Peking duck is an icon of Beijing cuisine and enjoying the treat is a must-do in the capital. Among the fast-changing trends of international cuisine, the dish is a rare, enduring classic,     1    (win) worldwide fame for its crispy skin and tender meat.

The stories about the origins of Peking duck vary, one of     2     dates back to the Ming Dynasty. In the 1420s, Emperor Zhu Di, also known as the Yongle Emperor,     3    (move) the country’s capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Chefs working for the royal family also migrated to Beijing, where they came up     4     new methods to cook duck.

If diners order roast duck in a restaurant, a chef will come to the table to provide     5    (serve). The chef skillfully cuts off     6    (taste) parts of skin first, with the meat then cut into juicy slices. Usually, the slices are     7    (delicate) served with a sweet bean paste (酱), rested on a bed of shredded (切碎的) cucumber, spring onions or radishes (萝卜) and wrapped in a bite-sized, thin pancake.     8    (roll) into little envelopes, these pancakes are a taste and tactile experience.

Taste is only one of the     9    (reason) for Peking duck’s unique status, though. In China,     10     is generally believed that duck is moderate and even slightly cold in nature, and therefore brings no excessive heat to the body.

In 2023, the first mascot (吉祥物) “auspicious (幸运的) rabbit” for the “Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations     1     (travel) to various countries, which made it popular with people in the world. At present it has become     2     international star.

    3     (welcome) the new year in 2024, the ministry has launched the 2024“HappyChinese New Year” mascot named “JiXiang Long”, literally lucky dragon, for the Year of the Dragon global celebrations. The mascot features a gesture of welcome and a smiley face     4     flame (火焰) shaped eyebrows, auspicious cloud     5     (ear), and a gold ingot (元宝) shaped nose. Its body     6     (cover) by flame patterns in yellow and red.

In the     7     (eager) to make people know more about the mascot, Gao Zheng     8     works on culture exchanges introduced it together with Tan Dun, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Aside from being     9     (wide) feature d in the 2024“Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations at home and abroad, “JiXiang Long” will be developed into a host of     10     (culture) creativity products, ranging from stationery (文具) to souvenir sculptures.

7 . Teenagers across the world eagerly await the day they become legal adults, to be free from the dependence of their parents and to practice the full rights of their citizenship. The situation is no different in South Korea. Here, the legal age of adulthood is 19. Ten years ago, the legal age was 20, but this was lowered by a year in 2013 based on recognition of the early maturity of modern teenagers. Now, from their 19th birthday onwards, South Korean teenagers can vote, get married and work full-time.

Unlike most other countries, the South Korean government celebrates this transformation into adulthood with an official “Coming-of-Age Day”, which falls on every third Monday of May. Its first written record of celebrating adulthood dates back to the Goryeo Dynasty, where King Gwangjong gifted Prince Wang Juan outfit (服装) reserved for male adults in 965.

By the late Jose on Dynasty, the ceremony marking adulthood developed into a full-grown event for the middle and upper classes, celebrated by their 15-year-olds. In this period, one of the most symbolic changes that adults-to-be went through was that boys would tie their long flowing (飘逸的) hair into a topknot (结) and cover it with at all black hat made of horsehair; likewise, girls put their hair, which they let fall as single braids (辫子) in youth, up into an eat knot and set it with a long hairpin (发簪).

Today, the traditional coming-of-age ceremonies still live on, supported largely by government and public interests. But a set of very different customs has also been added. Unless they apply to participate in publicly-held ceremonies or attend schools that provide these series, 19-year-olds celebrate the third Monday of May the modern way, by having a nice meal with family or drinking with their friends.

The Jialu oil-paper umbrella is from Jialu Village, Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province. It is a traditional Chinese handicraft (手工艺品) with     1     history of over 800 years. However, as time goes on, most people now use modern umbrellas in     2     (they) daily lives, and oil-paper umbrellas have     3     (gradual) disappeared. But in 1990, Dai Gensheng, a local man of Jialu Village,     4     (found) the Jialu Oil-paper Umbrella Factory. It aims to protect and pass down the traditional handicraft.

“Unlike other traditional umbrellas,     5     covers are painted in simple colors such as black or red, ours are special for designed patterns, including flowers, birds and landscapes,” says Dai,     6     (add) that the objects have become popular with people in tourist     7     (attraction) across China. According to Dai, it takes at least 72 steps     8    (make) a Jialu oil-paper umbrella. These steps include cutting bamboo, making the skeleton (骨架)     9     brushing tung oil onto the umbrella cover. “It is a handmade craft with many processes, and machines can’t get it done,” he says.

Over the past three years, the factory’s output has been increasing. So far, the oil-paper umbrellas produced by Dai’s factory     10     (sell) to 28 countries and regions. The factory has also provided jobs for over 150 local villagers.