Actress Jia Ling became very popular on social media for two days in a row during the Chinese Lunar New Year. People were amazed by how she lost 50 kilograms while making her movie YOLO. This made everyone talk about living a healthy lifestyle. Many people on Weibo were discussing Jia’s weight loss journey, like “Jia’s story of losing weight” and “Jia Ling totally surprised me.” They were wondering if it’s time to start developing healthier habits, especially during the Spring Festival.

One moviegoer named Li Qiaoya, who goes to the gym to lose weight, said, “Her success is really inspiring (鼓舞人心的) and it’s worth seeing in the movie theatre.” Li also feel upset for eating too much during the Spring Festival.

However, not everyone agrees with Jia’s weight loss plan. To finish filming the movie, Jia had to gain 20 kilograms before starting to lose weight in just six months. “Not everyone can handle the challenge of losing 50 kilograms in only six months,” said Jiang Cheng, a Chinese expert from Chongqing. “It’s not just a physical challenge, but also a mental one.”

Jia used to be known for her funny laughter and emotional performances. She shared her new look after losing weight on social media, and her fans were shocked by her new jawline (下颚线) and how radiant (容光焕发的) she looked. Jia mentioned that the movie is not about boxing or losing weight, but it’s a heartwarming story about “learning to love yourself”.

2 . The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics saw the rise (升起) of new Chinese sports stars. Many post-00s athletes (运动员) showed love for their sports.

Gu Ailing won two medals (奖牌) from her first two events—one gold (金牌), one silver (银牌). The 18-year-old won the women’s freeski (自由式滑雪) big air event. She never tried this amazing jump before. She made four and a half rotations (旋转) in the air before landing backward. The teenager was so excited that she cried after the jump. “The tears were mostly of joy, because I pushed myself to the limit (极限),” she said.

Gu wants to send a message to young winter sports lovers. “Just go for it!” she said.

Su Yiming, who just turned 18, agrees with Gu. He won a gold medal for snowboarding (单板滑雪) in the men’s big air and a silver medal in the slopestyle (坡面障碍技巧). He showed a difficult trick—five full rotations in the air.

“As a snowboard lover, I don’t care much about the score. Instead I just want to make more brilliant (出色的) tricks (技巧). The happiness comes from that.” said Su.

Su said he was “too excited” when he stood on the podium (领奖台) with his childhood idols (偶像)—Canadian snowboarders Max Parrot and Mark McMorris.

“I want to say to all Chinese snowboarders that they should keep working hard and never give up, because dreams can come true,” he said after his win.

4 . A dozen Chinese dishes have become popular during the Beijing 2022 Olympics, after athletes shared them on TikTok and in media interviews. Let’s take a look at some of them.

※ Red bean bun

Snowboarder Jenise Spiteri, the only athlete standing for Malta, is a big fan of Chinese food. “One morning I was too nervous to eat any food. So I put some red bean buns in my backpack. I didn’t realize that I still had one in my pocket when I did the run, so I was like ‘Oh okay! Now I can finally eat’,” she recalled.

※ Kung Pao Chicken

American snowboarder Tessa Maud has become popular in China for sharing Chinese food from the Olympic village on TikTok. Beijing 2022 proved to be a totally new and enjoyable experience for Maud. What to eat was a daily hard choice for her because everything was so good.

※ Chinese dumplings

American athlete Julia Marino, who won a silver medal in women’s snowboard slopestyle at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, told NBC News that her favorite food in the Winter Olympics village was dumplings.

“I’ve probably had like 200 dumplings since I’ve been here,” said Marino.

※ Spicy hotchpotch (麻辣烫)

Jutta Leerdam, a 23-year-old speed skating athlete from the Netherlands, posted her favorite spicy hotchpotch on social media. “This is the famous Chinese snack spicy hotchpotch, which is healthier than burgers and fries,” said Leerdam.

The Games provided global athletes with 678 dishes from all over China, allowing them to fully experience the Chinese food.

5 . Eight years ago, Chinese skater Wu Dajing introduced himself to the skating world by winning a silver medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. At the year of 2018’s Pyeong Chang Olympics, Wu not only returned, but also made history.

On Feb 22th, 2018, Wu won the gold medal in the man’s short-track 500-metre race. He set a new world record with a time of 39.584 seconds. He also became the first Chinese man to take home an Olympic short-track gold medal. BBC said Wu’s win was “flawless”, because he was much faster than all of the other skaters.

“I didn’t give them a chance and I kept my speed from the start,” he told the media after the match.

But China’s short-track teams didn’t do well in general at the Games. Chinese skaters in the woman’s 500 meters, 3000-meter relay and man’s 1500 meters all failed to take home the gold. Wu was China’s biggest hope, which put a lot of pressure on him. But he proved himself with his great performance.

