Started along the Huaihe River in eastern China, Flower Drum Lantern dance is well-known for its bright colors, different forms, and cheerful spirit.

As a traditional treasure in China, the dance has a very long history. It is said to have appeared during the Song Dynasty, developed through the Ming Dynasty, and finally widely welcomed during the Qing Dynasty. It is usually used to show the peaceful lives of people in the countryside.

In the dance, the women dancers each wears a red silk ball flower on their heads. In their hands, silk fans and scarves are used as props. And the props used by men are mainly umbrellas, short wooden sticks and drums. Before 1949, women were discouraged from performing in public, so women roles were mostly played by men. That is why all of the older famous artists still alive today are men.

The dance is usually performed in an open area such as the central square of a village and the side of a river. The audiences usually come around in a circle. Inside the circle are several long benches with the drum group on one side. The performers enter the circle with the women standing on the men’s shoulders, then the men lower the women to the benches and stand beside them. The show begins when the men with umbrellas enter the performance space. They bow and lead the performers into the centre to dance.

Flower Drum Lantern dance is still quite popular across the country, especially in places such as Fengyang in Anhui, Guangshan in Henan, and Haian in Jiangsu. Even today, village dance teams often compete with each other by performing the dances during the Spring Festival.

Have you tasted one snack as well as the traditional Chinese form of art known as sugar painting?

Sugar painting can be found in southeastern areas of China, but is especially found around Sichuan Province along the streets or in the parks. Sugar painting could date back to the Ming Dynasty when sugar animals and figures were made in molds. In the Qing Dynasty, sugar painting gained more popularity. At that time, many people made a living by sugar painting.

The artists normally sit before a shining marble in the front. On the side there is a wooden plate with a movable bamboo arrow on it. The plate is painted with various patterns in a circle such as a dragon, bird, dog, flower basket and so on. After paying, the customers, normally kids, turn the arrow and wait till it stops. The pattern pointed by the arrow is the one the artist is supposed to make with sugar.

There are two main types: plane painting and solid painting. For the plane painting (which is the easier one), the painter uses the brown sugar or white sugar as the basic material, the spoon and a shovel as the tool, and the marble as the “paper”. To get syrup, the artist has to cook the sugar in a pot before painting. Since the hot liquid sugar could freeze hard if it cools, the artist has to produce his work very quickly.

Using a small spoon to hold the syrup which looks like silk and thread, the painter concentrates his strength on the wrist and takes the spoon as a brush pen, rising and pausing, up and down, left and right. Soon a sugar painting of an animal, flower or a bike is finished, and the painter separates the painting from the marble with a shovel, puts a bamboo slice on the painting or wraps it with a plastic bag.

Nowadays, sugar painting has already been listed as National Non-Material Culture Heritage.

4 . While many people are going to beaches in California, Hawaii or Florida for sunny trips during the winter, a remote hotel called the Sheldon Chalet has something else to offer.

The hotel is in Ruth Glacier, Alaska, US. It’s 1,829m above sea level, and lies in the mountains of the Denali National Park. People can only get there by air, flying over trees, cabins and moose below in about 45 minutes.

The Sheldon Chalet is named after the father of two of the hotel’s owners, Robert and Kate Sheldon, whose parents designed the original hotel in 1966. Although it began to be built in 2018, it was only recently completed. Kate said, “Building this hotel was a challenge. The simple things in life, like running water, are actually quite a luxury when you’re 6,000 feet up on a glacier.”

The hexagonal structure has a main floor with a kitchen and living room and a second floor with five bedrooms for guests. The hotel can carry up to ten people at any given time. The 3-night stay costs $35,000 per couple, including flight service, a private doorkeeper and fine dining. And the stay offers amazing snow-covered views during the day, and the northern lights at night. During the day, people can enjoy glacier hiking and fishing, while at night, they can watch the stars or try delicious dishes. “We get guests into places which are only for experienced mountaineers willing to risk their lives.” said Robert, “This is an experience like no other.”

It’s not the kind of experience everyone can afford, but if money isn’t a problem, staying at the Sheldon Chalet is something worth.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes between China and Europe in the 10th century. Merchants carrying Chinese silk and other goods followed routes that crossed Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Far East.

Traveling the Silk Road could be gruelling. Warring soldiers, bandits, and terrible weather such as sandstorms troubled the merchants. Caravanserais made the way easier for weary tradesmen. These were huge guest houses that welcomed traveling merchants. At a caravanserai, traders were safe from harm. There, they could enjoy tasty meals, rest, and ready themselves to journey on.

