or not to wear a mask. That's because human beings are social creatures who take into consideration what other members of society think of us. The most important thing is to respect others' opinions, no matter how different they are.

【推荐3】① It is common to surf the Internet at home now. However, a recent survey showed over 90% of parents are not clear what websites their children visit. I strongly believe that a training project should be started to help parents to improve their internet and computer skills. Then they can better monitor and guide their children.

② Providing training would get parents to pay more attention to their children’s online activities.

This is one advantage. If parents had a better understanding of the internet and websites, they would see the need to make sure that their children use it properly and responsibly.

③ Providing training to parents would allow parents to help their children with their schoolwork as well. These days, some homework of online courses needs to be done on computer. If parents have poor computer skills, they will be of little or no help with the homework. That can make parents very upset. Some people argue that it is good that students can work independently on computers. However, it is clear that students, especially young students often need this kind of home support.

④ Improving parents’ Internet and computer skills might also be a good way for parents to improve their relationships with their children. These days, children spend a lot of their free time on computers. If parents want to be part of their free time, they need to see that playing on computers can be a fun family activity. Joining their children can help parents bridge the gap between them and their children.

⑤ Most people believe that children need to be helped and guided to use the Internet in a proper and responsible way. Therefore, training is extremely important.