The Duanwu Festival, also     1     (name) the Dragon Boat Festival, was established    2     memory of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475—221BC).

Qu Yuan,     3     died by committing suicide in the Miluo River, was known as a great patriot. Shortly after he died, the local people     4     (throw) food into the water to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats, known as dragon boats, making sound     5     (scare) away the fish.

    6     (tradition) celebrations of the Dragon Boat Festival include eating zongzi, drinking realgar (雄黄) wine, and     7     (race) dragon boats.

You don’t have to live in China long to know that     8     country’s most popular foods usually have a good story behind them. That’s     9     (particular) true of festival foods such as zongzi, the pyramid-shaped steamed rice packages in bamboo or reed leaves that have been associated with the Dragon Boat Festival for more than a thousand     10     (year).

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The Students' Union

If you stop a random person on the street in China, there’s     1     pretty good chance that their surname would be either Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu or Chen.

That’s because those are the five most common surnames in China. There are a few reasons for this: China is less racially diverse than countries such as the US,     2     quantities of minority groups increase surname diversity. It also     3     (have) to do with language. You can’t just add a stroke to a Chinese character     4     random and create a new surname, like the way you can add a letter to an English name. But there’s also another factor at play: technology. China’s digital revolution has     5     (dramatic) transformed daily life, and many of these systems rely on a     6     (limit) list of standardized Chinese characters. To try to address this, experts have increased the database from 32, 000 characters to 70, 000 characters. They’re still working to expand it     7     (include) more than 90, 000 characters.

“The culture of surnames     8     (pass) down in our country for thousands of years with a deep and broad influence,” said the Ministry of Public Security. By the Song Dynasty, a book called the Hundred Family Surnames     9     (list) several hundreds of the most common surnames, had become a classic text taught to children. Chinese surnames are central to people’s     10       (identity); they hold origin stories, reveal historic patterns of migration, and represent a direct tie to a person’s ancestry and heritage.

I will never forget my first assignment as a foreign reporter in Brazil to cover the Rio Carnival. It is one of Brazil’s largest cultural     1     (event), drawing up to two million tourists to Rio every year.

I was out on the streets on the first day of the Carnival,     2     (arm) with my camera and notebook, ready to do some work. Being there     3     (be) a constant assault(冲击)on my senses. Hundreds of people were singing and dancing,     4     Brazilian samba music filling the air. I wandered. fort hours, from one block party to another. At one point, someone offered     5     (trade) me an alcoholic beverage(饮料)and-a golden feathered headdress for my camera. I`m still not sure why, but I agreed to the deal. It was     6     (probable) a question of getting swept up in the Carnival spirit. Unfortunately, my boss did not accept this     7     (explain), so I had to pay for     8     new camera in the end.

It was worth it, though. I still have that golden headdress, as     9     reminds me of those unforgettable days. The Rio Carnival is without doubt something     10     everyone should add to his or her bucket list.

7 . “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.” That’s an old saying in English. It means that other places often look better, more interesting than the place where you live. “Let’s go to KFC for dinner and then watch some Japanese cartoons!” We all know it: more and more Chinese kids love American and Japanese food and movies. Some people worry that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring (忽视) Chinese culture and, instead, buying Japanese cartoon books, watching Korean soap operas and even celebrating western holidays.

Foreign books and soap operas are good, but Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can never have the meaning for Chinese that the Spring Festival has, and the West has nothing to compare with the Mid-Autumn Festival. China has lots of cool things in its culture: calligraphy, Beijing Opera, quick meals on the streets. And let’s not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best: its friendliness. Not all countries are as warm as China.

It’s good to enjoy other cultures and learn from them, but they can never replace your own culture. It’s good to look on the other side of the fence, but make sure you take a good long look. You will find that the grass isn’t always greener.

Although some people become worried about that, I don’t think they should. Will we get more powerful without learning from other countries? Will Chinese people live more happily without American fast food? Besides, it’s fun to learn about different cultures. Chinese kids can learn about other cultures and have fun, but they also need to learn more about their own culture. Be proud of Chinese culture and of being Chinese!

9 . There is an old saying in China that goes, “The days of the Sanjiu period are the coldest days.” “Sanjiu period”, which is in Minor (较小的) Cold, refers to the third nine-day period (the 19th to the 27th day) after the day of the Winter Solstice (冬至). There are many different customs related to Minor Cold in China.

Eating hotpot

During Minor Cold people should eat some hot food to benefit the body and defend against the cold weather. Winter is the best time to have hotpot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it is important to notice that too much spicy food may cause health problems.

Eating huangyacai

In Tianjin, there is a custom to have huangyacai, a kind of Chinese cabbage, during Minor Cold. There are large amounts of vitamins A and B in huangyacai. As huangyacai is fresh and tender, it is fit for frying, roasting and braising.

Eating glutinous (黏的) rice

According to tradition, the Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning during Minor Cold. Cantonese people add some fried preserved (腌制的) pork, sausage and peanuts and mix them into the rice.

Eating vegetable rice

In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice is still followed today. The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients (原料), aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausage and salted duck are the specialties in Nanjing.

10 . If it had not been for Fan Jinshi and her team, the world cultural heritage of Dunhuang Mogao Caves in a remote Chinese desert might have long been destroyed by sand, weather or humans.

Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Fan has spent half a century fighting an uphill battle to preserve the ancient Buddhist wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. The 1,653­-year­-old Dunhuang Mogao Caves are a huge collection of Buddhist art—more than 2,000 buddha figures and 45,000 square metres of paintings spread among 735 caves. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeologist Fan was sent to Dunhuang after graduating from Peking University in 1963. While in Dunhuang, a remote village in the desert then, Fan lived in an abandoned temple. At first, she did not even dare to go out to the toilet at night. To protect the treasures from sand and dampness, Fan and other workers put doors on the caves, planted trees and started monitoring temperature and humidity in the caves. They also controlled the number of visitors.

In the late 1990s, with tourism booming nationwide since national holidays were extended, the local government planned to go public with Dunhuang Mogao Caves, but found Fan firmly in_their_way.   “The heritage would have been destroyed if it had been listed，” she said.

Dunhuang Academy has now photographed and cataloged online all the sculptures and paintings. “Despite our efforts to minimise damage, we can’t completely stop them from being eroded. But the digital database will last.”

Fan was grateful when her husband joined her in Dunhuang in 1986 after 19 years of separation. Her two sons grew up seldom with her accompany. “I have not been a good mother or wife. With regard to my family, I’m full of guilt，” she said. Fan, 81, retired four years ago as the director of Dunhuang Academy but continues her efforts as a national political adviser.