1 . Treasures from the Al Thani Collection

Location: The Meridian Gate (Wu men)

Dates: April 17，2018 through June 18，2018

The Al Thani Collection allows visitors to see cultural landscapes that have been lost in the depths of history. Artefacts from Egypt and Persia throw light on mysteries known to few. Different peoples have marked these relics with their own styles, which reflect the unique sources of each culture but strike the viewer with an equally powerful charm.

Exhibition Commemorating the 120th Anniversary of Zhang Boju’s Birth

Location: Hall of Martial Valor (Wuying dian)

Dates: April 3, 2018 through May 16，2018

The exhibition features traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy from state-owned museums. Divided into three sections, the exhibition displays artwork organized in order of time, which offers a comprehensive overview of Zhang Boju’s collection through this impressive gathering of the collector’s works.

Discovering the Hall of Mental Cultivation

Location: The Gate of Uprightness (Duan men)

Dates: April 3, 2018 through April 24, 2018

The exhibition allows visitors new ways to explore the history of the Forbidden City with a simple click and celebrates the 93 anniversary of the Palace Museum, established on October 10， 1925. Adding to the Museum’s new displays, this exhibition combines traditional Chinese culture and contemporary technologies.

Kulangsu Gallery of Foreign Artefacts from the Palace Museum Collection

Location: Kulangsu, Xiamen, Fujian Province

Dates: May 13, 2018 through June 24, 2018

The gallery is a major place for the Palace Museum to showcase its splendid collection of international art. Most of these works have been kept in the storehouse of the Museum and have never been shown to the public. Originally from Europe, East Asia, and North America, these international works date from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

3 . The Lunar New Year, despite usually being associated with the Chinese, is also celebrated in other countries. Here are several places in America to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

New York City

New York City, which has one of the largest populations of ethnic (少数民族) Chinese people outside of Asia, is a great place to experience the Lunar New Year. There are around 10 different Chinatowns in New York City. Visitors will find parades, performances and foods in most of these areas but some of the festival characteristics are unique to the particular district.

San Francisco

San Francisco's Lunar New Year celebrations are the longest runnings in America. They date back to the 1860s, during the "Gold Rush" period. Today, numerous events take place around the Bay Area, but the headline is the massive Chinese New Year Parade that draws as many as 1 million viewers.

Washington. D. C.

Washington. D. C. has a historic Chinatown. There is a parade here with floats, firecrackers, dancers and music. The Smithsonian American Art Museum can host hands-on arts and crafts events that feature performers invited from China. The Kennedy Center stages themed performances, including folk music and symphonies from China.

Chicago

Despite low temperatures in January and February, Chicago celebrates the Lunar New Year in a big way. There are two parades, usually held on different days of the same week-end. One is in the city's traditional Chinatown on the South Side, and the other takes place on Argyle Street. Asian culture is on full display during these parades, and other Chicago communities also take part.

5 . Indonesia’s festival scene is one of the most popular festivals in Southeast Asia, attracting thousands of music and party lovers every year. Make sure to keep an eye on these events.

We The Fest

Born in 2014, We The Fest has become the pioneer on the southeast Asian music festival scene. By mixing the pleasures of art, music, fashion and food, it’s a must-go event for festival lovers. In 2017 it took place over three days for the first time, with more than 50,000 participants. Great names like The Kooks, Phoenix, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have played on We The Fest stage.

DJakarta Warehouse Project

DJakarta Warehouse Project is the biggest EDM festival in southeast Asia, since 2014. When it was born, it wasn’t a festival, but a warehouse party organized by clubs in Jakarta. The event usually takes place in December. Past editions featured world-class DJs, including Carl Cox, Cashmere Cat, Robin Schulz and many others. Before going, make sure to pack your dancing shoes and get ready for a good dance.

Java Jazz Festival

Feeling inspired for some jazz music? BNI Java Jazz Festival history goes back 13 years ago: they are the pioneers of music festivals in Indonesia and held their 14th edition in 2018. They organize many other awesome music projects around the country. This one is unmissable.

A: M Festival

Last but for sure not least is A: M (Absence of Mute) Festival. 2018 has been its first edition, held in Kuningan City Ballroom with a lineup filled with awesome local names. Their mission is to help new musicians enter the industry. Shout out for that and look forward to the next year.

6 . March, April and May are months full of festivals and events all over the world. Here are four wonderful festivals around the world that happen in spring. If you want to know more about them, please click here or visit http://www.buddhanet.net/

SongKran----Thailand

Dates: 13th-15th, April

In Thailand, people celebrate a festival called SongKran, when people head out to the streets with water guns to spray everyone who walks past.

Naghol----Vanuatu

Dates: Every Saturday from April to May

Every year, villagers come together to celebrate the harvest of yams, an important part in the people's diet in Vanuatu. The festival is most famous for its "land diving ceremony". During the ceremony men and boys dive to the ground from high wooden towers with only two thin vines(藤) attached to their ankles.

Cherry Blossom Viewing----Japan

Dates: The cherry blossom season is different from year to year depending on the weather forecast.

The festival is well-known. Japanese celebrate the days when the flowers finally blossom. Only a few days later, the petals(花瓣) fall to the ground, like pink snowflakes. That means the traditional festival only lasts for several days. In Japan, almost everyone has picnics in the parks to view the flowers.

