When Xu Beihong(1895~1953)     1     (return) to his home country in 1927, the painter had lived and studied art in Europe for nearly ten years, primarily in France,     2     has long been known as the “land of art”.

As one of the earliest Chinese    3    (artist) to study fine arts in Europe,   Xu was well received in art and education communities back home. It then seemed a natural choice for him    4     (put) his time and effort into teaching at art schools     5     holding exhibitions (展览) of modern Chinese painting.

However, Xu     6     (touch) by the bad situation of his country and     7     (it) people at that time, so he spoke for the serious condition of the people through painting. The subjects in his works included those    8     (live) in mountainous Chongqing who had to go up and down to get water, boatmen working on the Yangtze River and women praying (祈祷) for the     9     (safe) of husbands who worked far away from home.

For those in the art community, Xu is remembered mostly for blending (融合) Eastern and Western styles and doing a great job on the higher education of fine arts in China. While for his people,     10     artist is best known for showing the true life of those at the grassroots.

Zhang Xuehua is     1     artist of paper cutting, who works attentively in her workshop in Ma’anshan city, east China’s Anhui Province. As she turns the paper, her scissors fly and a paper-cut work is “born”.

    2     (normal), paper cutting craftsmen first draw patterns on paper and then cut them into outlines, but Zhang has a special     3    (capable) to cut without sketching (画素描) patterns ahead of time. She can turn a piece of paper the size of a handkerchief     4     a lifelike paper cutting work in less than one minute. Her works show a mixture of paper cutting styles in northern and southern China.

Zhang     5    (learn) the craft from her grandmother. “In the beginning, I was not able to cut well, but in time I could create little frogs, butterflies, flowers and other works,” Zhang said. “Paper cutting created countless beautiful childhood     6    (memory) for me. ”

The walls of Zhang’s studio are covered with work, large and small, with subjects     7    (range) from the twelve zodiac signs to daily items. The work Zhang remains proudest of is the Folk Girl series,     8     now sits in the National Art Museum of China’s permanent collection.     9    (carry) forward the traditional craft of paper cutting, Zhang often offers paper cutting classes for free at residential communities, schools and museums, well     10    (recognize) by young people who want to understand the living heritage.