In Beijing, hutongs are alleys(小巷) formed by lines of traditional siheyuan. Many neighborhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong and then joining one hutong to another. In the dynasty     1     (time), the large siheyuan of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants often featured     2    (beautiful) carved and painted roof beams and pillars and carefully landscaped gardens. The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by spacious homes and walled gardens. In contrast to the court life and elite culture     3    (represent) by the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect the culture of grassroots Beijingers. The hutongs are residential neighborhoods which still form the heart of Old Beijing.

5 . The Ancient Chinese Game of Go

Weiqi, known in English as Go, is one of the four skills that an ancient Chinese intellectual (知识分子) could possess. It has a history of well over 4,000 years in China and remains popular. Culturally, this activity is really “more than just a game”.

    1     One of China’s classics, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, describes the famous general Guan Yu playing Go while receiving surgery on his arm.

History books have recorded quite a number of ardent Go fans from each dynasty. Today, there are still many in China, Japan and South Korea. Wu Yulin, a professional, explains its attraction, “In Go, you can learn the dialectics (辩证法) and military stratagems.     2     There are numerous variations within the game and you can never reach the bottom of it.”

    3     Hua Yigang, Secretary General of the China Go Association, remarks on the character-building qualities of Go. “You have to become entirely calm, otherwise you can’t play it. You have to be very strong of mind.     4     You might make mistakes during a game, and then have to readjust your mentality in order to fight to the end.”

In fact, all of our minds can benefit from playing Go, which officially has the capacity to make you smarter. Research has shown that children who play Go have the potential for greater intelligence.     5    

Today, the number of Go fans in China is at 36 million and rising. Some universities like Beijing University are even offering courses in Go to undergraduates.

Drum culture has accompanied Chinese civilization for thousands of years and has a deep spiritual meaning, far     1     its physical meaning. Confucius regarded the “Drum Dance”     2     (high).

At the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 200 drummers in red formed a round drum array (队形) to dance and beat drums. The perfect beats     3     (draw) the curtain on the exceptional Olympic Games. Chinese drum is an ancient practice     4     Chinese culture is deeply rooted.

The earliest reference to a clay fired drum     5     (date) back to the Pottery Age. In ancient China, drums were played to pray to the gods for good weather in agriculture, strike fear in the heart of the enemies in the war and later on accompany some performances and labor     6     (compete).

Dozens of types of Chinese drums exist today. For instance, “Taiping drum” is used to express praying for peace and prosperity while “Ansai waist drum”,     7     (mean) to interpret the spirit of the Losses Plateau and the     8     (hero) character of Northwest farmers, is still popular.

The boom of drum culture reflects     9     stable and prosperous Chinese society. For thousands of years, the drum beats have played in the backdrop,     10     (diversify) Chinese traditional culture.

8 . It’s common to see a barista (咖啡师) create coffee art, but it’s a whole different ballgame doing the same thing with tea. Creating tea art in cups, or dian cha in Chinese, enhances the taste of tea.     1     The difference is that it is made of tea rather than milk.

Chinese tea culture started to enjoy popularity during the Tang Dynasty and flourished throughout the Song Dynasty. Different from the method of brewing (酿造) tea during the Tang period, in the Song Dynasty, the popular way of having tea was through dian cha. In the eyes of people of that time, good tea should be white and fine.     2    

The process begins with hot water being poured over fine powdered tea creating a paste. Then more hot water is slowly added as the tea is constantly whisked by hand with a bamboo stick. The action of pouring hot water is called dian, hence the name dian cha.     3     It usually requires whisking the mixture between 180 and 200 times before the water and the tea are fully combined and the foam appears. Then, one can feel free to make artistic designs in the foam with the tea paste.

    4     It takes a year of practice, through trial and error, for one to achieve such proficiency (熟练度).     5     To extend its life, it’s advisable to take a photo.

9 . Visitors to the Yangguan Museum in Dunhuang, Northwest China’s Gansu Province, over the recent May Day holiday had the opportunity to see the first restored Mingguang armor (铠甲) from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The 1.86-metertall suit of armor gave visitors a window through which they could appreciate the wisdom of ancient Chinese artisans and the charm of China’s armor culture.

Wen Chenhua, the artisan who restored the armor that played a significant role on the battlefield more than 1,000 years ago, is one of the biggest fans of ancient armor in China. Following his passion, he has made the restoration of armor his lifelong career.

Since 2008, Wen and his team of over 30 people have produced more than 10,000 armor replicas according to ancient samples, gradually gathering thousands of followers from around the world who have been caught up by the charm of Chinese armor culture.

Armor from the Tang and Song dynasties are Wen’s favorites. He pointed to the Mingguang armor as a specific example. Mingguang means “ bright and shiny ” and in this case refers specifically to glittering nature of the breastplate of the armor, according to Wen. Due to prohibitions against privately storing suits of armor in ancient times, there are very few complete suits of armor that have been well preserved in China and detailed written records remain scarce.

Although Wen found many mentions of ancient armor in historical records, most records did not discuss what the armor actually looked like. He also used the statues of goddesses in the Mogao Grottoes as references, as the armor on one of these statues still had color. It took Wen and his team several months to restore the Mingguang armor. It is composed of more than 1,300 iron pieces and weighs nearly 25 kilograms in total. They used modern technology to create patterns that were inspired by a traditional forging technique popular in the region during the Tang Dynasty. Wen said that all of these endeavors are aimed at getting as close as possible to historical reality, noting that “ no one can see the real Mingguang armor but I will try my best to restore the truth. ”