Traditional Chinese culture is beginning to attract the attention of the world. Kung fu,     1     (especial), has had a great effect     2     millions of people who first learnt about China through it. Sometimes, they may come to China and learn about some other aspects of this culture. Some Asian     3    (nation) have known about the ancient Chinese culture,     4     has a long history. Their own cultures are     5     mix of native ones and those Chinese characteristics. Some Asian countries long ago     6     (adopt) Confucianism. This strength comes from the ideas     7    (give) an The Four Books of Confucianism. They were built upon the idea of an even     8    (ancient) period included in The Five Classics. From them, the West learns     9    is unique in China, for example, Tai ji:

So far China has taken steps     10    (increase) this spread of its culture by establishing Chinese Cultural Centres in such places as the United States and Europe.

Shijing, also The Book of Songs or Shih Ching, is the     1     (early) collection of Chinese poetry. It     2     (make) up of 311 poems dating from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle stage of the Spring and Autumn Period. Nowadays, Confucius is generally believed to be the     3     (edit) of the book.

Shijing is rich in content,     4     (describe) love and labour, war and slavery, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and special events. It is called a mirror of social life.

Poems included in Shijing fall into three sections-poems that come from villages belong to Feng; those written to persuade or praise the rulers belong to Ya; those used at religious     5     (ceremony) belong to Song. Ya and Song are flowery and serious in language.     6    , Feng is relatively inspiring and full of passion.

The opening poem of Shijing, “Cooing and Wooing” (《关雌》), is about love,     7     reads:

By riverside are cooing, a pair of turtledoves;

A good young man is wooing, a fair maiden he loves.

It is vivid that the man is longing     8     (win) over the girl.

Shijing enables people to have a better understanding of Chinese civilization and is also     9     beginning of ancient Chinese poetry. Additionally, it is also frequently quoted in other Chinese texts and has always been referred to     10     moral truth and lessons.

Not long ago, China’s traditional tea-making techniques and their associated social practices successfully     1     (become) a UNESCO’s latest World Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“Stove-boiled tea,” a new way of drinking tea, has recently gained     2     (popular) in China. The process of drinking tea has     3     sense of ritual (仪式) and becomes a new favorite of young people.

    4     (general) speaking, the process of boiling tea on a stove consists of highly roasting tea leaves before brewing them, sometimes with rosebuds    5     sweet osmanthus (桂花), in a pot over a charcoal-filled stove. The art of boiling tea is a time-consuming process     6     requires constant attention to the temperature in order to properly “cook” it. People sit around the stove and have snacks such as fruits, nuts, and desserts with their hot tea. People also post their moments of stove-boiled tea while     7     (wear) traditional Hanfu in these ancient teahouses.

Similar     8     other trending lifestyles such as cycling and camping, “stove-boiled tea” reflects young people’s desire     9     (escape) from cities in order to embrace the nature and experience a peaceful mind.

“Stove-boiled tea” is also a latest “Guo Chao” or “National Trend” to blend Chinese cultural elements into people’s     10     (day) lives.

Every Chinese has his or her own zodiac animal sign according to their birth year. The Chinese zodiac, also known as Sheng Xiao     1     Shu Xiang, is a repeated circle of 12 years. Each year     2     (represent) by an animal. Chinese New Year 2024 is a year of the Loong.

Chinese Zodiac Loong is     3     fifth of the 12 zodiac animals, following the Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. People born in the year of dragon are     4     (general) born with the zodiac dragon characteristics. They have an ambitious target and never give up.

Back in the pre-Qin period over 2,200 years ago, there was already the Chinese zodiac signs theory. So it is     5    (reason) that Chinese Zodiac years are in agreement with the beginning of Chinese Lunar New Year. If you have an idea of lunar calendar, you will know a Chinese zodiac year often starts from late January and ends in middle February of the next year.

Therefore,    6     (see) what your Chinese zodiac animal is, you need to change your Gregorian calendar birthday to lunar calendar of the year you were born. For example, if you were born     7     February 16, 1988(a year of the Loong), the Lunar New Year's Eve,    8     was very close to Loong year, but you are a Rabbit.

    9     is also worth mentioning is that if two people were born in the different Loong years, they may have very different     10     (personality), due to the Five Elements, which are Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Each element comes in a 60-year cycle.

It is no secret that China has an incredibly rich, complex and ancient history and culture. My first     1     (expose) to Chinese culture came totally by chance. At 8, I walked into a bookshop and picked a book from one of the     2     (shelf). Nevertheless, the book turned out to be the “Tao Te Ching”, a deeply philosophical book of Taoism. As an 8-year-old, the book’s content was     3     (obvious) lost on me, but it provided me with an early connection to a profound philosophical tradition by       4     I am still influenced today. At school I began studying Chinese. My interest in the language developed early on,     5    (combine) my love of travelling with my love of meeting new people.

Culture and food are closely connected and perhaps nowhere else can this be seen more clearly     6     in China. In recent years there     7    (be) a rise in restaurants offering a variety of foods here. I have introduced many of my friends to Chinese history and culture through a     8    (share) love of food.

    9     is safe to say that my journey has only just begun. These first steps are only a drop in the ocean of lifelong learning, but as the Chinese philosopher Laozi said, “A journey of a thousand miles     10     (begin) with a single step.”