Sinhalese New Year----Sri Lanka

Dates: 13th or 14th, April

Just like in many other countries in South or South East Asia, this is the time when the Sinhalese celebrate the traditional New Year, an ancient celebration which marks the end of the harvest season and is one of two times of the year when the sun is straight above Sri Lanka. There are a lot of delicious foods during the celebration.

7 . Riding a Mobike on the street, you might hear people speaking Chinese aloud.    1    Walking into a store, you may see Huawei smartphones for sale. This isn't referring to China, but Manchester, UK.    2    Indeed, Chinese products have gone global.

    3    But to meet local people’s tastes, Chinese restaurants have made some changes to the dishes. “One example is the meat,” said Yin Hang, who is studying at the University of Wollongong in Australia. "We like to eat meat with the bone in, but people here don't. So Chinese restaurants provide big pieces of meat without bones, even for fish.

    4    In many cities in Europe, stores sell TCL televisions, Haier fridges and Lenovo computers, reported Reuters. More than half of US-owned drones(无人机)are Chinese models, according to China Daily. They're not simply made in China, but designed and developed in the country.

In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap and unreliable.     5     “Made in China” has become cool and more people trust Chinese brands. For example, Huawei, one of China's major smartphone makers, overtook Apple in global smartphone sales for the first time in June and July last year, behind only Samsung, noted consulting(咨询)firm Counterpoint Research.

“They are beautiful and offer some unique features American phones don't have,” CNN once said about Chinese smartphones.

8 . For hundreds of years, Africans have preserved their history through storytelling. But some Africans worry that oral traditions will be lost to the Internet connections and social media.

This has led a Nigerian woman named Elizabeth Kperrun to create a mobile phone application as a way to preserve African folk stories. She calls her mobile app AfroTalez, which tells children’s stories that teach moral lessons.

“We can’t teach kids something by telling them, ‘Don’t do this’. I think kids need context to understand. In a story somebody stole something and then something bad happened to them. Alternatively, somebody else did something good and they ended up happy or rich.”

“Hello children. My name is Liz and I’d like to tell you a story about tortoises, elephants, and ...” The voice of “Aunt Liz” narrates the story, while a full-screen animation appears. An arrow signals when it’s time to move on. There are also quizzes on object recognition and counting throughout.

Kperrun asks her older relatives to help her collect stories for the application. The stories come from an ethnic group living in southeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroon. “I want to keep it centered on folk stories, not the ones that Walt Disney has made really popular... It’s fair and respectful to keep certain cultures alive because folk stories are part of the tapestry that keeps cultures together.” Kperrun once said.

Kperrun writes and reads the stories. Her business partner and husband Idamiebi Ilamina-Eremie does the animation (动画).

AfroTalez is available for Android users and can be downloaded for free. So far, AfroTalez has more than 50,000 users. Funding for the app has been a major challenge. Kperrun hopes to use a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the next version of AfroTalez to be released soon.

Kperrun believes technology doesn’t have to destroy or replace traditions. Her goal is to combine them to keep African culture alive. She says “Africa is our home, but we are so eager to become Western that we are forgetting things that are really important and should be passed on of who we are, and I don’t think that’s right.”

9 . The best festivals in August

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world. Last year, the festival lasted 25 days, including 55,000 performances of 3,548 shows in 317 places. The festival started in 1947. Anyone can join in with the performance of their choice.

Wilderness Festival

Wilderness Festival takes place in one of the oldest woods in England. Taking place over four days in nature, people will experience music, comedy, theatre, and dance from Sadler's Wells. All the campsites are made-to-order for different needs, including family camping.

Notting Hill Carnival

Notting Hill Carnival takes place on the streets of Notting Hill in London, England in each August lasting three days. Attracting around one million people each year, it's one of the biggest street festivals in the world. Happening since 1966, Notting Hill Carnival is an essential cultural experience in London.

La Tomatina

Each year, the Valencian town of Bunol gets changed into a red mess as locals and tourists take to the streets and throw tomatoes at each other, creating the biggest food fight in the world, all for fun. This tomato festival has been happening since 1945 and is held on the last Wednesday of August each year.

10 . As the birthplace of kites in the world, Weifang, Shandong province of China, produces beautiful, vivid, colorful and high-quality kites. Now, more than 70% of kites in the world are exported from Weifang. If you want to see various shapes and sizes of kites covering the sky, you cannot miss the Weifang Kite Festival held on the third Saturday of every April.

But this year, tens of thousands of Chinese participants gathered in Weifang, from Sept 26 to 29 for the 37th International Kite Festival. Held since 1984, the International Kite Festival is an annual event to “exhibit the excellence of the kite lovers to the public,” according to the festival's website.

During the festival, kite lovers can enjoy stunt (特技表演) kite flying, also known as aerial ballet. Controlled by either a single person or a group, the kites form different shapes in the air. People always devote a lot of time and wisdom to making their own kites. From animals that crawl (爬行) on the ground or swim in the water to legends like Monkey King, everything can fly in the sky at the festival. One of this year's highlights was the giant kites decorated with images of medical staff and the Long March 5 rocket, which reflect the hot topics this year.

“Flying a kite is like flying your dream. All the cultural symbols from ancient and modern times can be found in the sky of Weifang,” noted Medium. After more than three decades of development, the festival has become a place to appreciate kites. But most importantly, it serves as a unique cultural event to promote international exchange.