Yours,

Li Hua

2 . Chinese culture values family bonds (纽带) very much. Family members don’t just gather during the holidays, in fact they often live under one roof all year round.

Different cultures have different family values.     1    

In most East Asian cultures, extended families (大家庭) are common.     2     According to the Atlantic, 90 percent of children in Shanghai and 70 percent of children in Beijing were cared for by their grandparents. Chinese people believe that “a grandparent is a treasure to their family”.

In many Western countries, most families are nuclear families (小家庭). These are only made up of children and their parents.

Additionally, the duties parents have toward their children can also differ.

    3     It’s normal for parents to pay for their children’s college, help them find a job, or buy them an apartment. Chinese adults also follow their parents’ opinions when making major life decisions, more often than not.

In most Western countries, however, kids usually move out of the house after they turn 18.     4     Also, if they choose to keep living with their parents after becoming an adult, it can be seen by some as a failure on their part.

While the East cares more about close family bonds, the West values privacy and independence.     5     Families will always be a source of love, warmth, and care for people around the world.

The Huangmei Opera piece On Sun Mountain was presented by the Anqing Huangmei Opera Art Theater at the China Grand Theater of Pingju Opera in Beijing on Dec 4, 2023.

The story takes place on Sun Mountain,     1     the story of Li Anben, a telegraph operator in a small town at the foot of the mountain, unfolds. Initially     2    (describe) as greedy and lazy, as the plot     3    (progress), Li undergoes a remarkable transformation. Moved by the selflessness of the New Fourth Army soldiers, who sacrifice their lives     4    (save) his mother from Japanese invaders (侵略者), Li evolves. In the end, he joins the New Fourth Army     5     becomes a courageous soldier.

This Huangmei Opera adaptation     6    (skillful) introduces audiences to the beautiful tunes, elegant dance movements, and singing style that characterize the     7    (tradition) art form. The performance brings a fresh perspective (视角) to the stage, bringing viewers into a heartwarming tale of     8    (brave) and sacrifice, winning waves of applause. With this production, the Anqing Huangmei Opera Art Theater continues to ensure the vitality (生命力) of the treasured cultural heritage.

It is one of Anhui’s finest     9    (play). Now, Anhui Province is organizing a tour of the excellent programs in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and some other cities, which runs     10     November, 2023 to January, 2024.

The Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chongyang Festival,    1     (take) place on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. On this day, people hold many activities, such as enjoying the chrysanthemum (菊花), inserting Zhuyu, and     2     (drink) chrysanthemum wine. Also, a story about the     3     (tradition) festival is often told.

During the East Han Dynasty, there was     4     devil of the plague (瘟魔) in the Ruhe River. Once it showed up, people got sick and even died. People living around the Ruhe River suffered a lot because    5     the disease caused by the devil.

There lived a man named Huan Jing,    6     parents died from the plague and he almost died. After he recovered, Huan Jing decided to learn magic arts and kill the devil. Huan Jing heard that there lived an immortal (神仙) in the eastern area. He took a long journey and     7     (final) found the immortal. The immortal heard the man’s story and was moved by his determination, so the immortal agreed to teach him how to kill the devil.With the help of the immortal, he was     8     (brave) and more determined to beat the devil.

One day, the immortal told Huan Jing the devil would show up again on the ninth day of the ninth month, and he asked Huan Jing to go back     9     (fight) against it. When Huan Jing went back, he told the     10     (villager) to go to a mountain and sent everyone a Zhuyu leaf and a glass of chrysanthemum wine. When the devil emerged, it got dizzy from the scent of the Zhuyu and the chrysanthemum. At that time, Huan Jing took the sword and killed the devil.

8 . I still remember my father’s embarrassment the day when he was invited to have dinner at a colleague’s house. Freshly arriving in Brazil, and not being able to look up on the Internet, he offended his hosts by making a hand gesture — a circle with the thumb and index finger. He had always understood it to mean “OK”, but in Brazil, it meant something different.

The incident was quickly forgotten. My father’s colleague understood that he probably wasn’t yet aware of the local meaning of the gesture. He gently explained it meant something rude, and then it was kept in mind under “things not to be done in Rio”.

I was reminded myself when touring China. After I replied to a friend’s WeChat message with a Van Gogh sticker that I thought meant “keep fighting”, another friend told me I used it wrong.

“The Chinese version is a bit different,” she said, taking out her phone and showing to me. “See these characters? They mean ‘I will hit you!’”

Life is full of crossed meanings. In India, you sign to someone to come over with your palm down, not up. And in the Middle East, you never use your left hand for anything public.

As adults, we understand that even if it hurts, a mistake is only an insult (侮辱) when it is made on purpose. Yet, many conflicts come from misunderstanding, and history is full of the unfortunate outcomes of cross-cultural communication.

My father’s pre-Internet Brazilian mistake was forgiven because of context — he had just arrived and he didn’t know its local meaning. But when context is absent or simply differently understood — especially in the social media — perhaps it is time we all think twice before typing or talking, especially when the consequences can be more severe than the misuse of a WeChat sticker.

The word hutong was borrowed from the Mongolian word to mean, “water well”, about 700 years ago. Later it referred to a place     1     people live. Hutong we see today are made up of small lanes     2     (form) by walls of siheyuan. They were built during     3     Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

When the People’s Republic of China     4     (found) in 1949, there were more than 3,000 hutong. Most of the city’s population lived in this traditional housing.

    5     with the modernization of the city in the 1980s and early 1990s, many hutong were pulled down to build     6     (road), skyscrapers and modern houses. The government has     7     (ultimate) recognized the importance of hutong as Chinese cultural heritage. In 2002, Beijing listed 40 protected historical zones and increased its efforts to restore some key relics and older streets in the city. Nearly 500 hutong     8     (survive) so far.

Hutong that still exist are like oases (绿洲) of calm surrounded by the     9     (noise) city. Walking through them, it is common     10     (see) groups of elderly citizens sitting together playing cards, mahjong or Chinese chess. In the early mornings and evenings, they gather to practice traditional forms of exercise such as taijiquan as well as dancing and singing folk songs or Peking Opera. Hutong have become a museum of Beijing’s folk customs and history.