The Year of the Dragon comes with inspiration for creativity and the power to bring big ideas     1    life.

Designer Wang Zijian’s Dragon Out of Water, a creative tea infuser (泡茶器),shines on the wall at the exhibition of the winning works of the 2024 Global Zodiac Design Competition at the Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchange Center.     2     (it) cute dragon design and special function are bound to appeal to young consumers. “It’s     3    unique product, and we expect a positive response from young customers,” Wang told Beijing Review.

The item belongs to China Chic, or guochao, also     4     (know) as “national wave”,    5    refers to products of all sorts including traditional Chinese cultural elements. These products    6     (embrace) by the country’s younger generations in recent years. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, Gen Z    7     (account) for 74 percent of consumers of China Chic goods in 2022, and the search volume of China Chic products has increased five times over the past decade.

As a young designer, Wang hopes     8     (capture) young consumers with his creative interpretation of dragons. “I’ve been    9    (thorough) studying the dragon’s historical connotations (言外之意) and the     10     (psychology) characteristics of Gen Z consumers,” the 34-year-old designer told Beijing Review.

On February 20, leading Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com reported that sales of traditional Hanfu clothing had surged over 300 percent year on year since January. This trend was mirrored on Taobao,     1    , over the Double 11 shopping festival sales topped 730,000 units. Sales and search data signal a widespread and growing     2     (fascinate) with traditional Chinese clothing styles.

The horse face skirt is a traditional Chinese skirt     3     (feature) a distinct pleated (有褶的) design. It is     4     (occasional) referred to in a more generic sense as an apron. This type of skirt is     5     key component of Hanfu, serving as a lower garment (衣服). It is celebrated     6     one of the most emblematic styles of ancient Chinese skirts, showcasing a rich cultural heritage through     7     (it) unique appearance and historical significance.

Influencers and content creators play a significant role in promoting Hanfu and fostering a sense of community. To date, the horse face skirt on Douyin     8     (attract) more than 17.6 billion views across related topics and short videos. Meanwhile, on Xiaohongshu,     9     (search) for the same term have resulted in over 880,000 posts.

    10     the horse face skirt’s popularity reflects is the growing appetite for Hanfu-inspired designs as well as a deeper cultural revival for classical Chinese aesthetics.

During the 2023 Spring Festival Gala, an acrobatics how titled “Me and Grandpa Walking on Stilts” impressed global audiences. With children    1     (show) off their stilt-walking skills, the show definitely brought the joyful atmosphere to the world.

Stilts walking, or Cai Gao Qiao in Chinese, is a popular traditional folk performance often    2     (see) during the Spring Festival. It often appears at circuses or parades across China,    3    has the meaning of standing tall and having one step up in the new year.

Stilts walking has a long history in China and has been listed    4    a national intangible cultural heritage.    5    is believed that the practice started with ancient Chinese people using stilts to harvest fruits on trees and for fishing in ponds. Later, the practical use of stilts     6     (transform) into an art form with brightly-colored costumes, make-up, and even acrobatic moves.

The stilts are mostly made of wood with    7    support point in the middle partition (隔板)    8    can be used as a standing platform by the performers. Stilt walking requires a high degree of skill land the walkers must be brave enough to get around with merely two thin sticks tied to their    9     (foot). They need to practice a lot to learn to be steady while walking and to perform more beautiful movement patterns, they need to be even more     10     (exceptional) skillful.

The 24 solar terms     1     (recognize) as “the fifth great invention of China”. Every year around May 21st, the second solar term of summer, Grain Buds, or Xiaoman in Chinese, arrives. While it’s getting hotter and     2     (wet), the seeds of summer crops are already full       3     not ripe. The difference in temperature between the North and the South narrows and     4     greater amount of rainfall is on the way.

“Low rainfall during Xiaoman will bring problems for planting during Grain in Ear (芒种).” Such sayings     5     (guide) agricultural production and the daily life of the Chinese people for thousands of years. In the area south of the Yangtze River, three types of     6     (equip) start to work as Xiaoman gets closer. At this time, the waterwheel is pedaled (蹬)     7     (water) crops. Farmers use the oil mill to extract (提取) oil from the seeds freshly     8     (collect). They also use the weaving loom to reel silk threads.

Xiaoman is actually an interval (间歇) between harvests, so people in the past had to eat wild vegetables in order to survive these tough days,     9     led to a unique eating custom. Meanwhile, as Xiaoman is the birthday of the Silkworm God, people in some areas pray     10     a good silk harvest on that day.

There is a Chinese story of an old man in his 90s working with his family to remove mountains to connect the outside world     1     others’ doubts. The story has inspired the Chinese to unite and overcome difficulty with     2     (determine) and hard work.

The story became a reality in Lin County, Henan Province in the 1960s. A 1,500-kilometer-long waterway along the cliffs (悬崖) of the Taihang Mountains     3     (build) by the local people within 10 years, bringing precious water from the Zhanghe River in the bordering Shanxi Province to the drought-hit area.

Initially, finding drinking water was     4     headache for residents: People had to fetch water from five kilometers away every day.     5     (ease) this area’s water shortages, the local government decided to construct a canal across the mountains,    6    construction was a remarkable engineering achievement.

People tied ropes around their waists and     7     (hang) off cliffs, drilling holes in rock, and then dug canals with simple tools. From February 1960 to July 1969, they leveled 1,250 mountain tops and dug 211 tunnels (隧道),    8     (remove) 22.25 million cubic meters of earth and rocks.

