2 . If Confucius (孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy. Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States.

Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.

Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

6 . Ancient China produced many types of beautiful works of art. Among them, calligraphy (书法), poetry (诗歌) and painting are the most famous. Often they would be put together in art.These became important starting with the Song dynasty.

Calligraphy is the art of handwriting. In the old times the Chinese considered writing as an important form of art. Calligraphers would practice for years to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of the over 40,000 characters (汉字) needed to be written correctly. And each stroke (笔画) in a character had to be written in a certain order.

Poetry is also an important form of art. Great poets were famous all over the country, and all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang dynasty poetry was so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations to become a civil servant (文官)and work for the government.

Chinese painting is often connected with calligraphy. It is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. The most traditional way of Chinese painting is known as “national painting” or “native painting” which is quite different from Western painting. People can draw mountains, buildings, birds, trees and water.

7 . Below are the international days currently playing a more and more important role across the world.

Every year on April 22, People all over the world celebrate Earth Day. It is a time to work to keep our earth clean. U.S. Senator (参议员) Gaylord Nelson first thought of the idea for Earth Day in 1962 when he saw polluted rivers and cities with smoke. He needed to get support from Americans to clean up the earth. Finally, on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day! It is a day that is meant to raise awareness (意识) and appreciation about the Earth’s natural environment.

World Book Day is a celebration to improve the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on April 23, celebrations take place all over the world. April 23 marks the anniversary (周年纪念日) of the birth or death of a number of well-known writers, including William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. World Book Day is an occasion to pay a worldwide respect to books and authors and to encourage people to discover the pleasure of reading.

World Autism Awareness Day aims to increase people’s awareness about people, especially children, with autism. This condition affects the brain’s functions and remains with a person for his or her whole life. The first signs usually appear before a child is three years old. On December 18, 2007, the UN General Assembly (联合国大会) determined April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day. It was first observed in 2008.

8 . You might have heard a lot about ancient towns and ancient cities in China. Here, we list several of the most beautiful ancient villages in China.

Baoshan Stone City, Yunnan Province

Baoshan Stone City was built on a huge mushroom-shaped rock, and only has about one hundred houses. The houses are laid out in an orderly way, built on the rock, and linked by stone steps. The Naxi people there still lead an original life and grow crops in terraces(梯田); you can experience the colorful culture of the Naxi ethnic(民族的) group there.

Tuvas Village in Kanas, Xinjiang

Kanas Tuvas Village is near the mysterious Lake Kanas. The small village is located in a valley, and only has about 80 houses. These Swiss-style wooden houses are all surrounded by wooden fences. Tuvas is an ancient minority group. They traditionally lived as hunter-gathers. You can visit a local family, go herding(放牧) with the locals and experience the peaceful ancient village life.

Jiaju Tibetan Village, Danba, Sichuan Province

Jiaju Tibetan Village is known as the “Tibetan fairyland”. It stands on a mountain slope, and consists of about 140 houses. These unique houses are all built with crown-shaped roofs, red caves, and white walls, which make the houses look like little castles among the forest.

Xijiang Miao Village, Guizhou Province

If you’re interested in the Miao Minority, Xijiang Miao Village can be a great destionation for deepening your understanding of Miao history and culture. It’s the largest Miao village in China, and now has 1,432 households with a population of over 5,000, of which 99.5% are Miao ethnic group. It’s also famous for the houses built on poles of different heights.

9 . The Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院) fire has been put out, but its spire (尖顶) and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. “What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.”

But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely through a video game called Assassin’s Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.

The idea of making digital models of ancient buildings to save their data dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.

As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital model has great useful value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics.

Of course, however precise a model is, it is not the original. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.

10 . Festivals in India are the special occasions when the country holds many celebrations. Socially, the whole nation becomes active in celebrations. This is the main reason why festivals in India are celebrated by the whole society. On such occasions, families will get together, exchange gifts and greetings, and take part in a lot of celebrations and even special fairs. All these are done to keep the festive spirit alive in modern times.

What is special about these celebrations in India is that people celebrate their common culture in their communities. There is a wide variety of festivals in India because of the presence(存在)of many different religions, beliefs, ideas and cultures. It is even said that some places in the country celebrate festivals 365 days a year. They are mainly religious festivals, cultural festivals and tourist festivals that are organized to keep the traditions, values and heritage of the region.

Religious festivals are celebrated as part of the Indian belief system. They are organized to honor spiritual personalities and events related to the journey of a religion. Cultural festivals in India are organized to provide a platform for different forms of music, dance and other art. To keep their artistic traditions alive and even make them become more popular in the future, many cities in India are active in cultural events. The rich cultural heritage of India attracts the Western world during the celebration of important festivals such as Onam, Holi and Durga Puja. Tourist festivals in the country are organized to celebrate the heritage of the land for tourism purposes. These celebrations every year bring good results and attract a large number of tourists, both within the country and abroad.

These festivals in India focus on enriching people’s "Indian" experience in the most real way. For this purpose, foreigners are very interested in attending the festivals, which are organized to show the rich and colorful side of the country.