1 . Splendid straw-made miniatures (缩微模型) of classic ancient buildings decorate Xu Jian’s home. They range from the Yellow Crane Tower to Forbidden City’s turrets. They are all full of details and delicately crafted, tied and arranged by Xu’s hands from countless sorghum straws (高粱杆).

The craft involves carving grooves (沟槽) into the sorghum straws, before multiple straws are locked together through those identically sized grooves, Xu says, adding that the sorghum straw art requires a great deal of patience, especially for works depicting ancient architecture.

Under the influence of his father Xu Yanfeng, Xu Jian got his hands on sorghum straws in childhood. He still vividly remember show his father would follow a film featuring scenes of Tiananmen Square and then note down all the details before creating a delicate miniature of it for over three years. The work was then sent to Japan for exhibition and collected by a local museum. Ever since, many of his father’s works made their way to exhibitions at home and abroad.

Xu Jian became committed to the art after he reached 19, getting into the depth of the related techniques. “My father urged me to keep in mind traditional Chinese architectural skills and the history of traditional building protections, and to apply them to my own sorghum straw artworks,” he says. Through hands-on guidance from his father, Xu Jian’s skills became increasingly proficient. While inheriting the craftsmanship from his father, Xu Jian has produced his own creative works.

To date, Xu Jian’s works have been exhibited in over 40 provincial and national-level exhibitions, earning numerous gold awards. To promote the art, Xu Jian joined hands with the School of Civil Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, in 2013, and founded a sorghum straw carving and tying base where the art has been integrated with architectural courses to enhance students’ thinking and practical skills.

2 . Food Festivals to Look Forward to This Summer

Taste of Park Ridge

11: 00 am to 10:30 pm, Thursday, July 13, in Uptown Park Ridge, 100 Summit Ave

There will be a variety of foods, including ice cream, Mexican foods, Filipino dishes, corn dogs, Indian and Nepali cuisine, pizza, cupcakes, barbecue, and more. Don’t miss the drinks and wine. Most importantly, there is Giant Turkey Leg Eating Contest at 2: 30 pm. Free.

Antioch Taste of Summer

4: 00 pm to 10: 00 pm, Friday, July 14, at the Antioch Bandshell

You will find the classic pub fare, Crazee Ice, and more, plus carnival (嘉年华) rides, games, sidewalk sales and crafters. Music from The Beach Bum Band is on at 7: 00 pm and themed musical light show at 8: 00 pm. Free.

Taste of Westmont

5:00 pm to 9: 30 pm, Sunday, July 16, on Cass Avenue in Westmont

It features local restaurant food vendors serving Thai, Mexican, and Greek foods, pizza, barbecue, and more. There will be carnival, craft show, kids’ activities, and a car show. Music from Tom Petty band starts at 6: 00 pm. Free.

Sugar Grove Corn Boil

5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 23, at Volunteer Park, Main Street

Wander among corn boil, and other tasty foods, craft show, and carnival while enjoying live music and fireworks. Car show starts from 3:00 pm. This attractive festival takes you to music from The Boy Band Night at 7:30 pm. Free bus service. Reserve tickets before availability.

3 . After losing an important deal in India, a business negotiator learned that her counterpart (对方) felt as if she had been rushing through the talks. The business negotiator thought she was being efficient with their time. Their cultures have different views on how to conduct negotiations, and in this case, the barrier prevented a successful outcome.

Research shows that deal-making across cultures tends to lead to worse outcomes as compared with negotiations conducted within the same culture. As we know, cultures are characterized by different behaviors, communication styles and norms (准则). Consequently, when negotiating across cultures, we bring different views to the bargaining table, which in turn may result in potential misunderstandings that can lead to a lower likelihood of discovering value-creating solutions.

Cultural conflict in negotiations is linked with the fact that we, at most times, interpret others’ behaviors, values, and beliefs through the lens (透镜) of our own culture. To overcome this, it is important to rescarch the customs and behaviors of different cultures as well as understand why people follow these customs and exhibit these behaviors in the first place.

Just as important, not only do countries have unique cultures, but teams and organizations do too. Before partaking in any negotiation, take the time to study the context and the person on the other side of the bargaining table, including the various cultures to which he belongs, whether the culture of his culture, the culture of engineering, or his particular company’s corporate culture. The more you know about the client, the better off you’ll do in any negotiation.

Therefore, we see the negotiator has learned her Indian counterpart would have appreciated a slower pace with more opportunities for relationship building. She seems to have run into the issue: Using time efficiently in the course of negotiations is generally valued in the United States, but in India, there’s often a greater focus on building relationships early in the process. By doing research on the clients’ cultures, they can adjust their negotiation method and give themselves a better chance of creating a valuable negotiation experience for both themselves and their counterpart.

4 . The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Autumn, the 13th solar term of the year, begins this year on Aug.8 and ends on Aug.22. Start of Autumn reflects the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The following are 4 things you should know about Start of Autumn.

“Autumn Tiger”

Although Start of Autumn indicates the beginning of autumn, hot weather will not come to an end. The period of hot days after Start of Autumn, usually lasting for 30 days, is called “Autumn Tiger” or “Indian Summer. ” Because of decreasing rainfall, it is even much hotter during this period than during Major Heat.

