Listed as a national­level intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006, Qinqiang Opera has gradually seen a return     1     popularity in recent years. The revival (复兴) of Qinqiang Opera     2     (attract) more young audience since then.

“Ten years ago, our audience     3     (be) mostly old people. We were afraid we would lose them one day. Now we have lots of young audience members     4     our performances are     5     (warm) welcomed,” said Hou Yan to China Daily.

The number of young     6     (performer) increased as well. The average age of Hou’s opera team is 30. “As we become more confident about our culture, more young people will like     7     (tradition) culture as a fashionable trend and become promoters (推广者) of     8     (they) own culture,” Hou said to China Daily.

The revival of Qinqiang Opera in the past decades has reflected the country’s cultural development,     9     surprises the public. Hou’s attitude to her career has also changed. “As an opera actor, I’m very confident in our culture. I couldn’t imagine it decades ago. So I consider it our duty     10     (make) it well received.”

MY AMAZING NAADAM EXPERIENCE

I experienced the Naadam Festival in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for the first time this year. The festival falls on the fourth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, usually lasting for three days. Naadam means “games” in Mongolian, and it is represented by three events: horse racing, wrestling, and archery, which are all so exciting to watch!

On the first day, I set off to the games early with my friend Burin. I saw a lot of people wearing fancy Mongolian robes. Some were feeding their horses, some were practising archery, and others were chatting or taking photographs. Burin told me that Mongolians travel every year from near and far to attend the festival, just as their ancestors had done for centuries.

After the opening ceremony and some amazing performances, the wrestling competition began. Mongolian wrestling is different from the wrestling in the Olympic Games. There are no rounds, and wrestlers are not separated by weight. The wrestler loses if any part of his body above his knee touches the ground. After singing some songs, the competitors danced onto the green field, waving their arms in the air as if they were eagles. I was quite moved by their show of strength and grace.

I absolutely enjoyed the archery, too, but the horse races were my favourite part. However, I was surprised to see that the riders were boys and girls! I heard it is because children are lighter and the horses can run faster and farther. At first, I was a little worried about the children’s safety, but Burin said, “Don’t worry. They’ve been riding horsed all their lives. They’ll be just fine.” That was the moment I started to understand why people say “Horses are at the heart of Mongolian culture”.

I’m finally back home now, feeling really tired, but celebrating Naadam with my friend was totally worth it. He invited me back for the winter to stay in a traditional Mongolian tent and eat hot pot. I can’t wait!

10 . The 24 solar terms (节气) originated and was firstly used in China. It was created thousands of years ago on the basis of practical needs of agriculture. Ancient Chinese people used it to guide agriculture production, special climate signs and even healthy living tips. The 24 solar terms was added to UNESCO’s world cultural heritage list in 2016.Now, it has been brought to life thanks to a creative designer from Southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

On the eve of the Qingming Festival, Shi Changhong released (发布) his version of reproduced and packaged characters for each solar term in the form of   “moving art” of Gifs. Since their first release on Zcool on March 29, the Gifs have won great praise among the general public and quickly flooded social media with millions of hits during the festival period.

To maximize publicity, Shi released his work in three forms: video, animation and picture. The background sounds add to the brilliance.

“When I watch the short video, I can strongly feel the Chinese ­style elements hidden in them. And it is really cool to liven up Chinese traditional culture in such a unique way,” WeChat user Xiao Feifei said.

“It is really a comfort to me to see so many people like my latest work. To be honest, it would really surprise me if the work does not arouse great interest among Chinese people. The 24 solar terms is a deeply rooted concept that covers the essence of Chinese wisdom. However, only a small portion of people know all the names or the correct order of those terms. My intention is to increase Chinese people’s self-­awareness to learn more about our traditional fine culture. Actually, the 24 solar terms work is only a part of my whole design program ‘Charm China’, which I started over a year ago，” Shi told China Daily.