Chinese New Year, which starts     1     the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar, is considered as one of the most important holidays in China. It is known as the Spring Festival.

In ancient times, the Spring Festival started from the beginning of Spring. Nowadays, it often    2     (happen) between January and February. It usually lasts until Lantern Festival,     3     gives everyone plenty of time for celebration.

    4     (traditional), the children get red envelopes during the Spring Festival celebrations. It’s a custom     5     (go) back to ancient times. However, when the tradition     6     (begin) is still unknown. Whatever the reason is, the red envelope has been an important part of Chinese New Year to this day.

The firework is another big part of Chinese New Year. A writer shared the following story on a website.    7     old man saved a town from a terrible monster by throwing bamboo     8     (stick) into the fire. The explosion (爆炸声)     9     (cause) by the bamboo frightened off the monster. As a result, Chinese people set off fireworks during Chinese New Year celebrations     10     (avoid) the evil spirits of the past.

5 . Every year, FIFA (国际足联) selects a unique character for the World Cup which plays an important role in the event. This started in FIFA World Cup 1966 where Willie, a lion, became the official mascot (吉祥物) of the event. How about this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar?

Actually the Official Mascot for this year’s FIFA World Cup 2022^TM is called La’eeb. La’eeb is an Arabic (阿拉伯) word meaning “super-skilled player” and is based on an Arabic headdress keffiyeh (方巾), which is a traditional piece of Qatari clothing. Mawlawi, an officer said: “We are delighted to have La’eeb as the Official Mascot for the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and Arab world. We encourage everyone to imagine what it looks like.” After seeing it, fans started wondering if La’eeb looks like a ghost, a handkerchief, or a “wonton wrapper?” (馄饨皮) “We are sure fans everywhere will love this fun and playful character.” added Mawlawi.

La’eeb will be everywhere-welcoming the world, inspiring young fans and cheering the action during the game, which will take place from 21 November to 18 December. In addition, fans will soon be able to download GIFs of La’eeb through some social media channels (渠道), including Facebook and Whats App.

                                                                                                                                                         Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

Anyone who has an interest in Dunhuang will have heard of Fan Jinshi. The Chinese archaeologist     1     has spent more than half a century researching and preserving the caves at the heart of the ancient Silk Road in Gansu Province     2    (know) as the “Daughter of Dunhuang” in her field, though “protector” is probably a more fitting     3    (describe).

Fan has been studying the historical site since the early 1960s, first as an archaeology undergraduate from Peking University, then as a conservationist when she became the deputy director of the Dunhuang Research Academy in 1984, which serves to prevent the ancient site     4     being destroyed.

“It is over a thousand years old. It is an old person, an     5    (extreme) weak old person. It has     6    (variety) illnesses. If you are a little careless, it could be gone. Gone forever,” Fan says.

Today, thanks to the work of great     7    (archaeologist) such as Fan, Dunhuang is proud of the world’s largest and best-preserved collection of Buddhist relics     8    (date) from the 13th to the 15th centuries. The main Mogao site is made up of 735 caves spread across     9    1,700-metre-wide cliff face, containing 45,000 square metres of murals(壁画)     10     more than 2,000 colourful sculptures.

10 . By drawing patterns on the surface of a cup of tea, chabaixi (茶百戏), an ancient Chinese tea trick displayed in a recent TV drama, has gone viral for its apparent similarity with modern coffee art. However, ten years ago, this distinctive technique was close to disappearing. Zhang Zhifeng, a practician of chabaixi, found scenes of chabaixi in the drama aroused great interest among ordinary people.

Chabaixi can create endless patterns such as bamboos and mountains or even calligraphy. There are over a dozen steps, from grinding (碾碎) tea for fine powder, to pouring boiled water, stirring the mixture for thick froth (泡沫), and finally drawing the patterns. It is different from making coffee because people use clear water as the object to put into the cup instead of milk. But when the water touches the surface of whipped (搅打起泡的) tea, it turns into a white color and disappears in 20 minutes. The process before the drawing is known as the tea—making technique, diancha. The quality of diancha is crucial to whether patterns can be successfully produced later.

“Chabaixi is one of the countless forms of tea-making techniques in China. The importance of chabaixi is not only that this technique is unique in the world, but also it gives us a window into people’s lifestyle in the Song Dynasty, a period of time when leisure activities in some ways are similar to what we have now,” Zhang said.

Before chabaixi was discovered by TV audiences, the technique was listed as part of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, after it was recovered by Zhang Zhifeng. He started researching the origins of chabaixi in the 1980s and brought the technique back in 2009 after decades of trials and practice.

“To let this technique fade would be a shame. It must be passed on to the next generations so they can understand its history,” Zhang said.