1 . A British friend told me he couldn't understand why Chinese people love eating sunflower seeds (葵花子) as a snack so much. “I’ve met a lot of older Chinese and many have a crack in their front teeth; I believe that's from cracking the seeds,” he said.

I had never noticed the habit, but once he mentioned it, I suddenly became more aware. I realized that whenever I’m watching TV or typing a report, I always start mindlessly cracking sunflower seeds. My friend doesn't like sunflower seeds, and, to him, it seems unnecessary to work so hard just to get one small seed.

When we were young, the whole family would usually get together for Chinese New Year. Then, we all lived close to one another, usually in a small city, and sometimes even neighbors would go doortodoor on Chinese New Year’s Eve to check out what every household was making.

I remember my parents would be in the kitchen cooking. In the living room, a large table would already be laid out, complete with a fancy tablecloth, readymade dumpling fillings, and dishes full of candy, fruits and sunflower seeds.

Some of the dishes were to be offered to our ancestors later, while others were for neighbors and children to eat before the evening feast. I must have learned how to crack sunflower seeds back then.

I don’t think it’s right to criticize one’s choice in food or eating habits, no matter how strange they may seem.

It’s not only in China. When I went abroad, I found people had all sorts of strange habits when it came to food. In Denmark, they put salted red fish on bread and eat it for dinner, no matter how much it ruins their breath. They think it’s a delicacy, and it’s connected with their culture. I think it’s a wonderful tradition.

5 . There was a time an event would not begin without a photographer.“I remember the days when event organizers would even delay a show if the photographer was running late,” says Balachandra Raju,a photographer of Sathyam studio,a still surviving photo studio in India’s southern city of Chennai.

Photo studios are facing extinction in the digital age.But as they struggle to continue doing the business,one research project is looking at ways to preserve their legacy(遗产) by digitizing archival(档案的) pictures.

The project,funded by the British Library,visited around 100 photo studios across the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and digitized 10,000 prints.Many of the photos were taken between 1880-1980,and they ranged from pictures of families and famous stars to weddings and funerals.“The digital archive will be useful for those interested in history,” Said Zoe E Headley,one of the researchers.Ramesh Kumar,another researcher on the project,called it a “gold mine” for photographers.“The research we’ve done also highlights production techniques used before digital photography arrived in our cities and towns,” he said.

However, the researchers would often find old photos piled on top of one another in the storage room of a studio.“No one had bothered to clean them,” Kumar said,adding that many photos had been damaged due to the hot and wet weather in Tamil Nadu.

The owner of Nallapillai studio in central Tamil Nadu said he spends about 20,000 rupees (￡230;$310) each month to run the studio that was founded by his great grandfather almost 150 years ago.To survive in this digital age has been a struggle.“Many customers don’t book us for special events anymore,” he said,adding that they had all got smartphones to do the job.“I’m not sure if photo studios will exist five years from now,” he said.But this is why,according to Mr Raju,this archival project is so important.

6 . In the United States, it is important to be on time , or punctual , for an appointment , a class, a meeting, etc. However, this may not be true in all countries. An American professor discovered the difference while teaching a class in a Brazilian (巴西的) university. The two-hour class was scheduled to begin at 10 A.M. and end at 12. On the first day , when the professor arrived on time, no one was in the classroom. Many students came after 10:30 A.M. Two students came after 11 A.M. Although all the students greeted the professor as they arrived, few apologized for their lateness.Were these students being rude? He decided to study the students’ behavior.

The professor talked to American and Brazilian students about lateness in both an informal and a formal situation:at a lunch with a friend and in a university class, respectively.He gave them an example and asked them how they would react, If they had a lunch appointment with a friend,the average American student defined lateness as 19 minutes after the agreed time. On the other hand, the average Brazilian student felt the friend was late after 33 minutes.

In an American university, students are expected to arrive at the appointed hour.In contrast, in Brazil,neither the teacher nor the students always arrive at the appointed hour.Classes not only begin at the scheduled time in the United States,but also end at the scheduled time.In the Brazilian class, only a few students left the class at 12:00;many remained past 12:30 to discuss the class and ask more questions.While arriving late may not be very important in Brazil , neither is staying late.

7 . Festivals in India are the special occasions when the country holds many celebrations. Socially, the whole nation becomes active in celebrations. This is the main reason why festivals in India are celebrated by the whole society. On such occasions, families will get together, exchange gifts and greetings, and take part in a lot of celebrations and even special fairs. All these are done to keep the festive spirit alive in modern times.

What is special about these celebrations in India is that people celebrate their common culture in their communities. There is a wide variety of festivals in India because of the presence(存在)of many different religions, beliefs, ideas and cultures. It is even said that some places in the country celebrate festivals 365 days a year. They are mainly religious festivals, cultural festivals and tourist festivals that are organized to keep the traditions, values and heritage of the region.

Religious festivals are celebrated as part of the Indian belief system. They are organized to honor spiritual personalities and events related to the journey of a religion. Cultural festivals in India are organized to provide a platform for different forms of music, dance and other art. To keep their artistic traditions alive and even make them become more popular in the future, many cities in India are active in cultural events. The rich cultural heritage of India attracts the Western world during the celebration of important festivals such as Onam, Holi and Durga Puja. Tourist festivals in the country are organized to celebrate the heritage of the land for tourism purposes. These celebrations every year bring good results and attract a large number of tourists, both within the country and abroad.

These festivals in India focus on enriching people’s "Indian" experience in the most real way. For this purpose, foreigners are very interested in attending the festivals, which are organized to show the rich and colorful side of the country.

8 . A small supermarket is decorated with a lot of red lanterns. There are piles of red envelopes on sale, for filling with cash and handing out as gifts. Such festive trappings can be seen everywhere in China in the build-up to the Lunar New Year. But this is Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, where Han Chinese are a mere 2.5% of the country's population. They are a sign that Chinese New Year is becoming a global holiday.

Several countries in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own way. But dragon and lion dances in Chinatowns over the world have helped make China's the most famous. In Tokyo, window cleaners dress up as the animals of the Chinese zodiac （生肖）.America, Canada and New Zealand have issued commemorative stamps for the Year of the Rooster. Last year New York City made the Lunar New Year a school holiday for the first time.

The spread of the Spring Festival, as China calls it, is partly due to recent emigration（移民）from China: 9.5 million Chinese people have moved abroad since 1978, many of whom are far richer than earlier waves of migrants. It also reflects the wealth and ambitions of China's new middle class: festivities in other countries are partly aimed at the 6 million Chinese who are expected to spend their week long holiday abroad this year.

It's hoped that the festival will promote Chin's cultural "soft power" abroad. So related events are welcomed, such as a display this year of martial arts in Cyprus and a traditional Chinese temple-fair in Harare, Zimbabwe. More and more Chinese are glad to see foreigners enjoy such festivities. Though there is a growing enthusiasm among Chinese for Western celebrations such as Christmas, Chinese New Year is a welcome chance to reverse（逆转）the cultural flow.