“The Chinese started eating lamb kebab about 2,000 years ago.” “Deep-fried dough sticks have something to do     1     a treacherous chancellor (奸臣) from the Song Dynasty (960-1279).” These are some of the     2     (inspire) remarks from a Chinese professor who endeavors to share historical and archaeological (考古学的) knowledge with the public through food vlogs.

His short videos have taken China’s social media by storm as netizens applaud the professor’s distinctive approach to sharing the seemingly mundane (乏味的) information in a transformative way     3     allows viewers to experience     4     (vary) cuisines as inroads into history.

Zhang Liangren, a professor at the department of archaeology and cultural relics at the School of History in Nanjing University, told the Global Times that     5     motivation behind his food vlogs is to raise funds for his overseas archaeological projects while sharing culinary history knowledge with the public in the hope of arousing young people’s interests in archaeology.

“Giving a lecture about archaeology on social media is boring. But combining archaeology with cuisine     6     (make) it accessible to the public. I’m not only a professor who ‘produces’ knowledge. I have the obligation     7     (share) knowledge with the public     8     I can also learn from the public,” said the 54-year-old professor.

Zhang started shooting videos in July and so far he     9     (post) 48 episodes, covering a diverse range of foods mostly found in Nanjing. Zhang told the Global Times that posting the food vlogs helped him clear up many public     10     (misconception) about archaeologists and expressed his wish to bring China’s advanced archaeological technology to the world.

Animated film ‘Chang An’ love letter to golden age of poetry

A Chinese animated (动画) film, Chang An, featuring some of China’s most well-known poets has been a surprise hit at the box office. Since its release on July 8, the film     1    (fetch) over 700 million yuan, leading the domestic box office over the weekend. It is also a success by     2     (arouse) enthusiasm for poetic romance in the hearts of moviegoers.

The film is set in the Tang dynasty,     3     is often seen as a golden age in Chinese history from 618 to 907 due to its     4     (economy) and cultural prosperity, describing the stories of Gao Shi and Li Bai, their struggles to better themselves and society in the Tang dynasty.

Sitting in cinemas     5    (crowd) with moviegoers of all age groups, the audience     6     (eager) recited poetry alongside the actors on screen as they headed down memory lane. The movie is undoubtedly a masterpiece showing the characteristics of Chinese culture to the world. “The most fascinating part of the film is realizing that these familiar names were not just great poets but real people with flesh and blood,” Liao Kun, a Guangdong resident who watched the movie Saturday,     7     (tell) Sixth Tone.

Zou Jing,     8     chief director, emphasized, “We created Chang An to explore into the limitless treasures of Chinese culture through animation”. Xie Junwei, who co-directs the movie with Zou Jing, says the film is aimed at increasing     9    (aware) among young Chinese of traditional Chinese culture and history. “We wanted to tell the stories of these brilliant figures to young people through an animated film so that they can have a deeper understanding and more passion     10     our history and classic works,” Xie told domestic media Beijing Daily.

“Seeing printed media being     1     (gradual) replaced by new media made me feel that something precious in my memory     2     (be) lost. I don’t want them to disappear,” he said,     3     (add) that publishing marriage announcements evokes     4     warm feeling toward newspapers while bringing a sense of vintage elegance.

The price for publishing a marriage announcement differs by number of words, space and printing house. It ranges from around 100 yuan to more than 10,000 yuan. Customers can     5     pay for the service online or by phone. Globally, many newspapers also provide sections to publish marriage announcements, along with births and     6     (die).

Meng Si,     7     works for an online platform     8     (associate) with newspaper publishing services, told Xinhua News Agency recently that there has been a     9     (notice) increase in inquiries and orders for marriage announcements. The customers are predominantly young people in     10     20s, with some even making appointments one or two months in advance.

The word “toad” (癞蛤蟆) would be very easy in an English-language spelling bee, but not in a nationally televised contest in China.

In Chinese, toad has three characters that are made up of 46 individual strokes(笔画). Yu Shuang,     1     8-year-old contestant, quickly wrote the characters on a screen that     2     (project) her effort on a big display above her head. When she finished, one of three judges hit the bell signaling a correct answer.     3     the other two didn’t agree,     4     (point) out that the young girl had missed a single dot in the third character.

Yu wasn’t alone. The show tested a group of adults in the audience, just 30% of     5     could write toad correctly.

Since the first show on a minor TV channel about educational programming, the “Chinese Characters Dictation Competition”     6     (explode) in popularity. The show shied to a Friday evening time on CCTV 1, even challenging the popularity of the country’s most     7     (watch) shows, including China’s version of “The Voice”.

Its creator, Guan Zhengwen said, “The hope is     8     the show could arouse people’s     9     (enthusiastic) for the language, which is one of the most spectacular treasures of Chinese civilization and the fifth big invention the Chinese people have given to humanity. The so-called four great inventions from China     10     (typical) are lite das paper, gunpowder, the compass and printing.

A realistic drama A Lifelong Journey has become a huge hit on TV and online recently.    1    (focus) on the ups and downs of Zhou’s family over five decades, it has caused nostalgia (怀旧) among many viewers. With the drama    2     (release) on China Central Television and streaming platform iQiyi on Jan 28, its viewership is    3    (steady) on the rise. Many viewers issued a    4    (describe) of the show that it was like a time machine to drift into the past, reflecting how they got here.

Adapted    5    Liang Xiaosheng’s award-winning novel of the same name, the show explores themes of family, friendship and romance in a bittersweet story. Set in    6    1960s, it’s not surprising that the family has to deal with lots of social    7    (change). like the restart of Gaokao, the country’s Reform and Opening-up, the boom of Xiahai and the nation’s anti-corruption campaign. Following the lives of Zhou’s family, the Grama gives viewers an insight into the ordinary Chinese who have turned a country in    8    (poor) into the second largest economy in the world.

The show’s director Li Lu,    9    became well known for his anti-corruption series in the Name of the People in 2017, said “China    10    ( witness) dramatic changes over the past five decades and it is time to create such a drama to remember the past.”