The 2021 Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival kicked off in Zhangjiagang, East China’s Jiangsu province, on Nov 14 to celebrate the evolutionary history and growth along the Yangtze River through folk music performances and relic displays.

To get more people     1     (involve), festival organizers are holding some events online, such as an online call out for music praising the Yangtze River.

The festival has won an innovation award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and is listed     2     one of the three cultural     3     (brand) with local characteristics cultivated by Jiangsu province.

Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Zhangjiagang is the city     4     carries the responsibilities of promoting Yangtze River culture.

In recent years, the city has established a national first-class     5     (associate) studying Yangtze River culture and the nation’s first museum promoting Yangtze River culture.

    6     great number of Yangtze River-related events feature in the city’s cultural calendar, such as art competitions, photo contests, drama festivals, a folk culture art festival and high-level forum on Yangtze River culture.

    7     (be) a high-quality platform for cultural exchanges and cooperation among cities along the Yangtze River, now the festival     8     (play) a special role as a bridge to boost     9     (economy) and social development.

Han Wei, Party secretary of Zhangjiagang, said, “We have upgraded the Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival by now and we take this as a new starting point to further shoulder the missions of protecting, inheriting and promoting Yangtze River culture.”

“We will study Yangtze River culture     10     (thorough), encourage traditional cultures to innovate, and bring greater dynamism into the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.”

2 . On Christmas Day in 2012, when I was fourteen, I didn’t get a single Christmas present. That wasn’t a _________. It was what I had _________. A week before Christmas, I decided that _________ presents, I wanted donations to buy presents for the children in the local orphanage (孤儿院).

When I told my family and friends about my plan, there were a lot of _________ but also support. However, it was only on Christmas Day that the reality hit me. When my baby sisters jumped out of bed, singing carols and opening presents, I lay there feeling _________ and making a list of all the things I really wanted for Christmas that year. I realized I had made a huge mistake.

As I _________ on the door of the orphanage that morning, I felt _________ because I realized how unprepared I was for what was _________. I even had the _________ of dropping the bags of presents outside the orphanage and________. I almost did, but then a kind woman opened the door and smiled when she __________ me in. I was taken to a room full of children, and was __________ angry at how empty it felt. I wanted the room to be filled with __________instead of fear. I wanted to make these children smile but I was __________.

But then something happened. As the workers in the orphanage __________ presents, the __________ in the room changed. I could see the __________ in the eyes of the children and their bodies filled with hope. I __________ feeling so powerless. A little girl, Diana, ran up to me and __________ my legs. I didn’t know I was crying __________ she asked me, “Auntie, why are you crying?” This only made me cry more.

The “24 solar terms” are a vital part of the Chinese calendar, which has     1     (it) origin with the ancient Yellow River basin. The Chinese calendar     2     (include) “24 solar terms”provides detailed guidelines and timetable for agricultural     3     (activity).

A complete set of “24 solar terms” first     4     (appear) in an ancient book The Huainanzi in early Han Dynasty. These 24 solar terms were soon absorbed into The Taichu calendar, the first well documented calendar in     5     history of China.

The Chinese Agriculture Calendar is     6     (actual) a combination of the lunar and solar calendar systems. There     7     (be) 365. 2422 days in one “sidereal year” while 12 lunar months add up to 354 days. To make both the lunar calendar     8     the solar calendar agree, a leap lunar month needs to be added every 2 to 3 years. Since the early Han Dynasty, a lunar month without a major solar term     9     (adopt) as a leap month (闰月) .

With more far-reaching cultural exchanges, the “24 solar terms” have been known     10     people in other parts of the world and were added to the “UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage” list in 2016.

4 . Lunar New Year used to be a daylong celebration for us. My parents tried really hard to recreate the season for my sisters and me here in America. On New Year's day, my family, including all my uncles, aunts, and cousins, dressed in new clothes, gathered at my grandma's house. Kids were pulled out of school, and adults took the day off. The celebration lasted throughout the day and late into the night, with one tradition following another.

Fast-forward to 2019: My grandma has passed away, the adults are elderly, and the kids have grown up and are living their own life. The Lunar New Year celebration is no longer as elaborate (精心计划的) as it used to be. As we melt into American culture, the "olden ways", as we call them, have fallen away. Life seems to have got busier and much more complex, but I often feel something is missing.

