1 . Popular topics during 2023 Spring Festival
E-CNY
Currently, 17 provincial-level regions in China have begun the use of digital yuan, or e-CNY. The Tianjin branch of China Construction Bank has also launched a digital yuan promotion activity, offering discounts of up to 50 percent to those who spend digital yuan on shopping during the Spring Festival holiday.
January box-office market
The first month of 2023 took a giant leap and became the highest-earning January of all time in China, selling a total of 201 million tickets for 10 million screenings in over 10,000 cinemas. Insiders said people started a new custom of going to cinemas during the Spring Festival and China’s improvement of COVID-19 control measures further made the January box-office earnings rise.
Tourism market
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the tourism market recovers remarkably, with an increase of 23.1% compared to the same period last year. As for the income of the domestic tourism industry, travel data showed Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou were the top 3 domestic destinations. It is also said that more than 2.3 million people have crossed the border, with 1.2 million entering and 1.1 million exiting.
The year of the cat instead of rabbit
Why? Legend has it that the cat and the rat were riding across a river on an ox to win the last seat in the zodiac (生肖) when the rat pushed the cat into the water and won the race. However, in the Vietnamese version — where there was no rabbit — the cat could swim and ended up arriving first. Funny as the story is, the change actually has something to do with language misunderstanding, as the word tied to the sign of the rabbit and pronounced mao (卯) is similar to mèo, the Vietnamese word for cat.
1. What may people in Tianjin do during the Spring Festival?| A．Get encouraged to go shopping. |
| B．Use e-CNY to promote an activity. |
| C．Start a new custom of traveling. |
| D．Offer discount to someone in need. |
| A．Bouncing back out of the same reason. |
| B．Encouraging a new trend during the holiday. |
| C．Experiencing a sharp decline several years ago. |
| D．Using statistics to show the industrial recovery. |
| A．Lack of rabbit in their country. |
| B．Different legends about the zodiac. |
| C．Similar pronunciation with certain Chinese. |
| D．Vietnamese’s preference for swimming eats. |
2 . If you're planning on hitting up a festival this summer, make sure you check out the latest packing guide to camping music festivals.
Quebec City Summer Festival
When: July 4-14
Where: Toronto, Quebec
300 shows, 10 places and 11 days of music make this festival one of Canada's biggest music festivals. Every year, this festival attracts over one million festivalgoers to Quebec City's historic district for concerts by international superstars and top new talents.
Center of Gravity
When: July 28-30
Where: Kelowna, British Columbia
Canada's hottest beach festival is back! Now in its 10th year, the biggest and exciting festival to hit the Okanagan includes three days packed with extreme sports, sandy beaches, and some of the biggest DJ names in the world.
Future Forest
When: August 5-7
Where: Fredericton, New Brunswick
Future Forest is an outdoor camping festival with a focus on electronic music. The festival originated in 2012 as a fundraiser for a brilliant DJ, Jay Hamilton, who was diagnosed with cancer. Future Forest proudly shows the idea that there are no audience at the event but rather participants who in some way contribute to the overall experience.
Shambhala Music Festival
When: August 9-10
Where: Salmo River Ranch, British Columbia
This is Canada's earliest electronic music festival. Cutting edge talent, lights and sound come together to give life to this event. Seeing it for yourself is the only way to understand exactly what is Shambhala.
1. What can people do in the Quebec City Summer Festival?| A．Enjoy the performances of superstars. | B．Learn about Quebec City's history. |
| C．Do some extreme sports. | D．Play on the sandy beaches. |
| A．To honor brilliant Jay Hamilton. | B．To raise money for a cancer patient. |
| C．To provide outdoor camping activities. | D．To promote electronic music. |
| A．Quebec City Summer Festival. | B．Center of Gravity. |
| C．Future Forest. | D．Shambhala Music Festival. |
3 . China has more than 30 intangible cultural heritage recognized by the UNESCO, including paper-cutting, the Dragon Boat Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture (针灸) and so on. The organization adopted a decision that China’s “The Twenty-Four Solar Terms” (二十四节气) should be put on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016 in Ethiopia.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge of time and practices in agriculture, starts from the Beginning of Spring and ends with the Greater Cold, moving in cycles. It developed through the observation of the sun’s annual movement in China. In ancient time, the method of tugui, earth sundial (日暑), was used to measure the shadow of the sun for determining the solar terms.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms came into being and developed in close relationship with Chinese agricultural production. At the initial stage of agricultural development, people began to explore the seasonal rules in the agricultural production to meet the needs in seeding, harvesting and other activities. Gradually, they formed the concept of “seed in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn and store in winter”. During the spring and autumn periods, the agricultural production was highly influenced by the seasonal changes, thus forming the concept of Solar Terms.
As a traditional Chinese knowledge system of time with a history of thousands of years, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms clearly expresses the concepts of respect for nature, and harmony between man and nature. Created by Chinese ancestors, it have functioned as a complete set of weather calendar (日历) to guide the agricultural production in China. It has also been introduced into North Korea, Japan and other neighboring countries and still used in Japan. The Chinese heritage has provably influenced the people’s way of thinking and behaving and will continue to be an important carrier of Chinese cultural identity.
1. According to the first two paragraphs, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms_________.| A．was used to measure the shadow of the sun |
| B．has not been listed as one intangible cultural heritage of humanity |
| C．is the best intangible cultural heritage recognized by the UNESCO |
| D．repeats from the Beginning of Spring to the Greater Cold every year |
| A．the Twenty-Four Solar Terms only influenced spring and autumn |
| B．agricultural production highly influenced the seasonal changes |
| C．people cared about the changes of weather just for fun |
| D．the Twenty-Four Solar Terms had something to do with agriculture |
| A．is part of traditional Chinese culture |
| B．is strongly influenced by North Korea and Japan |
| C．is hard to explain |
| D．is an agricultural calendar merely used in China |
