Hanfu is the traditional clothing (服装) of the Han ethnic group (汉族).     1     hanfu is becoming popular among young Chinese. It seems that there is a hanfu club in almost every major university (主要的大学) and city. Most club     2     wear the clothing during holidays. Or they wear hanfu when they want to take     3     photos. But some of them love it so much     4     they wear it almost every day.

In     5    , there is a special day to celebrate this kind of traditional clothing. It’s called China Huafu Day. It is on the     6     day of the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar (阴历). This year, it fell on April 22nd. The day celebrates the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in China. Among     7    , hanfu has the most fans (爱好者).

“China is     8     a leading power (主导力量) in the world. Chinese people feel     9     confident (自信的) about their traditional culture,” Chen Chuyu, leader of a hanfu club in Beijing, told People’s Daily Online. “Wearing traditional clothing might be     10     interesting way of showing such feelings.” Some young people even bring hanfu culture to other countries.

2 . Thang-ga (唐卡) is a special kind of painting. It was found only in Tibet, China. It started from the Tang dynasty (唐朝). Thang-ga paintings show Tibetan people’s lives. In recent years, Thang-ga paintings have caught the public’s attention. At the same time, the Chinese government has also tried hard to protect the art.

The colors of Thang-ga paintings look wonderful and special. Because of the special environment of Tibet and the excellent skills of artists, the paints (颜料) used in Thang-ga paintings are different from other paints. They were made from minerals like gold and silver, as well as some plants. The paints were made by hand and the beautiful colors could last (持续) for hundreds of years.

However, with the development of technology, people now use cheaper and easily-made chemicals to make Thang-ga paints. The traditional paints used in Thang-ga paintings took a lot of work and they were made in many secret ways. Later people stopped making the paints and forgot about them. So the skills needed to make them were almost lost. The traditional Thang-ga paintings are difficult to find now.

3 .

Do you often see someone make coffee art? But do you know people can do the same thing with tea? People make tea art in cups, or dian cha in Chinese. It was a ritual (仪式) during the Song Dynasty.

Chinese tea culture started to become popular during the Tang Dynasty.

Different from the way of brewing tea (泡茶) during the Tang Dynasty, in the Song Dynasty the popular way of having tea was through dian cha. It begins like this. First people pour hot water over fine powdered tea to make a paste (糊状物). Then they pour more hot water slowly. At the same time, people need to whisk (搅动) the tea. This action of pouring hot water is called dian, so it’s called dian cha. Now many people are interested in this special way of drinking tea. They think dian cha makes drinking tea fun.

4 . It was said that in the time of Shun, Yu the great, a famous person in history, cut a mountain with his magic sword (剑) and made a way. It was called the Dragon Gate (龙门), a place with magic. The Yellow River ran through it.

Every spring, water ran from the top of the mountain into the river. The water made great waves (浪) and big noises. The sound scared all the animals on the mountain.

The carp (鲤鱼) in the river were not afraid. They were small but brave. They jumped over the waves toward the Dragon Gate. They dreamed of making their way to the Dragon Gate. There, a miracle waited for them.

The carp began to jump, but one after another they began to fall. They tried but couldn’t get to the Dragon Gate.

Soon there was just one little golden carp left, keeping jumping. He jumped higher and higher. He jumped over the highest wave. Finally, he jumped across to a cloud! He had made it to the Dragon Gate! He could see colorful clouds. He could see the sky. It was beautiful!

Then the little carp felt strange. He looked back at his tail. It grew and sparked (冒火花) and it was on fire! Suddenly, it began to rain heavily. The rain put out the fire on the carp’s tail.

The little carp looked back again. His fish tail was gone. His body had changed. Golden scales (鳞) covered his body. He was not a fish anymore!

The little carp had turned into a golden dragon! He was made of magic! It was a miracle!

The Chinese character fu is a necessity in the Spring Festival celebrations. It expresses people’s best wishes for the coming new year. It’s recorded that people have     1     practiced this tradition since the Song Dynasty.

The character fu can be pasted (粘贴) either normally     2     upside down, because in Chinese, the “reversed fu ” and “fu arrives” sound similar to each other, both being pronounced as “fu dao le”.

There is a     3     about the origin of pasting the “reversed fu”. Zhu Yuanzhang, the     4     emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once used the character fu as a secret signal to punish (惩罚) a family for insulting (冒犯)     5     wife, Empress Ma. To avoid the disaster, the kind-hearted Empress Ma ordered every family in the capital to paste the character fu in front of their doors before the sun     6     the next day. Everyone followed her order, but one family posted the character upside down, because they couldn’t read or write.

The next day, when the emperor ordered his soldiers to check, they     7     the character fu everywhere, including the upside-down one. The emperor was very     8     and immediately ordered his palace guards to punish the family who had pasted the character differently.

Realizing the situation was not good, Empress Ma said to the emperor, “That family knew that you were coming to     9     them today so they pasted the character upside down on purpose (故意地). Doesn’t it have the same meaning as fu arrives?”

After hearing this, the emperor immediately set the family     10    . From then on, people began to paste the character fu upside down for the purpose of hoping for luck and honoring Empress Ma.

9 . In ancient China, the study room of intellectuals (文人) was called wen fang in Chinese. Because the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone are commonly used in the study room, they are called the “Four Treasures of the Study” or wen fang si bao in Chinese.

The writing brush is a special writing and painting tool in ancient China. Brushes are usually made of animal hair. Rabbit hair was the first to be used. According to record, the ancient Chinese also used human hair to make brushes.

Ink is a black material used in calligraphy (书法) and painting. It was born later than the writing brush. After the Han and Wei dynasties, ink-making technology became more and more developed, and Huizhou became the national ink-making center in the Ming Dynasty. The “Hui Ink” produced there is famous all over the world.

Papermaking was invented in the Western Han Dynasty and was improved by Cai Lun during the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, with papermaking technology improving gradually, more and more types of paper appeared. The most famous one is Xuan paper, which is named after ancient Xuanzhou because it was made there. Xuan paper is thin but tough, and doesn’t change color easily. So, it’s known as the “thousand-year-old paper”.

The inkstone is a necessary tool for grinding (研磨) ink. The inkstone is generally made of stones. In the Qing Dynasty, people carved (雕刻) some patterns on it. Since then, the inkstone has not only been practical, but also had the value of collection and appreciation.

The development of science and technology has greatly changed our life, and the improvement of the tools for writing also has brought us much convenience (便利), but when we talk about calligraphy, it is clear that only traditional tools can better show the greatness of Chinese culture. So we must try our best to protect them.

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10 . Our new foreign students are going to arrive very soon, and here are some ways to communicate with them politely.

How close do you stand when you talk to a friend? You can stand close to people in the Middle East but don’t stand too close to North Americans! Give them more personal space.

Do you know how to touch people correctly? Chinese girls often walk arm in arm with their friends. South Americans sometimes hold your arm when they talk to you, so you can’t move away! But in Britain many people don’t like other people touching them at all.

Do you look at people when you talk? In some places, it isn’t polite to look at people when they talk, but in other countries it isn’t polite to look somewhere else. In Britain and the US, people usually look at each other when they talk.

And how do you say goodbye? That’s easy. Wave (挥手) to say goodbye. But be careful! In Greece, it’s not polite at all! In fact, it’s very rude!