“Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet”, a 58-minute documentary released recently on BBC, introduces Du Fu to the Western world for the first time    1     the form of documentary. In the film, Michael Wood, one of BBC’s most popular hosts, visited a number of Chinese    2     (city) to retrace Du’s steps. The documentary invited well-known British actor Ian McKellen,     3     played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies,     4     (read)15 of Du’s poems that have been translated into English.

Born in 712, Du Fu lived through the violent fall of China’s brilliant Tang Dynasty. He had the desire to serve his country, but his life    5    (destroy) by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755. Of all     6     poems he wrote, 500 have been preserved over the ages. For generations he     7     (be) the guardian of the moral conscience (良知) of the nation.

The documentary compared Du to Shakespeare to help audiences     8    (well) understand the poet’s great achievements in literature. It also highlighted Chinese poetry, noting that its 3000-year-old history makes     9    the oldest living tradition in the world.

During an interview, the director even quoted a line from Du to encourage the people    10     (suffer) from pandemics (流行病).

Jointly produced by Shanghai Animated Film Studio and streaming site Bilibili, Yao—Chinese Folktales,     1     (gain) over 26 million views and a score of 9.6 out of 10 on rating site Douban since it aired last Sunday.

The eight-part series was inspired by various classics from traditional Chinese literature and showcases a range of artistic     2     (style) such as paper cutting, watercolor painting, and computer graphics.

The first episode (集) is based     3     the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with characters preparing     4     (capture) a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk.

Its plot,     5    depicts one of the characters being punished after their leader was dissatisfied with their work, has resonated (共鸣) with     6     wide audience, reminding     7     (they) of their own dilemmas and hardships in the workplace.

The new series is part of the growing trend of Chinese animation     8     (turn) to ancient legends and folktales for     9     (inspire).

    10     (domestic) produced animated films featuring classic figures such as “Monkey King”, “Ne Zha”, and “White Snake” have proved to be big hits in recent years!

Dressed in long robes, a crowd of young people wanders around royal gardens, with their flowing sleeves (衣袖)     1     (gentle) swaying in the breeze. They are not actors nor actresses in a movie set, but Hanfu fans in a themed event held in Beijing.

“Over a decade ago, Hanfu fashion was a subculture, but relevant     2     (activity) often draw thousands of participants these days,” said Liu Xiang, an organizer of the event.

Hanfu,     3     was a traditional style of clothing     4     (wear) by the Han people, nowadays enjoys a growing     5     (popular) among young Chinese people, including Liu. Liu is a co-founder of a Hanfu community in Beijing. This community, called Hua Yan Hui,     6     (found) in 2011 following a Hanfu revival (复兴) movement that emerged from growing cultural confidence and the desire     7     (express) national identity. Since then, Liu has been volunteering to support the group.

“My passion     8     Hanfu came from two of my friends who love traditional Chinese clothing,” Liu said. Her interest grew as she learned more about     9     culture behind it and acquired her first Hanfu costume. Currently, more and more young people wear the adjusted Hanfu with the belief     10     the best way to preserve tradition is to adapt it to modern life.

As evening sets in, Chung Chia-ming arrives at the busy night market of Nan’an District in China’s Southwest city Chongqing, parks his car on the roadside     1     kicks up his mobile lemon tea stand.

“Customer flow has increased dramatically recently. I am very optimistic     2     business prospects this year,” Chung said,     3     (add) that he once sold more than 200 cups of lemon tea in a single evening. The economy had been hit     4     (severe) by the COVID-19 crisis in recent years. The car trunk shop, which is a special feature of Chongqing’s night market, offers an efficient service to the customers.

Obviously, the business     5     (grow) since the beginning of this year. Despite being very busy at times, Chung is excited to earn money on his own, and it has also boosted his self-confidence. His shop has gained     6     (popular) among visitors. He has set     7     example for young people in terms of commitment and hard work.

The night market,     8     flexibility provides more employment alternatives for job-seekers, has brought joy and fun for consumers. Meanwhile, it boosts the confidence of the sellers. Chongqing’s Nan’an District has been planning     9     (promote) consumption in the cultural industry. The night market has put great energy into the night economy in the past few months. Its great activity marks a good start for a     10     (hope) year.

Seal cutting or Zhuanke in Chinese is a comparatively independent traditional art form. It takes Chinese characters as its form of     1     (express), using carving knives instead of the writing brushes, and stone instead of paper. It is similar     2     inscriptions (碑文) on ancient bronze and stone tablets (石碑)    3     it can be viewed as a pocket edition of tablet inscription.

The seal has many names in history. It was called Xiyin (玺印) during the Warring States period, the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Wei and Jin periods. The Ming and the Qing dynasties were     4     (universe) acknowledged to be the two golden periods in the history of seal cutting. And     5     long period from the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty turned out to be a time     6     the royal seal was on the decline. The use of the seal also varied. Clay impression was used before the Sui and Tang dynasties and inkpad or red ink paste     7     (use) since the Tang and the Song dynasties.     8     (classify) into two categories — official seals and private seals, Xiyin is still widely used nowadays. Official seals refer to     9     of emperors and officials. The making materials in ancient times mainly include gold, silver, copper, jade, stone, bamboo and wood with seals     10     (make) up an overwhelming majority.

Consisting of a bamboo frame and a     1     (beautiful) painted paper surface, Chinese oil-paper umbrellas have long been viewed as a symbol of China’s tradition of cultural craftsmanship and poctic beauty. Not just are they an instrument to keep off rain or sunlight, but also works of art     2     (possess) rick cultural significance and aesthetic (美的) value.

The first oil-paper umbrellas appeared during Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, they     3     (bring) overseas to Japan and ancient Korca during the Tang Dynasty, which is     4     they are known as “Tang umbrellas”.

It takes quite a lot of time and effort to make a traditional Chinese oil-paper umbrella    5     hand. For example, in Fenshui township in Luzhou, Sichuan Province, craftsmen must complete more than 90 steps and use over 100 different tools     6     (create) a single handmade oil-paper umbrella.

Since the     7     (appear) of modern mechanical umbrellas, traditional oil- paper umbrellas     8     (suffer) from declining sales and     9     number of craftsmen has been on the decrease. Fortunately, with the inclusion of Fenshui oil-paper umbrellas as one of China’s national intangible cultural heritages in 2008, things have been improving. These great items appear in many fashion shows and media publications due to the positive publicity     10     they have received.

A small village in Yunnan Province is     1     (wide) known as the Dai paper factory. There are nets for drying paper all over the village and inside villagers’ houses. Dai paper     2     (make) for over 800 years there up to now.

One of the best papermakers is Yan, who was already interested in Dai paper     3     an early age.     4     (teach) by his grandparents to be a papermaker at 16, Yan was quickly able to complete     5     production independently.

Unlike ordinary papermaking     6     trees need to be cut down, Dai paper is environmentally friendly. This is     7     its raw material is the recyclable bark of a kind of trees unique to the area. Dai paper’ production process is still used today. In a workshop, Yan demonstrated 11 different papermaking     8     (process) to us.

Although Dai paper     9     (carry) the culture and belief of the Dai people, the crafting of it is faced with great challenges. To address the problems, Yan improved Dai’s papermaking technology, thus saving production time and     10     (reduce) labor costs. And then he started teaching the villagers his new papermaking process for free.