Shijing, also The Book of Songs or Shih Ching, is the     1     (early) collection of Chinese poetry. It     2     (make) up of 311 poems dating from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle stage of the Spring and Autumn Period. Nowadays, Confucius is generally believed to be the     3     (edit) of the book.

Shijing is rich in content,     4     (describe) love and labour, war and slavery, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and special events. It is called a mirror of social life.

Poems included in Shijing fall into three sections-poems that come from villages belong to Feng; those written to persuade or praise the rulers belong to Ya; those used at religious     5     (ceremony) belong to Song. Ya and Song are flowery and serious in language.     6    , Feng is relatively inspiring and full of passion.

The opening poem of Shijing, “Cooing and Wooing” (《关雌》), is about love,     7     reads:

By riverside are cooing, a pair of turtledoves;

A good young man is wooing, a fair maiden he loves.

It is vivid that the man is longing     8     (win) over the girl.

Shijing enables people to have a better understanding of Chinese civilization and is also     9     beginning of ancient Chinese poetry. Additionally, it is also frequently quoted in other Chinese texts and has always been referred to     10     moral truth and lessons.

5 . China’s famous museums include ancient buildings and world class modern museums with big collections. They are excellent places for sightseeing and learning about China.

Sanxingdui Museum

The museum is on the path less beaten by tourists, but it makes one of the top museums for the 3,400-year-old artworks. If you’re an ancient history fan, this place will attract you. If you love art, its style will surprise you a lot.

The Palace Museum

The museum is one of the largest old buildings kept in the country with a history of 600 years old. Built at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty between 1406 and 1420, it was the home of 24 rulers and their courts. It is one of the finest buildings in China and a good place to study Chinese history.

The Shanghai Museum

The big modern museum is popular with foreign tourists. It is probably the most modern museum with the focus on creative art displays about the history of the whole area. Located in People’s Square, the museum is most famous for its huge collection of china.

The Shaanxi History Museum

Since 14 historical dynasties founded their capitals and developed in Shaanxi Province, the museum may have the oldest treasure of all the museums in China. The artworks show the greatness of the museum, and the displays are modern and well laid out.

Porcelain, also called fine china,    1    (feature) its delicate texture, pleasing color, and refined sculpture, has been one of the    2     (good) artworks introduced to the Western world through the Silk Road. The earliest one    3     (find) made of Kaolin (高岭土) in the Shang Dynasty (17^th-11^th century BC), and possessed the common aspects of the smoothness and unaffected quality of hard enamel (瓷釉), while pottery wares (陶器) were more widely used among most of the ordinary people. Anyway it was the beginning. In the following dynasties, due    4     its durability and shine, porcelain rapidly became    5    necessity of daily life,     6     (especial) in the middle and upper class. It was made    7    the form of all kinds of items, such as bowls, cups, tea sets, vases, jewel cases, musical instruments and boxes, as well as pillows for traditional doctors to feel one’s pulse.

Through the     8     (develop) of over 4000 years, now it is still a brilliant kind of art that attracts thousands of people. The Porcelain Capital, Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province,     9     has been praised for thousands of years, will be certain     10     (satisfy) your appetite for beauty.

9 . Looking for something entertaining to do? Check out some awesome festivals around the world.

Koninginnedag — The Netherlands

Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although the birthday of the current Queen, Beatrix, is actually during the winter, she has celebrated it on April 30th, the country’s official “Queen’s Day” since 1949. Orange is the national color, and the streets become a sea of feather boas(围巾) and body paint as crowds gather in the plazas and on boats in the rivers. Amsterdam is the center of this outdoor party, with many live music events, but nearly every town is alive with orange on this day.

Thai Elephant Day — Thailand

Thai Elephant Day is a national holiday in Thailand. Thai Elephant Day has been celebrated on March 13th of every year since 1998. Because the elephant is the national animal of Thailand, they are highly respected and treasured. During the festivals elephants are honored during a ceremony in which they are fed bananas, other fruit, and sugarcane.

The Fire Festival — Shetland

On the last Tuesday in January the entire town of Lerwick, Shetland goes up in flames. At the festival, you’ll find yourself sitting, dancing, or stumbling around the largest bonfire you’ve ever seen in your life. The festival lasts only one day but takes the entire year to plan. Be prepared for an evening of singing, dancing, and fast-paced activity, and don’t worry about making it to work the next day — it’s a national holiday!

Holi — India

Holi, he Festival of Colors, is a Hindu celebration full of joy and one of India’s most important holidays. On the day of the last full moon of the lunar month, usually late February or early March, the air is full of bright colored powder. The festival is celebrated differently throughout the country, with bonfires and music, but the cheerful spirit is common throughout Hindu communities around the world.

10 . In the long history of about 5,000 years, numerous Chinese traditional festivals were celebrated in memory of gods or some significant days, some of which are passed down from generation to generation and people always practice special traditional activities in each festival.

Qingming Festival

Qingming Festival is on the 15th day after Spring Equinox, round April 4 or April 5 every year.     1     They remove the weeds growing on the ancestors’ tombs to make them clean, so this festival is also called Tomb-sweeping Festival. In some areas, people are forbidden to use fire to cook food, so they only eat cool food.

Double Ninth Festival

    2    The Chinese character of September is the same as 9, so we get this special name. Chinese people, especially the north Chinese, climb the mountains to the peak to enjoy the wonderful scenery, and admire the beauty of chrysanthemum.

Winter Solstice(冬至)

Winter Solstice is on around December 22 or 23 of solar calendar each year. From Winter Solstice on, the daytime will be longer and longer.     3     In the northern region, people eat dumplings and wonton(馄饨), while in the southern region rice balls.

    4    

In China, this festival is in late January or early February, the last day of the Lunar year. People celebrate it by having a family reunion dinner, setting off fireworks and staying up late. Breaking the dishes and bowls is a thing all the people scare, but if you did it, you have to say: “sui sui ping an”.     5