1 . Every November, as Thanksgiving Day approaches, one memory comes to my mind. At my big Turkish family’s get-togethers, baklava (果仁蜜饼) is the norm at the dessert table. There’s rolled baklava, nut-filled baklava and chocolate-dipped baklava.

One year, though, back when I was in high school, my cousin Johnny decided to change things up a bit. He showed up at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving with two items that had never been served before--apple pie and a can of cream.

Those two items caused one of the biggest arguments. I distinctly remember my mom and aunts whispering in the kitchen.

“Apple pie?” one of my aunts said. “What to do with this?”

I can still recall my mom’s puzzled expression at it all. If there’s one thing in this world my mom distrusts, it’s fruit-filled desserts, a no-no in our cuisine culture. “Why would you bake fruits into a dessert when you can eat them fresh?” she often says.

The cream only made things worse. My mom didn’t want to hurt Johnny’s feelings. In a true act of love, she put the pie out on the dining room table, accompanied by the cream. It went mostly untouched.

Nowadays, things are different. We actually have pie at Thanksgiving--my mom regularly makes pie (the fear of fruit-filled sweets continues, but desserts topped with fruits or nuts have been given the okay). We still laugh about the drama caused by Johnny’s apple pie. I’ll never forget it. It wasn’t just about the pie for me. Growing up, I sometimes felt like an outsider because of my culture. That Thanksgiving, though, was one of the first times I realized that my family’s oddness was actually a good thing. It’s what made us.

What about you? Which Thanksgiving sticks out as your most memorable one?

2 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.

His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it,” says Filippi.

Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.

Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has since fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.

“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video garnered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.

Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”

3 . Every year on June 21st, World Music Day is commemorated in over 120 countries, including its birthplace of France, to honor both amateur and professional musicians. Citizens of a city or country are permitted and encouraged to perform music outside in their neighborhoods, public areas, and parks on Music Day. Free concerts are also held, where musicians perform for the joy of it rather than for a fee.

In the 1970s, American musician Joel Cohen, who was then working for a French radio station, came up with the idea of having musicians perform on the evening of June 21 to celebrate the start of summer. It was finally accepted by France’s Ministry of Culture in 1982. The day started in France and has since extended to countries such as Belgium, the United Kingdom and others. It’s the ideal time to learn a new instrument or listen to songs they wouldn’t ordinarily include on their playlist. Every type of musician can celebrate World Music Day with friends, family, and even strangers, whether they are young, elderly, new, or seasoned professionals. The purpose is to promote music.

It makes no difference how good you are at making music; everyone can do it. This day can be used by even the most tone-deaf folks to sing their hearts out and appreciate the beauty and power of music. Music is not only a great way to express yourself, but it may also be beneficial to your health. A song might bring back a joyful memory or make you feel energized when you listen to it.

5 . How Culture Affects Cuisine

It probably happened to you: You ate this incredible dessert in Turkey, you tried this fantastic dish in Spain, and you brought the recipe back home — just to feel the disappointment that what you cooked at home didn’t pass the taste test.

It’s likely that groceries have different qualities in different countries. In the case of the United States and Europe this has very little to do with soil or climate.     1     Consumers in the U.S. have other preferences in groceries than most Europeans. It comes down to culture.

Europeans often value quality more than quantity. Of course you will find out-of-season produce on the shelves of grocery stores as well.     2     Europeans especially are willing to give up short-term gain for a much greater long-term result.

Take, for example, Italians produce dry-cured ham (干腌火腿) only during the waning moon that follows the full moon and it is practiced to this day. According to old farmer’s lore, the meat could go bad, if it isn’t cured by the moon.     3    

However, Americans believe in progress and the benefits of technology. It becomes clear why following tradition doesn’t have to be a strong value. Food for U.S. consumers is produced and shipped across the country.     4     The industrialization of food production results in new breeds of produce. The population growth calls for higher quantities. Farmers and growers are paid for the amount, not for the flavor.

    5     European cultures are rather regional, and this means food traditions have remained undamaged in fairly small areas. Within these regions and communities people often shop locally from regional producers. And they shop more frequently than Americans. Europeans often go to the local market daily whereas millions of shoppers in the U.S. purchase one or two weeks’ supply of groceries in one single visit to the big box store.

All these consumer choices, based on cultural behaviors, have had a lasting impact on how our food is grown and what it tastes like.

7 . For more than a century, it was a simple way of making a child’s dreams come true during Christmas. Volunteers could go to the post office, sift through piles of letters that children had sent to Santa Claus and pick one—or more—that tugged (拉、拽) at their heartstrings. Gifts were then acquired, wrapped and shipped to families whose space beneath the tree might otherwise be bare.

With the coronavirus pandemic still raging, however, the US Postal Service announced Monday that it was taking its annual “Operation Santa” campaign nationwide, and that letters to Santa could be read merely online by people across the country.

Some things aren’t changing: Much as it had over the past 108 years, the Postal Service said that it was inviting American children to write letters and to mail them to the North Pole, using a special address and ZIP code and affixing the proper postage.

This year, however, the letters will be uploaded to the Operation Santa website, so long as they are legible and make specific requests for items like toys, clothes or games. Starting December 4, postal customers can then read them and choose to send gifts with their responses, with a signature saying it’s from Santa.

“Covid-19 has caused undue hardships, both financial and emotional, to so many Americans this year,” Kimberly Frum, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said in an email. “The program provides kids and families with an opportunity to receive gifts during the holidays from anonymous, generous postal customers.”

Those customers used to review the letters in person, but Operation Santa has moved largely online in recent years after a pilot program in 2017. By 2019, the online operation had expanded to 15 cities, including New York, Chicago, Denver and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to, “enhance the ability for generous people across the nation to help those in need no matter where they live,” Frum said.

So-called legacy programs still operated in New York and Chicago, where customers could go to a post office to read letters in person, but those programs will not be offered this year because of the pandemic, Frum said.

The Postal Service said the Operation Santa program had received hundreds of thousands of letters each   year. “It seems like a small thing,” Frum said. “But for anyone who is struggling, it’s a huge deal to be able to give or receive a gift and share in a bit of the joy that is the holiday season.”

8 . An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine.” The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.

Urbanization（都市化）has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.

In the early 2000s, cities including Nanjing and Bejjing-due to the critics’ protest about the loss of old neighborhoods-drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and restrict developers.

These conservation efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined temple was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some additions providing it for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated（重修的）oil tanks.

“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. “I’d rather not touch the historical buildings at all.” Building relocations he said however, are “a workable option.” “The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historical buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”

Shanghai has arguably been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century “shikumen” （or “stone gate”） house have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life.

“We have to preserve the historical building no matter what, ” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”