Their efforts gained multiple     9     (benefit). It was the canal that     10       (dramatic) changed the life of the local people, irrigating (灌溉) 36,000 hectares of land and solving water supply difficulties to some 567,000 people. Their deeds have been hailed (称颂) as the “spirit of the Red Flag Canal.”

The Han Dynasty was one of the heydays in ancient China. Han has a history     1    (date) back thousands of years and the traditional clothing of the Han people is called Hanfu,     2     charm has also flourished for centuries.

Hanfu is     3     important carrier of Chinese civilization, with etiquette (礼仪) as its core. Hanfu not only embodies the Chinese aesthetic taste,     4     reflects a unique meaning in etiquette, religion and culture. As long as people put on Hanfu, they should behave in accordance with     5     the “etiquette” system requires.

Hanfu is composed of yi, chang, headgear, hairstyle, shoes, etc. There are two types of “yi”.     6     is the kind with the separation of the upper and the lower garments, while the other is the one-piece kind that unites the upper and the lower garments together. The decoration on the garments represents the faith and customs in the Han culture. The Yin-Yang and all the subjects on earth     7    (picture) on Hanfu profoundly reflect the Chinese ancients’ understanding of the universe and nature.

In recent years,     8     people’s enthusiasm for traditional culture growing, wearing Hanfu in a trip or in a party     9    (become) a new trend among young people. The revival of Hanfu is a new exploration of the beauty of Chinese clothing by contemporary people, and also represents the new     10    (recognize) of the value of traditional culture by the younger generation.

As the temperature continues to drop, the golden autumn seems to be coming to an end, indicating the     1    (arrive) of the Cold Dew period. Cold Dew, known as “Hanlu” in Chinese,    2     (fall) on October 8 and ends on October 23 this year.

During Cold Dew, temperatures drop     3    (significant) and the sun cannot reach the deep waters thoroughly. Therefore, fish swim in shallow waters,     4    the water temperature is relatively high, making Cold Dew the best season to cast a net or throw a line.

Chrysanthemums (菊花) are the symbolic flower of Cold Dew.     5    (prevent) autumn dryness, many regions in China have the custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine. In ancient times, drinking wine made with chrysanthemums    6    (think) to allow people long-lasting youth.

Other traditions to mark the season include hiking and climbing. With maple (枫树) leaves     7     (turn) red, the splendour of color welcomes nature lovers. On the day of the Double Ninth Festival, which often is around Cold Dew, people often climb hills with cornels (茱萸),    8     kind of plant. This custom, dating    9    the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), aims to drive bad things away.

Cold Dew allows us to say goodbye to golden autumn with delicate design, and also gives us a chance to know     10     (much) about the culture behind the solar terms.

When it comes to the Chinese culture, we can’t ignore the importance of tea. Tea culture not only includes tea production, tea brewing, tea art and ceremony, but also     1     (contain) artistic value and traditional Chinese philosophy. It is linked     2     literature, art and religion. In the Tang Dynasty,     3     Buddhists were thinking, they found tea could reduce sleepiness and clear the mind. Therefore tea drinking was promoted and became     4     artistic enjoyment among the public.

Before the Song Dynasty, people used to put tea into a pot     5     (fill)with water and cook it. And then the traditional tea cooking was gradually replaced by the tea competition. In tea tasting, people brought their own tea and water and judged the quality of teas by     6     (check)the color and foam of the water. During the North Song Dynasty, tea     7     (compete)were widespread and brought to Japan. It gradually became the popular “chado” or tea ceremony In Japan.

Drinking tea is not only a     8     (health)habit for people, but also a cultural activity in Chinese daily life. The Chinese believe drinking tea can be helpful     9     (clean) the mind. People who love tea can     10     (easy)find inner peace and happiness.

China International Culture Association, a key sponsor of “Happy Chinese New Year”, called for rabbit-themed mascot (吉祥物) design for the Year of the Rabbit,     1     started on Jan. 22, 2023, according to the traditional Chinese calendar.

The     2     (collect) design went through four stages of evaluation, and the winner was told at the end of 2022. “Happy Chinese New Year” is known for     3     series of cultural activities held in numerous countries     4     (introduce) the lunar New Year culture and bring the joys of Chinese New Year to everybody throughout the world. The Year of the Rabbit is considered as one of the     5     (lucky) signs of the Chinese Zodiac (生肖). It is traditional Chinese     6     (believe) that the Chinese Rabbit will live a long, peaceful life filled with beauty and love.

The design competition     7     (hold) for the first time to create a memorable and     8     (cultural) fresh experience for the globe. The interested     9     (party) could check out details and know more information at https://ishijue.com/, the official website     10     the competition.

Do you know spring rolls? Spring rolls,     1     name is a translation of the Chinese chun juan, are     2     variety of filled, rolled dim sum found in East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine.

In China, the past spring rolls were regarded as a seasonal food     3     (eat) during the spring. They started as a pancake rolls stuffed with the new season’s spring vegetables. Nowadays, spring rolls can be enjoyed throughout     4     year and they are usually served as an     5     (amaze) starter for parties.

Fried spring rolls are generally small. They can be sweet or salty; the former are often filled     6     red bean paste (红豆馅) and the latter are typically prepared with vegetables. Non-fried spring rolls are usually     7     (big) than the fried ones. Unlike fried spring rolls, non-fried spring rolls     8     (make) by filling the wrappers with many different pre-cooked ingredients.     9     (tradition), they are food for the Cold Food Festival and the Tomb Sweeping Day in spring     10     (remember) ancestors.