A caravanserai was surrounded with high, strong walls. The one entrance was big enough for a loaded pack animal to enter. Along the inside of the walls were guest rooms for merchants, their servants and their goods. Some guest houses provided stables for animals. Others had open central courtyards where pack animals—horses, camels, yaks, oxen, and elephants—drank from stone water troughs.

Caravanserais were located within a day’s journey of each other. This allowed merchants to avoid spending nights exposed to the Silk Road’s dangers. In many regions, there was always a caravanserai every 20 to 25 miles.

A caravanserai provided more than a safe place to rest. There, traders could exchange goods and pack animals, buy local products, and socialize with other merchant travelers. Thus, the caravanserais provided places for people of different cultures to share knowledge about arts, crafts, literature, science, and technologies. Over hundreds of years, trade along the Silk Road allowed cultures, languages and religions to influence one another.

The most famous treasure on show in Hubei Museum is the Chime Bells. The bells cannot be shown abroad, which is the rule made to protect them.

These chime bells were uncovered in the tomb of Marquis Yi. 65 chime bells include 19 niu bells, 45 yong bells and one bo bell. They hung on a frame.

It is said that the king of Chu loved music. He also knew that Marquis Yi, the ruler of the neighbor state Zeng, shared this love for musical performances. The king had even visited the Marquis during his lifetime. So, when he learned of the Marquis’s death, he wanted a special gift to send as part of what would be placed in the Marquis’s tomb. He ordered his man to make the most wonderful bell and then wrote words on it. The skillful master made it. The bo bell was three feet high and weighed 297 pounds. It was—and still is the largest musical instrument yet known.

The largest one and another sixty-four bells were put in order by size—an order that also showed the different types of musical tunes. The bells have no clappers and are sounded by hitting against them. After over 1,000 years, the bells still sound perfect, ready to play melodies local and foreign, classic and modern.

Indeed, musical instruments have a very long tradition in China. Bells and drums, from the Shang Dynasty onward, were part of the musical show. During the Zhou Dynasty and then the Warring States Period that followed, they were used in battles to warn armies as well as to give messages during military attacks. Anyway, the music was still used especially for special celebrations. Various instruments opened up a very attractive world of sounds.

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Welcome to Dunhuang, a place with more than 2,000 years of history! On the old Silk Road, this city was the gateway to and from Ancient China, and a green island in the middle of the desert.

Dunhuang’s long history shows it is the center of culture and business. Today, Dunhuang is a world-class tourist site with more than 700 caves. Now we are going to enter some ancient caves known as the Mogao Grottoes? These caves were carved out of the rock. Now look around the walls of the cave! You can see elements from Ancient Greece, India and Iran.

What is unique to Dunhuang is the mural that shows the Apsaras who are musicians, singers and dancers in heaven. In one mural, the Apsaras are sailing in the bright blue sky, with their scarves flying, as if they are about to fly down to meet us. And here is another one. The Apsaras are playing musical instruments, dancing and throwing flowers. The paintings of Apsaras reach the highest level during the Tang Dynasty. These paintings are full of life, showing the optimism and happiness of people at that time.

Next we’ll see the famous Library Cave very soon-it is only a stone’s throw from here. The treasures such as paintings and silk products in the ancient library give us a picture of Dunhuang when it was at the center of the Silk Road trade. Thanks to the library, now we know that goods arrived in Dunhuang from as far away as the east Europe, and that goods were also sold from Dunhuang to other countries.

Now let’s move on to the next cave...

In 366, a monk named Lezun passed by some mountains in Dunhuang, Gansu. Showering in the sun’s golden rays, Lezun “saw” a thousand Buddhas in the air. Inspired by this, Lezun started building grottoes along the cliffs. Later, other people continued his work for the next 1,000 years. This is how the world-famous Mogao Grottoes came into being.

The grottoes contain more than 2,000 sculptures and 45,000 square meters of murals in 735 caves. The sculptures and murals show how ancient people farmed, ate, and even fought. They contain elements of Chinese, Central Asian and Indian cultures. About 60,000 ancient documents were discovered in one cave, teaching us even more about Buddhism and the lives of ancient people.

However, since the mid-16th century, the grottoes have suffered from natural erosion and human activity. In 1944, the Dunhuang Academy was set up to protect and study the grottoes and their culture. For example, the academy has protected the caves by planting trees. Because of the trees, the damage caused by the spring sandstorms is not as serious as it used to be. The academy has also developed a monitoring system to keep an eye on the caves.

The academy has been digitally keeping the grottoes’ paintings and sculptures since the 1990s. Over 200 of the 492 caves have been kept in this way. Virtual tours of the caves allow people to see these works of art online. Videos, cartoons, and interactive games are also used to give people a taste of Dunhuang culture. A national lab will be set up by the academy to further research the grottoes. A virtual reality tour system is planned to be started around June.