In Chinese culture, people believe that lucky numbers can bring them good luck. So, it is important for Chinese people to choose a good number for important things. For example, they choose lucky numbers for wedding (婚礼) dates and dates of moving into a new house.

The number 6, 8 and 9 are the favorite lucky numbers of most Chinese people. Combinations of the above are thought as lucky numbers too, such-as 66, 88, 168. Of all the individual numbers, 8 is surely the luckiest number in China.

“8” is associated with wealth. “8” in Chinese is pronounced ba and sounds similar to fa. The traditional Chinese word facai means “wealthy” or “becoming rich in a short time”.

There are many phrases or expressions associated with “8”, such as “Bamian laicai”, meaning “wealth” comes from eight sides and “Bamian chunfeng”, meaning “spring wind comes from eight directions”, expressing the wish that/someone gets luck wherever she/he goes, or whatever she/he is working on.

Chinese people like to choose “8” as the time or date of important events. For example, the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games started exactly at 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 pm on the 8th of August 2008.

Chinese’s love for 8 can be seen in many other cases, such as house numbers, phone numbers, number plates, wedding dates and the date for opening a business. 8 is considered lucky and favored by Chinese because it holds meaning in both traditional and modern cultures.

The Chinese New Year Painting, or nianhua in Chinese, is a kind of traditional paintings to be put up on walls and windows during the Spring Festival. Its bright colors and different subjects show the Chinese great expectation for happiness and wealth.

The Chinese New Year Painting is an old handicraft (手工艺品) . Its original (最初的) form was a picture of a Door God during the Tang Dynasty. Later, more subjects such as the Kitchen God, women and babies were included. As the Chinese New Year arrives, every family puts up its New Year paintings in order to say goodbye to the past and welcome the future. One of the most famous woodblock (木刻印板) New Year paintings comes from Yangjiabu of Shandong Province. It covers all kinds of themes and forms. They reflect people’s everyday life.

As time went by, people found New Year paintings old-fashioned. Besides, they considered the Door God too scary to hang in their homes. They wanted something more artistic. So in the middle of the 1980s, the sales of New Year paintings dropped greatly.

Usually, colorful woodblock New Year paintings are produced in four steps. Firstly, artists draw a simple sketch (素描) on the paper. Secondly, they make the simple sketch on the wood board and print a few samples (样品) . Thirdly, they add color to the sample. Lastly, when the preparation is finished, the printers paint color on the color board, and then put paper on the wood board and brush the paper. Then the colorful woodblock New Year paintings are ready.

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5 . Nowadays many people look for fun online. Watching-livestreaming (直播) shows has become part of our lives. At the same time, traditional culture has found a bigger stage online. Many traditional artists are starting to livestream like Douyin and Bilibili. Some of them sing Peking Opera, while others perform Chinese classical music. A growing number of young people are starting to become more interested in traditional culture because of livestreaming.

Li Jun is a Peking Opera performer from the Shanghai Jingju Theater Company. The 59-year-old man took up his smart phone and started livestreaming. Unlike performing on a real stage, Li uses common places as his stage, including his office and study room. Besides singing, Li also teaches viewers (观众) about Peking Opera. People can ask him questions and get answers directly.

“Livestreaming has brought this traditional art down to earth.” One viewer said, “it gives young people an easier way to learn more about the traditional art. ” Li has more than 6,000 fans on Douyin, while one of his videos got 42,000 views on Bilibili.

On March 26th, Bilibili livestreamed a huafu show on the third China Huafu Day. Performers showed clothes in traditional Chinese styles, including those from Wei. Viewers not only enjoyed looking at the clothes, but also watched how performers used ancient styles of make-up.

As Guangming Daily said, livestreaming has come to a new stage through which traditional culture can be kept alive.

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6 . Showing Respect for Seniors

Dads have Father’s Day. Moms have Mother’s Day. Kids have Children’s Day. But, do our grandparents have a special holiday? Yes, they do!

The Double Ninth Festival is a special day for elderly people in China. As the Chinese word for nine has the same sound as the word for long, people take the Double Ninth Festival to show their wishes of long life for elderly people.

There are many traditions for this festival. On that day, families get together and climb mountains for luck and in the hope that elderly people will live much longer. They also drink chrysanthemum wine (菊花酒) and wear a plant called zhuyu to celebrate it. Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are regarded as clean plants that can clean houses and cure (治疗).

Respecting elderly people is shown not only on this special day but also in daily life. For example, when an older person enters a room, everyone stands up. When there are several guests at the table, two hands are used. On a crowded subway or bus, younger people always offer their seats to elderly people.

It is a traditional virtue (美德) in China to respect elderly people. That’s because the Chinese know that elderly people have knowledge and experience that young people can learn from. So, Chinese people are proud of being old. Besides, to respect the elderly people is to respect yourself tomorrow.

The horse-face skirt, or mamianqun in Chinese, has a very special position in China’s traditional clothing culture. In the General History of Chinese Clothing, the horse-face skirt is described     1     follows, “There are folds on both sides: the skirt door and back are with patterns (图案), and there is the skirt waist and lace upon it.”

The horse-face skirt first appeared in the Song Dynasty and grew popular during the Ming Dynasty,     2     the royal family to common people. The horse-face skirt in the Ming Dynasty was simple in color and pattern. However, according     3     different celebrations, the materials, patterns and colors of horse-face skirts were also different. In the Qing Dynasty, the horse-face skirt gradually changed. The colors became richer and patterns became     4     colorful, especially the outer skirt door. People added many patterns     5     had good meanings on the outer skirt door, such as flowers, birds and butterflies.

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Have you ever visited a museum? Have you ever booked a ticket online? Booking a museum ticket online is not easy because visitors often find that the tickets for the following weeks have been fully booked.

Across China, museum halls were filled with visitors during the holiday. For many museum workers, so many tourists were not common before. For example, the number of visitors to the Shaanxi History Museum increased last summer. The ticket booking platform (平台) of the museum received more than 600, 000 clicks a day. However, the museum can only allow 12, 000 people to visit each day. In addition, study tours also brought many people to museums. For example, you can see tour teams in the Gansu Provincial Museum more often.

To draw young visitors’ attention, many museums are creating more wonderful activities to spread Chinese culture, including making cultural products and offering some interesting courses. Huang Le, a supporter of museum education, said, “A museum is like a 3D encyclopedia (百科全书). We should always get our kids interested in museums. Through them, kids can fall in love with history.”

“Museums are bridges. They connect the past, the present and the future,” said Yang Chaoming, a professor at Shandong University. “More and more people wish to learn more about traditional Chinese culture through museum visits.”