2 . In the long river of inheriting and preserving intangible cultural heritages, people have encountered numerous challenges, especially in this rapidly developing era. Fortunately, there are still many individuals who persistently make efforts to safeguard it.

Chang Yangyang is such a person. As an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he once worked at a factory. Although he had learned the craft paper-cutting from his grandmother since childhood, in the eyes of Chang’s parents, a hobby was far less precious than a stable job. They didn’t change their minds until he won third prize in a national paper-cutting competition in 2010. This opened a new door for him in paper-cutting, which strengthened his determination to continue his career in the craft.

In addition to practicing skills diligently, Chang thought more about how to promote the Mengjin paper-cutting culture and let more people know about this intangible cultural heritage.

In his early years, Chang conducted local training and salons. Later, He tried Douyin live-streaming. At first, Chang was shy. But gradually, he became more familiar with it and learned to interact with viewers. In this way, he expanded his audience and followers from dozens of people to hundreds of thousands.

The young paper-cutting artist and instructor hopes there are more young people learning the art. It is for this reason that he currently teaches the art of paper-cutting at several local primary schools, Chang says his life dream is to establish a paper-cutting museum one day so people can learn more about the art form and grow to love it as much as he does.

With more young craftsmen like Chang injecting fresh energy, the intangible cultural heritage will be able to continue sharing the same clear wind with mountains and forests, and the same bright moon with rivers in the future years, moving towards eternity.

Leishan County is in Southwest China’s Guizhou province. Of more than 300 villages in the county, 84.2% of the population     1     (be)Miao ethnic minority and they have a special handcraft, Miao embroidery.

Leishan Miao embroidery has rich patterns,     2     include legendary animals, like the auspicious dragon, phoenix and kylin, as well as more common animals like chickens, ducks and cows.

Leishan Miao embroidery has different colors. According to ways of coloring, there are     3     (main) two kinds of Miao embroideries, single-color embroidery and multi-color embroidery. The former is done     4     silk threads of one major color, mostly different shades of red or blue. The latter mixes and matches different colors to produce colorful, contrasting patterns that have    5     strong visual impact.

In 2006, Miao embroidery     6     (add)to China’s National Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. To better inherit(传承)this traditional culture, Leishan has made great efforts to develop the Miao embroidery industry,     7     (come)up with more and more innovative designs. The rise of the Miao embroidery industry has allowed the products to go out of the mountains and into people’s     8     (day)lives.

Now we can find Miao embroidery elements in our modern clothes, shoes, bags and many other     9     (item). It has also improved the local employment and increased local people’s income. If you come to Leishan, be sure     10     (have)a look at Miao embroidery, and to enjoy this Miao art on the tip of the needle.

Porcelain is a material     1     (make) from well-chosen porcelain clay (黏土) through technological processes. Although porcelain developed from pottery (陶器), the two are different in material and firing temperature. Porcelain has a better quality and a     2     (beautiful) body than pottery. That’s why it slowly replaced pottery. It is called china in English because it was first made in China, which fully explains that the beautiful porcelain can be a symbol     3     China.

The earliest porcelain     4     (appear) during the Shang Dynasty, but the first real porcelain was not produced until the Eastern Han Dynasty. The techniques for     5     (create) porcelain developed in the Tang Dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty, people in Jingdezhen, China’s porcelain capital, produced blue and white porcelain     6     later became the representative of porcelain.

Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, porcelain has been exported (出口) worldwide. It     7     (strong) encourages economic and cultural exchange between China     8     the outside world. It also influences the     9     (tradition) culture and lifestyle of people from other     10     (country). Porcelain is the creative fruit of the working people of ancient China.

Different countries have different table manners.     1     is polite in Asia may be extremely rude in Western     2     (country). For example, when you are in England you must not lift your soup plate to your mouth. This is very impolite. But this is     3     (complete) normal if you are in Japan. When     4     (drink) your soup, you can lift your plate to your mouth. Traditionally,     5     is the woman’s job to cook food and set the tables in Korean. The woman would sit behind her husband     6     (make) sure that he has everything     7     he needs for a pleasant meal. Normally in Western Europe, the host or hostess takes the first bite. The host begins after all food     8     (serve) and everyone is seated. It is impolite to reach over someone to pick     9     food or other items. However, in China the dishes are placed on the table and everybody shares. Sometimes the Chinese host uses their chopsticks to put food in your bowl or plate. This is     10     sign of politeness.