1 . It’s been nearly two decades since the traditional clothing style Hanfu first started to reemerge in China. Since then it has gone from a small cultural movement celebrating an ancient fashion to a trend that is booming on social media, having been adopted by China’s Generation Z as a means of connecting with their past. Instead of following other cultures blindly, Generation Z now have different opinions about what trend is by promoting local culture while having an objective view of exotic cultural products.

The new tastes of Generation Z—young people born after 1995—are well represented on Bilibili. In the recent New Year’s Eve gala presented by Bilibili, it attracted more than 100 million views within 48 hours with a colourful set of programmes ranging from Peking Opera to classical Chinese cartoons. The same is also true of movie industry. Last year, for the first time, the top 10 most viewed films in China were all domestic films, while the ticket sales for imported films have dropped to only 16.28 percent.

”Generation Z grew up with the rapid development of China and under good economic conditions. With the development of the Chinese Internet industry, they have more access to diverse international information and culture, which bring them a much broader vision and makes them more open and confident in analyzing foreign culture. Apart from taking pride in China’s rapid development, this generation also pursues individuality and values devotion to the country,“ Professor Zhang Yiwu said.

He also noted that the popular rock and punk culture pursued by the 70s and 80s generation is more of a challenge against real life and local culture. Some people who were born in the 1970s and 1980s did not grow up in the Internet age—they experienced the transformation of China going from poor to rich first-hand. This kind of longing and admiration of the West came from a lack of confidence.

However, Generation Z now have the confidence to look at Western culture with equal status. This kind of cultural confidence will result in China being more active and creative in its development on the international stage in the future.

3 . The exhibit, Digital Dunhuang — Tales of Heaven and Earth, which was held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, brought to Hong Kong more than 100 exhibits including the visual murals and other related programs that could allow visitors to learn about the art and history of the Mogao Caves in a fun way.

“Dunhuang was an international city, a place where East met West, on the old Silk Road. So the Mogao Caves, which were completed in a period of over 1,000 years, record the ways of life and beliefs of the different peoples that crossed paths there,” explained Fion Lin of Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

Visitors can now get up close and personal with these faraway treasures without having to step into the caves, thanks to the digitization project of the Dunhuang Academy, a pioneer that has made great progress in the digitization and 3D scanning of the Dunhuang treasures.

“Studies have shown that in a cave, both temperature and CO₂ concentration level can rise with 15 tourists inside for ten minutes. As a result, the wall paintings are going to eventually fade. Digital technology has helped to strike a balance between sharing the treasures and protecting them,” said Lin.

However, digitization of the caves faces many challenges such as poor lighting and rough wall surfaces. On average, 40,000 pictures have to be taken to cover 300 m². Great amount of efforts have been made to piece the pictures together. What the exhibition presented is the result of years of hard work.

During the exhibition period, a mini display on Dunhuang music culture was also being held at the Museum for public participation.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Chinese jump rope, also known as tiaopijin, is a children’s game. One reason for its     1     (popular) is the fact that although the moves can be quite     2     (challenge), the game itself is very simple. There’s no need for players    3     (buy) expensive equipment since what they need is only a rope.

The game     4     (begin) in 7th-century China. In the 1960s, children in the West adopted the game. The game is     5     (typical) played in a group of at least 3 players with a rope about 16 feet     6     length tied into a circle. Two players face each other     7     (stand) 9 feet apart, and position the rope around their ankles so that it is tightly stretched. The third player stands between the two sides of the rope and tries to perform a series of moves without making     8     error.

There are many jump patterns, most of     9     are accompanied by a song. This is sometimes called the “first level”. The jumper tries to complete the chosen pattern. If the moves     10     (complete) successfully, then the rope is moved farther up and the series is repeated.

6 . Traditional Chinese Culture

Chinese culture is over 5000 years old.     1    

The spirit of the tea ceremony

Xi Hu Long Jing （West Lake Dragon Well） and Yunnan Pu'er have long been, world famous.     2     .The spirit of the Chinese tea ceremony captures the Chinese attitude towards life and spirituality. These are the things that people all over the world can benefit from.

