With the worldwide celebration of the Chinese New Year, traditional Chinese cultural forms such as the Yingge Dance (Dance of Heroes) and dragon and lion dances have once again attracted widespread attention.

As the Chinese New Year is increasingly celebrated     1     (global), it has brought its traditional celebrations elsewhere and seen people of other countries join the festivities. This Spring Festival, a team of Yingge dancers from South China’s Guangdong Province     2     (invite) to the UK, bringing an exciting performance to London’s Burlington Arcade     3     (celebrate) the Chinese New Year.

Literally     4     (translate) as the “Songs of Heroes” dance, Yingge Dance is an old folk dance     5     originated from the Chaoshan area of South China’s Guangdong Province. Dressed in colorful costumes, performers wave wooden sticks in their hands while     6     (dance) in orderly formations to the music.

Based on the stories of the 108     7     (hero) of Liangshan Mountain from the classic novel Outlaws of the Marsh (《水浒传》), this is     8     folk art combining a variety of forms, from martial arts and Chinese operas to dance.

From a centuries-old art form to a magnum opus (杰作) of Chinese tradition worldwide, the     9     (popular) of Yingge Dance on the streets of London during the Spring Festival was a success     10     terms of traditional Chinese folk art sailing overseas.

5 . Yu Zeling, an award-winning master of paper cutting, fills her studio with cutouts of animals, people, and scenes that are so vivid that they seem to leap from the walls. Her art covers village life in Ansai, a rural district in Shaanxi Province.

Ms. Yu came to paper cutting in the late 1970s as naturally as she breathed the earthy air.“We were very poor, and when it was time to celebrate the New Year, we all put paper-cuts on the windows to decorate our houses,” she says, recalling the holiday at her childhood home. Ms. Yu and others are working to keep the folk art alive, even as it evolves away from its roots as adornment for farmhouses.

The art originated in China in the centuries after paper was invented in A.D.105. Full of auspicious (吉利的) symbols from daily life, the decorations represented good weather, many offspring, long life, wealth, and happiness.

Using newspaper, Ms. Yu first practiced cutting the image of a Chinese national flag that she saw in a school textbook. She cut it 100 times before she was satisfied. Then her aunt took over, introducing her to increasingly complicated traditional themes.

Ms. Yu was later invited to train in the Ansai's Cultural Center. After years of training,Ms.Yu became a master in her own right, winning one award after another. Her works are on display in museums. But she's humble about her achievements. “I was, and still am, a farmer,” she says with a smile.

Hoping to carry on and grow the folk art, Ms. Yu volunteers to teach at free community training sessions. Paper cutting is also taught in Ansai’s public schools. Ms. Yu is aware of the need to go beyond protecting traditions and embrace new paper-cut experiments.

Shoushan Stone was first discovered in Shoushan, Fuzhou. For centuries, craftsmen have been carving stones primarily     1     (mine) from the Shoushan village. The stones are carved     2     figures, animals and many other artworks.

The Charm of Shoushan Stone,     3     ongoing exhibition at the National Art Museum of China,     4     (gather) antique and modern objects which introduce the tradition of stone carving in Fujian. It offers a visual introduction to both the fine quality of Shoushan Stone and the superb skills required     5     (process) it. On show at the exhibition are seals(印章) made from excellent examples of the stone,     6     were sought after among the literati (文人墨客) of the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are also mini sculptures which show craftsmen's different     7     (approach) to carving Shoushan Stone based on its rich color schemes: a red and yellow stone that is suitable for sculpting mountains, flowers and fruits, a black one for trees and stones     8     a grey one for clouds.

So far, Shoushan Stone,     9     (official) named “China National Stone”,    10     (become) a symbol of elegance, dignity and wisdom, which is worthy of collection.

Among the Han people, which make up a vast majority of     1     (China) total population, the passage into adulthood is no longer celebrated,     2     in those very traditional families. In ancient times, this ceremony marked a person’s transition to adulthood and     3     (refer) to as the capping or hair-pinning ceremony.

This ceremony started from the clan society (氏族社会) and continued to be held until the Qing Dynasty. The Manchu rulers then felt that this ceremony was     4     (meaning) and thus abolished this ceremony which     5     (last) for thousands of years. From then on the Han people have to enter the stage of adulthood without knowing it. Nowadays, it is mainly in those minor ethnic groups that this life passage is still celebrated. In some parts of China, this ceremony is experiencing a     6     (revive).

When a young man reached 18 or 20 years old, the capping ceremony,    7     (consist) of several procedures, would be held. The hair of the young man should be done up and pinned, and after     8     three caps of different materials should be placed on the youth’s head. The hair-pinning ceremony,    9     the mother or another senior pinned the girl’s hair, would be held when a girl was 15 years old.

There are other interesting customs concerned. For example, boys of the Yao nationality have to pass about ten dangerous tests and take oaths (宣誓)     10     (conduct) bad deeds.

During the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, the Centre Pompidou in Paris is the cultural calling card of France. Since 2019, the museum has been working with the West Bund Museum Project in Shanghai. Recently, an agreement     1     (sign) to renew this successful partnership for another five years, with the aim of developing     2     broader and more expansive cultural partnership.

The project     3     (see) a range of collaborative programs launched over the next five years, including     4     (perform), exhibitions, seminars and educational events.

Shanghai has grown into a contemporary art destination,    5     (attract) what’s seen as the highest level of cultural cooperation with the Centre Pompidou museum.

France is also among the countries to benefit     6     China’s visa-free travel policy. As Frenchman said, “    7     (obvious), it’s a great thing for a French citizen who wants to travel to China. All year long we have teams of colleagues from Paris: art handlers, exhibition curators and art conservators, all of     8     need to come here on quite a regular basis. It’s going to be much     9     (easy) for them if they don’t have to apply for a visa. They will enjoy coming to Shanghai even more, not just to work,    10     to explore.”