【推荐1】You couldn’t deeply experience Chengdu if you don’t prepare to do nothing. Sit on a bamboo chair, spread your feet out and let the afternoon slow away. Listen to hot water poured into tea cups. Taste melon seeds (瓜子) or boiled peanuts. And tea houses are the right places for you and should always be on your must-go list.

Sichuan is one of China’s major tea-producing regions. Chengdu was famous for its tea houses as early as the Tang dynasty. For centuries, tea houses were places for fun and tea. There, customers can enjoy storytelling, music, and especially Sichuan Opera. That is not a popular art these days, but Yuelai Teahouse beside Jinjiang Theater still arranges operas every Saturday afternoon.

You will find most of Chengdu’s traditional tea houses in parks. Heming Teahouse in Renmin Park attracts lunchtime office workers and afternoon visitors. When noise gets too much because of more visitors, move on to Shaocheng Teahouse in the same park. Visitors are older and quieter. They bring songbirds, hanging their cages in trees and have fun. However, new-style tea houses have been opened to attract the younger generation. They want to have a taste for traditional teas in a more modern style. The most famous one of them is Mi Xun Teahouse in Taikoo Li, which is right in the city’s most fashionable shopping area.

As in all tea houses, the tea comes in separate packets which can be kept warm. Maofeng green tea from Mount Emei, south of Chengdu, is the traditional favorite. Shake the leaves into your cup. Don’t let the water in your cup get too low, since any bad taste from the leaves is on the bottom. You can enjoy your tea all afternoon and order nothing else.

In Chengdu tea houses, people relax themselves by staying away from busy work and life. The capital of Sichuan is developing fast too, but has managed to keep its slower style that has been lost in many other Chinese cities.

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【推荐2】The first kind of fan, known as shanhan, was tied to a horse-drawn carriage (马车) to shut out the strong sunshine and protect passengers from the rain. It was a bit like an umbrella today. Later the shanhan became a long-handled fan. It was made of materials like silk or birds’ feathers. It was named zhangshan which was mainly used by the emperor’s honor guard as decoration (装饰).

In fact, fans were not used to help cool people until the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, they were usually made of feathers and called feather fans. They were only popular among the rich. The popularity of fans rose during the Han Dynasty when simple cattail-leaf fans were invented. These fans were still the most popular among the common people during the Song Dynasty.     

Around the same period, a silk fan in the shape of the moon, called the round fan, became the favorite of young ladies, especially those in the palace. Beautiful pictures of animals or flowers were embroidered (刺绣) on the face of the fan. The pictures were so lively that the fans were deeply loved by young ladies.

During the late Song Dynasty, the folding fan appeared. As these fans could be easily folded and carried, they soon came into fashion. They were usually made of Xuan paper or silk and beautifully painted. Many painters are well-known as fan-painting artists, such as Qi Baishi, Wu Changshuo and Xu Beihong.

Today, there are over 500 kinds of fans in China. Widely used for thousands of years, Chinese fans are still bringing people cool wind and our excellent Chinese culture.

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【推荐3】Have you heard the saying “Fall down seven times, stand up eight”? It means that however difficult things get and however many mistakes you make, have the passion and energy to keep going. This is called perseverance and it can help you achieve lots of things.

Perseverance means keeping doing something over a long time, even when the going gets difficult. It’s believed that you can achieve a goal if you prepare to work for it. Practicing a trick (技巧) on your bike over and over again or finishing a picture without throwing it away and starting afresh shows perseverance. Florence, 11, says, “It means never giving up, being determined and trying hard to push yourself. I go running with my mom three times a week, even when I don’t feel like it, because I want to be the fastest in my class.”

Studies show that feeling hopeful and working towards a goal that you really want to reach can reduce stress and make you feel happier. Achieving something you’ve worked hard for, and overcoming challenges along the way, can also develop your confidence and make you feel braver to try new things. Angela Duckworth is an expert in thoughts and feelings. She studies perseverance, which she calls “grit (勇气)”. Duckworth believes that it doesn’t matter how talented, clever or rich you are, having grit is what really helps you succeed. She explains, no matter how gifted you are, and no matter how easily you do well in your lessons, you should have perseverance.

Duckworth believes perseverance is something anyone can learn, and the best way to do this is to have a growth mind. This means believing that your brain can grow, and that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. So instead of thinking, “I can’t do this”, try thinking, “I can’t do this... yet”. As the book The Big Life Journal says, “People with a growth idea know they can get better by working hard. They keep trying even when things are difficult.”