Wu is now known as a highly talented skater. But things were not always that way. When Wu joined the national team in 2010, he was seen as almost “nothing” compared to gifted skaters like Zhou Yang and Fan Kexin, as his coaches said at the time. Their comments made him quite upset. But as the saying goes, “Winners never quit and quitters never win”, Wu didn’t want to give up and worked as hard as he could. He practiced skating all year round. He even didn’t return to his hometown for the holidays for 10 years. “I believe in myself,” he told the media after his match at the Olympics.

6 . This year, April 5 is Tomb Sweeping Day, a day when Chinese people remember family members and friends who have passed away. And this year will also include a national mourning (哀悼) period that offers people a chance to remember those who have lost their lives in the fight against the COVID-19.

Starting at 10 a.m. people across the country will observed (遵守) three minutes of mourning. Cars, trains and ships sound their horns (喇叭) and air defense warning sirens (防空警报) will go off. National flags will lower to half-mast (下半旗) across the country. Public recreational (娱乐) activities will be canceled across China.

“I will mourn in my heart,” said community worker Deng Linghao from Wuhan. “We who are alive must stay strong.”

National mourning periods are not commonly held. Only a few such mourning periods have been held since 2000, including one for the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan.

Besides being a time to remember the dead, many people also suggested that the national mourning period is a good time to teach students about the meaning of death.

It is believed that Chinese students don’t know much about the topic, as it is a taboo (禁忌) to discuss it in Chinese culture. According to a study from People’s Daily, about 90 percent of children who were born after 2010 said their parents had never discussed death with them.

But in Western countries, kids learn about death in a natural way. In the US, for example, if one of their older relatives has died, children will attend their funeral. Kids can also learn about death after one of their family pets dies. They might even learn about it from watching movies or TV shows.

“Facing the epidemic, each one of us feels that life is vulnerable (脆弱的),” Yuan Weixing, the headmaster of Shenzhen Xin’an Middle School, told The Paper. “The key is to respect and cherish (珍惜) life and keep living with a brave and positive attitude (态度).”

. It will start at 10 a.m. and lasted for 30 minutes.

. Air defense warning sirens will go off.

. National flags will be lowered to half-mast.

. Some activities will be canceled across China.

. National mourning periods are held very often.

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China’s Spring Festival blockbuster(大片) “Hi, Mom” beat the 2017 American superhero film “Wonder Woman” at 5.39 billion yuan on Tuesday and made Chinese film director Jia Ling overtake Patty Jenkins to be the world’s highest-grossing(最高票房记录的) female director for a single film.

The achievement was made 54 days after its release on February 12, the first day of Chinese New Year. “Hi, Mom” is currently the second highest-grossing film only after the 2017 action-adventure film “Wolf Warrior 2”, according to China’s movie-ticketing platform. They are the only two domestic-produced films among the top 100 grossing films worldwide.

“Hi, Mom” is the first film directed by Jia Ling, who is a comedian and actress. It stars Jia who was saddened by her mother Li Huanying’s accidental death, magically transported back to 1981 to become a friend of her mother and tried her best to delight and planned a better life for her mother.

“Although the film has a strong individual mark, it causes many people’s empathy,” said professor Tian Huiqun at the School of Arts and Communication of Beijing Normal University. He added that it is hard to copy the film’s success since Jia and the film itself cannot be reproduced.

The success of “Hi, Mom” also became a milestone to mark the growth of “She power” in the man-dominated film industry in the last ten years. However, some film critics say that the film’s success is just because people are interested in women topics for the time being, and money goes to people’s interest.

“Women creating films is still not an easy task,” Dong Yige, assistant professor in the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies at University at Buffalo, “Why not use female audiences’ power to push the women creation?”

You may have heard the saying “The Yangtze River is China’s mother river.” The main route of the Yangtze is almost 6,400 km long. As the world’s third-longest river, its valley(流域)covers one-fifth of China’s land area. The Yangtze River Economic Zone covers 11 provinces and cities, making up about 40 percent of China’s total population and GDP.

On Dec 26, China’s top legislature(立法机关)passed the Yangtze River Protection Law, which will work on March 1, 2021. It is the first law to protect a waterway in China, CGTN noted.

The “mother river” is in great need of protection because something is wrong with it. For example, the river’s Chinese paddlefish(白鲟)has died out after surviving for 150 million years because of overfishing and water pollution. There’re also desertified(荒漠化的) land and soil pollution near the upstream part of the river in Qinghai province, Xinhua reported.

The Yangtze River Protection Law includes bans(禁止)on activities that could have terrible influence on the river. It also includes heavier punishments for those who don’t follow the law.

According to the law, fishing will be banned in all of the Yangtze’s natural waterways, including its major tributaries(支流)and lakes. Those who are caught fishing will be fined 50,000 to 500,000 yuan.

Sand mining(采沙)will be strictly limited in the river valley. Many companies are mining sand along the river, as sand is a rare resource. However, this has led to lower water levels on the river, which has caused the river’s water quality to become worse.

Companies operating along the river will turn to green development. Companies that produce dangerous chemicals will move out, the law says.