A handful of good tea leaves with some boiling water and a set of lovely tea ware are the perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon and gain some insight into the wisdom of this ancient civilization.

    3    

During the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, many different flavors, styles, and cuisines （烹饪）have developed based on traditional philosophy and culture. This ancient food culture has had a direct impact on the countries, such as Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore. It has benefited billions of people around the world through such innovations as Chinese vegetarian culture, tea culture, vinegar, pasta medicated diets, ceramic tableware, and the use of soybeans in the diet.

Chinese Confucianism

Confucianism has flourished during the last 2,500 of China's 5,000-year history.     4     . This school of thought has had the most profound and long lasting influence in China's history. Seventy-four Nobel Prize winners and many other highly respected scholars have stated that for the benefit of mankind's livelihood and development into the next century, these teachings should be promoted and adopted worldwide.     5     .

I am glad to share with you more details about my passion for moon exploration.

Yours,

Li Hua

8 . Imagine walking through an ancient city, then climbing a gate tower to take in a wonderful view of the city and its more than 600-year-old walls. You can hear the city's heartbeat in the air. This is Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi Province, a place that should definitely be on your travel route if you enjoy history or ancient architecture since its origins can be traced back to more than 2,700 years ago.

Located in the center of Shanxi Province, Pingyao is the hometown   of Jin merchants, a group of merchants who actively dominated (支配） a booming commodity market throughout China for more than 500 years, especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the city's agriculture and manufacturing industries developed rapidly. Following China's reform and opening up, Pingyao struggled for the transition from a managed economy to the current market-oriented economy. During this time, the city government sought out new ways to break through this   economic bottleneck.

Finally in the winter of 1997, opportunity came knocking. Through the efforts of the city government, Pingyao earned its place on the UNESCO World Heritage list, which caused the entire world to take notice of the city.

Since the city's fame rose, locals in Pingyao have deepened their understanding of the conservation efforts preserving the historical relics in their hometown. Meanwhile the city administration has continued to upgrade itself through a strategy that follows the pillars of "conservation, entrepreneurship, development and protection" .

Currently, the city is focused on establishing a sustainable industry that will enable it to continue to grow while also protecting its relics and introducing them to the world.

9 . Differences in time zones complicate international phone calls. But even more important are different concepts of time and approaches to time in different cultures.

People from the USA as well as other North Americans believe “Time is money”. This value of time is rooted in their ancestors. Early in the 17th century, their ancestors arrived on the Atlantic coast, a new, undeveloped land. To survive in the tough environment, they had to struggle day and night. Time meant so much to them that they had not even one second to waste. After decades of struggle, they developed the value of efficient use of time and passed it down. Thus far, the Americans are still eager to finish things quickly and are impatient with too reflective(深思熟虑的) people.

In some countries, the American work style of speeding everything up will have no significance. In the Arab East, the more important you are, the faster service you get. Close relatives take absolute priority; non-relatives are kept waiting. In the Middle East, a deadline, which is often established to show the degree of urgency or importance of work, will do nothing but stop the Middle Easterners from working, because they consider it rude and overly demanding.

Another aspect reflecting different concepts of time is the classification of monochronic-time and polychronic-time by Edward T Hall. People from monchronic(共时性的) cultures, such as the Germans, the Austrians, the Swiss and the Americans, do only one important thing at a time. In polychromic(多元时间模式的) cultures, people such as Arab, Asians and Latin Americans take an entirely opposite approach. They do several things at once. Time commitments, e.g. deadlines, schedules, are taken rather casually and changed often and easily. Miscommuication will arise when people from two cultures contact. Charlies Hawkins, a U.S. teacher, told me that many a time his appointments with Indians were interrupted constantly, not only by private phone calls, but also by long conversations with other people and even the neighbor’s children, which displeased and even annoyed him.