Beloved as they may be, many Chinese dishes only show up on family tables once a year,     1     (mark) holidays or seasonal observances. When the Qingming Festival approaches each spring, qingtuan, a sweet, jade-coloured treat begins to appear in supermarkets     2    bakeries all over the country

“In Chinese culture, it’s really important to always honour and remember your ancestors,” said Lillian Luk,     3     founder of the London pop-up Shanghai Supper Club. During the Qingming Festival people all over China go on trips to their deceased loved ones’ burial sites    4     ( sweep) the graves, burn incense and present offerings.

    5     (make) with glutinous rice flour, qingtuan dough is emerald-green because of the addition of mugwort (艾草). “Mugwort also gives the qingtuan a nice medicinal benefit. It’s meant to    6     (low) blood pressure,” said Luk, who now makes and sells the green    7     (treat) at her pop-up restaurant when the Qingming Festival rolls around.

In recent years, Luk     8     (notice) qingtuan evolving. She’s seen all sorts of novel versions pop up, from dumplings dyed green with matcha (抹茶) instead of mugwort,     9     ones filled with custard or sweet potato. Luk acknowledges the value of unexpected flavour options—seeing her children become excited and curious about foods from their culture. “Somehow, I have kind of woven this thread     10     ties my kids to my heritage, unintentionally,” said Luk.

An exhibition,     1    （feature）around 200 culture artifacts from the era of interaction between the Chinese and French royal courts in the 17th and 18th centuries, kicked off at the Palace Museum in Beijing on Monday, marking the opening of the 18th     2    （edit）of the Festival Croisements. Croisements, meaning “crossover” in French, symbolizes mutual influence and     3    （connection）between Chinese and French cultures.     4     exhibition is a key event for the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism,     5     celebrates the 60-year diplomatic bond between the two countries.

Highlighted exhibits, from the collections of the two museums, include a gilt copper watch with a portrait of French King Louis XIV, most likely a gift from the monarch（君主）    6     Qing Dynasty（1644—1911）Emperor Kangxi; two pieces from Ten Tribute Horses, a booklet     7    （sign）by French Jesuit painter and missionary（传教士）Jean-Denis Attiret（1702—68）; and a porcelain panel painting of Qing Emperor Qianlong, which     8    （purchase）by French King Louis XV I in 1776 and kept at the Palace of Versailles ever since.

Launched in 2006, the Festival Croisements is dedicated to     9    （active）promoting exchanges and dialogues between Chinese and French art institutions and artists, presenting innovation and energy of their culture and art,     10     enhancing mutual understanding and friendship.

Of all the 24 solar terms, Clear and Bright is the only one, the first day of     1     is also a traditional Chinese festival, Qingming Festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day. The words “clear” and “bright” describe the weather during this period. Temperatures begin to rise and rainfall increases,    2    (make)it a crucial time for plowing and sowing in the spring.

Cleaning the tombs and paying respect to the dead     3     offerings are the two important practices to remember late relatives. Weeds around the tomb are cleared away and fresh soil     4    (add)to show care for the dead. As trees turn green, flowers blossom, and the sun shines     5    (bright), everything return s to life. It is a fine time to appreciate the beauty of nature. This custom can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770—476BC)and Warring States Period (475—221BC). Flying kites is     6     activity favored by many Chinese during Tomb-Sweeping Day.     7     makes flying kites during this day special is that people cut the string while the kite is in the sky     8     ( let )it fly free. It is said that this brings good luck and that various     9     (disease)can be chased away by doing this.

In many parts of China, eating eggs during Tomb-Sweeping Day is also important. The Chinese folk     10    (believe)is that eating an egg on Tomb-Sweeping Day will bring good health all year. Today, people believe that eating eggs on Tomb-Sweeping Day will bring success.

I find this phenomenon amazing.

7 . Splendid straw-made miniatures (缩微模型) of classic ancient buildings decorate Xu Jian’s home. They range from the Yellow Crane Tower to Forbidden City’s turrets. They are all full of details and delicately crafted, tied and arranged by Xu’s hands from countless sorghum straws (高粱杆).

