The southern mountainous area of Anhui province is home to old villages that seek to burst with new vitality. Among them, Xidi and Hongcun villages,     1     (declare) by UNESCO to be World Heritage sites in 2000 for their outstanding preservation of ancient rural architecture, welcome visitors who come to appreciate     2     (they) distinctive Huizhou-style houses and a full display of the Hui culture. They feel as if immersed in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

This level of preservation could not be achieved     3     the participation of generations of local residents. In the old days, street dealers     4     (forbid) from letting their shoulder poles(肩担)touch the ground in order to protect the bluestone laid on all the streets and alleys here.

    5     a local folk rhyme(民谣)says, “One is not lucky to be born in Huizhou. At 13 or 14 he is kicked out of his hometown to make     6     living.” It indicates     7     hard the people of Huizhou once struggled. So far, some customs have remained and newly integrated with tourism,     8     (offer) glimpses into the lives of the ancient Huizhou people. “This symbolizes the     9     (combine) of intangible with tangible cultural heritage.” A local official says. He also suggests that the old villages explore and find their own unique and marketable themes to fully showcase their     10     (culture) charm.

3 . As the year 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in China, many brand have rolled out an array of rabbit-themed goods. Wang Chuchun, an 18-year-old freshman from Xiamen University in Fujian, bought a pair of shoes from the rabbit collection made by Holli, a domestic brand, during the Spring Festival holiday.

“I would like to see Chinese culture be more incorporated into consumer goods that carry a variety of beautiful connotations(内涵).” Wang told journalist.

Guochao, the combination of Chinese traditions with modern designs, has become a keyword for this year’s Spring Festival product consumption, according to statistics from Vipshop(also known as weipinhui in Chinese), an online retailer(零售商). The sales volume of 361 Degrees, a sports equipment company, saw a rise of 188 percent on a year-on-year basis during the Spring Festival with their rabbit collection.

Who is behind the surge of sales for guochao products? According to a report released by data service provider Aurora, the proportion of young people interested in the guochao products accounted for more than 70 percent of consumers.

Thus the target market of the guochao products is China’s 400 million-strong army of young consumers, Tom Harper, a lecturer in international relations at the University of East London, said to The Conversation.

Like their peers in Western countries, China’s Gen Z consumers are enthusiastic users of social media; but that is where the similarities end.

This generation has grown up during China’s rapid economic development in the 2000s and 2010s, which is a marked contrast to their peers in the West, who came of age, in the shadow of the2008 financial crisis. As a result, they have been characterized as being more confident and better educated than previous generations.

“Complex and profound social and cultural factor have contributed to the rise of guochao. But it all comes down to decades of stable development in China. As our country enters an era of prosperity(繁荣), our cultural confidence gets boosted as well,” said Wang.