1 . Top 4 must-see ancient villages in Beijing

Beijing is a world-famous historical and cultural city with a history of more than 3, 000 years. The rich and profound ancient village culture found in and around the city remains an important part of the capital’s history and culture. Below we recommend 4 must-see ancient villages in the Beijing area as the 2024 May Day holiday approaches.

Located in the northwest of Mentougou district, Lingshui village was formed in the Liao and Jin dynasties. The ancient dwellings in Lingshui village are a model of rural residential buildings during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) in northerm China, and their original appearance is well preserved. Tourists can explore over 120 folk houses, alongside many cultural relics in the village.

Shuiyu village is in Fangshan district. The village was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. With 600 houses and more than 100 sets of courtyard houses from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the original cultural ecology of the village has been well maintained. Facing both north and south, the village is laid out in a circular shape, forming a unique architectural style.

Sangyu village lies in the north of Mentougou district, Beijing, next to Lingshui village. Prior to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) , Sangyu village was called Sanyu or “encountering” in English, named for the three water channels that meet in the village. Dense mulberry tree forests surround the entire village, and when they bear fruit, purple mulberries light up the village valley.

Malan village, which means “horse stable” in English, had a history of keeping horses that dates back to the Ming dynasty. The ancient buildings in Malan village are made of stone and mud. When building and repairing houses in the village, people try their best to maintain their original appearance. There is also an exhibition hall, a row of old houses, as well as 12 gate bridges in the the village.

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The main structure of the Datengxia water resources management facility in Southwest China has been completed four months ahead     1     schedule, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Saturday.

The project,     2     is located in the Xijiang River, has eight power generation     3     (unit), each with an installed capacity of 200,000 kilowatts (千瓦). It can     4     (annual) generate more than 6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.

In cooperation with other reservoirs (水库), the project can help Wuzhou, a city with     5     population of over 2.8 million in Guangxi, deal with once-in-a-hundred-year floods. Previously, the city was only able to hold floods that occur once every 50 years. The project also enables some cities in the Pearl River Delta     6     (resist) floods that happen once every two centuries.

The ministry said the Datengxia facility will also provide strong support for rural development, offering irrigation (灌溉) water to 80,000 hectares of farmland and     7     (address) drinking water shortage for almost 1.4 million people in Guangxi.

The project has already played     8     (significance) roles in the past three years when it was put into trial operation. For example, in June last year, it helped prevent     9     store about 700 million cubic meters of floodwater when the Xijiang River     10     (hit) by a flood. In the peak, it reduced water flow by 3,500 cubic meters per second.

Placed among the busy streets of Washington, D. C. is a large public garden that many Americans have never heard of. The U. S. National Arboretum (植物园) includes     1     collection of flowering plants called azaleas, a field of native plants named ferns, and flowering trees in the dogwood tree area. The garden     2     (establish) by Congress in 1927. It plays a leading part in researching and developing plants like trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses.

Government scientists are in charge of the 180-hectare area. Their main goal is     3    (strengthen) the U. S. economy by making sure an important kind of agriculture,     4     (call) the nursery industry, continues to perform well. The most recent numbers from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that the ornamental and landscape plant industry creates billions of founds in sales each year.

The arboretum is home to one of the     5     (large) collections of preserved seeds in the world. The National Arboretum Herbarium (植物标本)     6     (house) around 700,000 ex-ample seeds. They include seeds from plants that the USDA considers as     7    (economical) important. Scientists collect many genetically different seeds within a kind of plant from both native and non-native plants. The reason     8     collecting that data is that scientists protect plants from harmful situations like climate change, changed environments, or other new and possible risks.

While the scientists do their work, the public     9     (explore) plants is free to visit the arboretum. Though many people may not know it, the arboretum has had a hand in developing a number of plants     10     are part of American landscaping.