Guessing lantern riddles is an activity that     1     (date) back at least as far as the Southern Song Dynasty,     2     scholars wrote riddles on small slips of paper and     3       (hang) them from lanterns for festival attendees to guess.

Most of these lantern riddles were     4     (simple) created as a form of entertainment. Sometimes, however, imperial advisors used them to make a     5     (suggest) to the emperor.

If the emperor didn’t like it, the advisors could claim that the riddle had been interpreted incorrectly, thus     6     (avoid) his wrath (愤怒) . This was possible because the riddles’ answers were rarely obvious and clear-cut, leaving them open to multiple interpretations.

Today’s lantern riddles are still difficult     7     (guess) . So difficult, in fact, that they’re referred to as “lantern tigers” and guessing lantern riddles is sometimes referred to as “guessing lantern tigers”. Generally, lantern riddles are based on complex forms of wordplay and may be difficult for even     8     (advance) students of Chinese to understand.

Most riddles consist of the riddle itself and an implication that tells the guesser what form he or she should expect the answer to take. For example, sometimes     9     implication might indicate that the answer is a Chinese idiom, the name of a country or that it should be composed     10     Chinese characters.

Labor Day

How’s this for a strange idea: a day off from work in honor of work    1    (it)? Actually, that is     2     Labor Day, celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday of every September, is all about.

The     3    (one) American Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5th,1882, as thousands of workers and their families came to Union Square for a day in the park. There were picnics and a parade,     4     there were also protests. The workers had gathered, not just to rest and celebrate, but to demand fair wages, the end of child labor, and the right    5    (organize) into unions.

During the period known as The Industrial Revolution, many jobs were difficult and dangerous. People worked for twelve hours, six days a week,     6     extra benefits, and if you were young, chances are you were doing manual labor instead of your ABCs and fractions. Children as young as ten worked in some of     7    (dangerous) places. In the following years, the idea of Labor Day caught on. But then came the violent Haymarket Square Riot (暴乱) of 1886, which led to many deaths in Chicago. After that, many groups began to mark Haymarket Square on May 1st, which became known as International Workers’ Day.

But in spite of this new holiday, it was a long time before the changes that workers wanted     8    (become) a reality. At present, as America and Canada celebrate Labor Day, most of the two    9    (country) children enjoy a day off from school. But it is important to remember that there was a time when every day was a labor day for children in America, and     10    (unfortunate), the same fact remains true for millions of children around the world today.

Wang De, who is a blacksmith by trade and an inheritor of the 500-year-old art of dashuhua that     1     (literal) means “creating tree flowers”,     2     (live) in Yuxian county of Zhangjiakou.

Wang and his assistants put     3     over a dozen dashuhua performances for villagers and tourists as part of Spring Festival celebrations each year. The folk artist hopes the revival of the tradition can bring more visitors to his hometown of Zhangjiakou.

Dashuhua is a traditional form of fireworks performance that takes place during certain festivals.     4     (create) molten iron fireworks, waste iron is melted to 1,600℃ and thrown against a cold wall. The mix bursts into sparks that look like glittering tree branches.

But the high-risk tradition is still only reserved for     5     brave. Due to the nature of the performance-handling superheated coal and molten iron, it’s easy for performers to suffer injuries. During a performance a few years ago, Wang suffered severe     6     (burn) on his leg and took two months to recover.

There are only four people     7     (leave) in China who have mastered the ancient practice, three of     8     are either middle-aged or elderly. Both Wang’s father and grandfather were blacksmiths. Wang said     9     was his responsibility to pass this craft on to the next generation. Otherwise, it will be lost.

The art of dashuhua requires extraordinary courage, skill and     10     (strong). Now, The molten iron fireworks performance has become a major tourist attraction.

“I wish you good health, happiness and longevity!” The allegro (快板) in the Chinese language resounded in a hall at Prince Sultan University, during a cultural event to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

    1     (crowd) with enthusiastic visitors, the event held on Monday afternoon showed the rich traditions of the Chinese festival,     2     fell on February 10 this year.

Abdullah Hazmi, a student who is studying the Chinese Proficiency Test(HSK) Level 2, expressed his     3     (admire) for the experience of tasting traditional Chinese foods and learning about the art of Chinese tea. He said that his encounter with the Spring Festival’s customs inspired a     4     (deep) interest in Chinese culture than ever,     5     (lead) him to learn more about the Chinese language.

Faisal Islam, who     6     (recent) has began his Chinese learning journey, shared how brush writing sparked his interest in the beauty of Chinese     7     (character) and the charm of Chinese culture. The event also featured traditional Spring Festival scrolls (卷轴), penned by students from China’s Tsinghua University. These volunteers presented a series     8     cultural performances, including traditional Chinese dragon dances and tai chi.

Zhang Xinying, the Chinese dean of the Confucius Institute at Prince Sultan University, said, “It is not only a Spring Festival celebration, but a grand event to bring Chinese culture into the campus, fostering deeper Sino-Saudi cultural exchanges.”

The Confucius Institute has witnessed     9     growing interest in Chinese language and culture since its opening on June 4, 2023, with nearly 100 students     10     (participate) in five classes to learn junior-and medium-level Chinese language.

The Guangdong Lion Dance, a national tradition popular in Foshan and Guangzhou, is a typical Southern Lion Dance.

Lion dancing    1     (date) back thousands of years, to the Tang Dynasty, and a legend about the emperor having a dream    2    a lion saved his life. And later it    3     (introduce) to the south by migrants from the north. The Guangdong Lion Dance developed into    4     (it) modern form during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644). In Chinese tradition, people regard the lion as    5    symbol of braveness and strength, which can drive away evil and protect humans and livestock. Lion dancing    6     (main) focuses on the performance of the lion dance, attaching much attention to movements    7    scratching an itch (抓痒), shaking the mane (鬃毛) and licking (舔) the hair.

The Guangdong Lion Dance, a    8     (combine) of martial arts, dance and music, is popular not only in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, but also among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asian countries,    9     (make) it a cultural bridge for overseas Chinese keeping in touch with their national roots. It is considered to be a tradition with far-reaching cultural value. Lunar New Year is the perfect time    10     (share) and celebrate that culture and heritage.