The craft involves carving grooves (沟槽) into the sorghum straws, before multiple straws are locked together through those identically sized grooves, Xu says, adding that the sorghum straw art requires a great deal of patience, especially for works depicting ancient architecture.

Under the influence of his father Xu Yanfeng, Xu Jian got his hands on sorghum straws in childhood. He still vividly remember show his father would follow a film featuring scenes of Tiananmen Square and then note down all the details before creating a delicate miniature of it for over three years. The work was then sent to Japan for exhibition and collected by a local museum. Ever since, many of his father’s works made their way to exhibitions at home and abroad.

Xu Jian became committed to the art after he reached 19, getting into the depth of the related techniques. “My father urged me to keep in mind traditional Chinese architectural skills and the history of traditional building protections, and to apply them to my own sorghum straw artworks,” he says. Through hands-on guidance from his father, Xu Jian’s skills became increasingly proficient. While inheriting the craftsmanship from his father, Xu Jian has produced his own creative works.

To date, Xu Jian’s works have been exhibited in over 40 provincial and national-level exhibitions, earning numerous gold awards. To promote the art, Xu Jian joined hands with the School of Civil Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, in 2013, and founded a sorghum straw carving and tying base where the art has been integrated with architectural courses to enhance students’ thinking and practical skills.

9 . After losing an important deal in India, a business negotiator learned that her counterpart (对方) felt as if she had been rushing through the talks. The business negotiator thought she was being efficient with their time. Their cultures have different views on how to conduct negotiations, and in this case, the barrier prevented a successful outcome.

Research shows that deal-making across cultures tends to lead to worse outcomes as compared with negotiations conducted within the same culture. As we know, cultures are characterized by different behaviors, communication styles and norms (准则). Consequently, when negotiating across cultures, we bring different views to the bargaining table, which in turn may result in potential misunderstandings that can lead to a lower likelihood of discovering value-creating solutions.

Cultural conflict in negotiations is linked with the fact that we, at most times, interpret others’ behaviors, values, and beliefs through the lens (透镜) of our own culture. To overcome this, it is important to rescarch the customs and behaviors of different cultures as well as understand why people follow these customs and exhibit these behaviors in the first place.

Just as important, not only do countries have unique cultures, but teams and organizations do too. Before partaking in any negotiation, take the time to study the context and the person on the other side of the bargaining table, including the various cultures to which he belongs, whether the culture of his culture, the culture of engineering, or his particular company’s corporate culture. The more you know about the client, the better off you’ll do in any negotiation.

Therefore, we see the negotiator has learned her Indian counterpart would have appreciated a slower pace with more opportunities for relationship building. She seems to have run into the issue: Using time efficiently in the course of negotiations is generally valued in the United States, but in India, there’s often a greater focus on building relationships early in the process. By doing research on the clients’ cultures, they can adjust their negotiation method and give themselves a better chance of creating a valuable negotiation experience for both themselves and their counterpart.

10 . The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Autumn, the 13th solar term of the year, begins this year on Aug.8 and ends on Aug.22. Start of Autumn reflects the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The following are 4 things you should know about Start of Autumn.

“Autumn Tiger”

Although Start of Autumn indicates the beginning of autumn, hot weather will not come to an end. The period of hot days after Start of Autumn, usually lasting for 30 days, is called “Autumn Tiger” or “Indian Summer. ” Because of decreasing rainfall, it is even much hotter during this period than during Major Heat.

Fleshing out in autumn

On the first day of the Start of Autumn, usually people will weigh themselves and compare their weight to what it was at the Start of Summer. If one has lost weight during the summer, then at the beginning of autumn, he or she needs to flesh out by eating many different kinds of delicious food, especially meat.

Gathering crops

Start of Autumn is a big solar term for farmers. It is time to gather crops. There is a saying: If it rains on the day of the Start of Autumn, a good harvest is expected.

Eating peaches

In Hangzhou, people eat peaches on the Start of Autumn day. The peach stones are kept until New Year’s Eve and thrown into the stove, burned into ash. People believed that in this way, plagues (瘟疫) could be prevented for the whole year.