For us first-generation kids, it is often easier to let go of the traditions and customs of our parents'. They don't mean as much to us as they do for them. At the same time, they are still a part of our culture. I realized that the diaspora (流散) of young Asian Americans in the United States is not unique to me. It is an ongoing inner struggle that we all wrestle with. My Asian features and skin color do not entirely define who I am. I am as much a "hamburger" guy as a "rice" individual. I can't quite fully claim that I am an American and not fully Asian. There isn't really a check box that I can mark. I am Chinese-Vietnamese-Asian-American.

I now have two little boys. It saddens me to think they will never be able to experience what my sisters and I did as little kids during this holiday. Recently, for the first time, I've hung up Lunar New Year decorations around the house and replaced our Christmas wreath (花环) on the front door with decorative firecrackers. In a way, my sons are forcing me to slow down and explore my heritage.

I suppose sometimes we need to look back in order to gain clarity on the path ahead.

6 . He had two armed guards protecting him until his death aged 55. He also had two massive tusks（象牙）and, just as important, he had a name. Ahmed the elephant received the special treatment until his death in 1974, under an order from Kenya’s then-president Jomo Kenyatta. The name helped give Ahmed and, by extension, the cause of elephant conservation greater recognition.

With Ahmed the elephant in mind, Kenya last week launched the Elephant Naming Festival in which people get the chance to adopt an elephant after contributing money toward their chosen animal’s conservation.

The initiative gives the adoptive parent priority when it comes to choosing the first name of the elephant. The second name will be a Maasai（马赛族）one based on the animal’s profile, history, role in the family and physical attributes like the state of its tusks.

Launching the program, Najib Balala, a top official at the Ministry for Tourism and Wildlife, said the elephant-naming initiative will bring greater awareness of the need for conservation and promote tourism. Balala said the event will be held each year on Aug 12, observed as World Elephant Day.

“We feel that this is a great opportunity for everyone to be part of the sustainability of tourism and wildlife in Kenya for future generation,” Balala said.

“Wildlife is a big part of Kenya’s heritage and ensuring that future generations enjoy this resource should always remain the most important. The launch of the Magical Kenya Elephant Naming Festival builds on the good work that the Kenya Wildlife Service and other partners have been doing over the years.”

The history of Chinese Teachers⁵ Day     1     (date) back to the Han Dynasty. It is a day of respecting teachers and education. In the past, on August 27 each year, the birthday of Confucius, the emperor,     2     (follow) by court officials, would go to Confucius' temple in honor of the ancient philosopher and would also invite royal teachers to the court for a feast. And on this day, teachers around the nation enjoyed     3     day's break and     4     (give) dried meat as gifts.

Excellent teachers would be chosen from academies and     5     (institution) across the country to report     6     (they) deeds to the royal court and be presented with 500 liang silver coins as awards. In the Qing Dynasty, well-performing teachers would be promoted to     7     (high) positions than before or obtain a salary rise.

The customs to show respect to teachers varied from region to region. Today, the goal of Teachers⁵ Day is to form a social climate     8     teachers are respected and knowledge is valued. And its date is     9    （official）set at the beginning of the school year. The celebration includes congratulations     10     students, recommending outstanding teachers, the exchange of ideas among teachers, and so on.

10 . MEXICO CITY, April 1（Xinhua）——Discoveries at the legendary Sanxingdui ruins in southwest China show that the region’s ancient Shu state civilization shared similarities with the Maya, according to the director of the Chichen Itza archaeological site, Marco Antonio Santos.

The Sanxingdui ruins, located in the city of Guanghan, about 60 kilometers from Chengdu, belonged to the Shu Kingdom that existed at least 4,800 years ago and lasted more than 2,000 years. China announced on March 20 that archaeologists uncovered gold, ivory and jade objects dating back about 3,000 years in six sacrificial pits.

Santos told Xinhua that the bronze-made remains of trees buried at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom recall the Maya’s sacred ceiba tree, which symbolized the union of heaven, earth and the underworld for the civilization that flourished in Mesoamerica. “They are very important similarities.” said Santos, stressing that “the representations of trees in both cultures provide us with a symbolism that is very similar”.

“One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the interdisciplinary（跨学科的）work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists.” said Santos. “The technology allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains, which other types of less careful excavation methods would not have been able to manage.” he said. “Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Maya world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of objects.” said Santos.

“Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures, and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is fundamental.” said Santos.