Fleshing out in autumn

On the first day of the Start of Autumn, usually people will weigh themselves and compare their weight to what it was at the Start of Summer. If one has lost weight during the summer, then at the beginning of autumn, he or she needs to flesh out by eating many different kinds of delicious food, especially meat.

Gathering crops

Start of Autumn is a big solar term for farmers. It is time to gather crops. There is a saying: If it rains on the day of the Start of Autumn, a good harvest is expected.

Eating peaches

In Hangzhou, people eat peaches on the Start of Autumn day. The peach stones are kept until New Year’s Eve and thrown into the stove, burned into ash. People believed that in this way, plagues (瘟疫) could be prevented for the whole year.

5 . In the long river of inheriting and preserving intangible cultural heritages, people have encountered numerous challenges, especially in this rapidly developing era. Fortunately, there are still many individuals who persistently make efforts to safeguard it.

Chang Yangyang is such a person. As an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he once worked at a factory. Although he had learned the craft paper-cutting from his grandmother since childhood, in the eyes of Chang’s parents, a hobby was far less precious than a stable job. They didn’t change their minds until he won third prize in a national paper-cutting competition in 2010. This opened a new door for him in paper-cutting, which strengthened his determination to continue his career in the craft.

In addition to practicing skills diligently, Chang thought more about how to promote the Mengjin paper-cutting culture and let more people know about this intangible cultural heritage.

In his early years, Chang conducted local training and salons. Later, He tried Douyin live-streaming. At first, Chang was shy. But gradually, he became more familiar with it and learned to interact with viewers. In this way, he expanded his audience and followers from dozens of people to hundreds of thousands.

The young paper-cutting artist and instructor hopes there are more young people learning the art. It is for this reason that he currently teaches the art of paper-cutting at several local primary schools, Chang says his life dream is to establish a paper-cutting museum one day so people can learn more about the art form and grow to love it as much as he does.

With more young craftsmen like Chang injecting fresh energy, the intangible cultural heritage will be able to continue sharing the same clear wind with mountains and forests, and the same bright moon with rivers in the future years, moving towards eternity.

6 . We did a quick survey of New Year traditions around the world, and couldn’t help but notice that the traditions might reflect cultural varieties? but the meanings behind them are pretty universal.

Philippines

In Philippines? families hold traditional dinner parties called Media Noche to greet the New Year. Circle-shaped fruits are their favorites, such as grapes, oranges and melons, since they look like coins, you know. Filipinos actually try to choose 12 different kinds of fruit to put on the table—one for each month in the New Year.

Make sure you leave some food in your plate. It’s bad luck to start the New Year off as a hungry wolf.

Spain

Many Spaniards will eat 12 fresh grapes at midnight—one with each strike of the clock. Each grape represents a wish for happiness and good luck for every month in the coming year. This “12 grapes in 12 seconds“ custom came from a grape farmer in the Alicante region who wanted to promote his produce about a century ago. The tradition has spread to other countries too? with a few adjustments. In Portugal? they eat 12 dried grapes. In Peru? they eat a thirteenth grape.

Denmark

In Denmark_? they eat kransekage, a big horn-shaped cake, on New Year’s Eve. When they’re finished with the cake, it’s Danish custom to throw the used plates against the front doors of their friends and neighbors. It’s actually a sign of friendship.

Italy

Pork sausages are usually served on New Year’s Eve in Italy. Italians choose pork because they think pigs are fat and keep moving forward, while other animals, such as chickens or cows, move backward or stand still.

But whatever you eat into the New Year in Italy-pork, fish or chicken-make sure you stay at home. Italians throw old possessions out of the window after midnight as an out-with-the-old, make-room-for-the-new gesture.

7 . One of the longest ancient wooden bridges in China, located in Fujian province, collapsed on Saturday night after a fire broke out. No casualties(伤亡)or injuries were reported. Wan’an Bridge, which has a history of more than 900 years, in the village of Changqiao in Pingnan county caught fire at around 9:10 pm. The blaze was put out by 10: 45 pm, according to the local emergency management bureau.

There are more than 50 wooden arch bridges in Pingnan. Measuring almost 100 meters long and 5 meters wide, Wan’an Bridge is the oldest and longest wooden bridge in the country. A fire broke out on the bridge in the Qing Dynasty(1644～1911)and it was rebuilt in 1742. It was listed as a key national cultural relic in 2006. The construction of wooden arch bridges uses the most sophisticated techniques among all wooden bridges in China, and the techniques themselves were listed as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009.

Although uncommon, fires at cultural sites around the country do happen. In 2014, a fire destroyed around 300 houses in Dukezong township in Shangrila county of Yunnan province. Dukezong, established more than 1, 300 years ago, is known for its Tibetan-style architecture. The fire burned nearly a fifth of the ancient town’s core preservation area.

In 2019, the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Ministry of Emergency Management issued a guideline on improving fire safety for cultural relics. It required museums and institutions with cultural relics to conduct fire safety check every two hours when open to the public.

According to China News Service, Pingnan county has set up special working groups to look into the incident and to try to restore the bridge. The local authorities are looking into the cause of the incident and the public security bureau has started an investigation.