Chinese Loong is the fifth animal of the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle,     1    (consider) to be mythical and symbolic of fortune. Recently, sales of things with dragon elements have witnessed explosive growth on e-commerce platforms.

Data from an e-commerce platform show that searches     2     dragon-related goods via its online marketplace have reached 23 million.    3     is said that since January, goods with dragon-themed elements, such as daily necessities, alcohol and gold jewelry,     4    (prefer) by consumers.The purchasing excitement is expected to     5    (huge) boost consumer confidence and improve the recovery of consumption．

Purchases by the post-1990s and post-2000s generations accounted for nearly 55%, while consumers in Guangdong province, Beijing, Jiangsu province in that order,     6    (be) the top three spenders on dragon-featured items.Because the dragon is an important symbol of Chinese traditional culture     7     good luck, Chinese consumers are expressing their hopes for     8     better life in the new year.

“Brands should capitalize on traditional Chinese culture to launch more innovative     9    (product),” a research fellow said,     10    (stress) that Spring Festival is the traditional festival Chinese people attach the most importance to, and it’s also a peak season for consumption.

Chinese netizens recently expressed     1     (amaze) at a map online clearly marking the country’s historic relics (文物). The map     2     (make) by Wu Yunjie, who was born in the 1990s.     3     (interest) in history, Wu would often spend his spare time travelling around the country, when he was in college, and     4     (explore) ancient sites.

In 2020, he started collecting information on cultural relics and uploaded the data to the mapping software. As many historical sites in rural areas cannot be located     5     (specific) , Wu did a lot of field research. “The job is rather difficult     6     I have much joy in it．I’m happy to make people more aware of the huge and rich historical heritage (遗产) from China’s long history,” he said.

Now, the map     7     (include) nearly 10,000 relics or museums. Many valuable temples, bridges and towers     8     have been lost in the country are also shown on the map. One post online said “The ancient tower around my house on the map! I can’t wait to visit     9    .”

However, in Wu’s eyes, the map is just     10     step forward, as it records a very small part of the cultural relics in the country, and he still has a long way to go.

Do you want to feast your eyes on more than 3,000 years of wonderful art from China? Come to the Richfield Museum of Fine Art,    1     a new exhibition named “From Shang to Qing: Chinese Art Through the Ages” is to be held.

The highlight is the painting Clearing After Snow on a Mountain Pass, one of the great     2     (work) of Tang Yin (1470­1524). This painting, showing high mountains, trees, and houses covered in snow, looks as fresh and full of life as the day it     3     (create). Apart from the     4     (extreme) famous painting, nearly 100 bronze objects from the Shang Dynasty will be exhibited. You will be amazed at the great skill     5     (use) to create these beautiful pieces.

If you are     6     sculpture lover, please seize the chance. A number of fine examples of Tang Dynasty sculptures will be     7    display. From these sculptures, you can see how Buddhist art brought from India and Central Asia influenced China during that period.     8    (look) at the faces of the figures in these sculptures, you seem to see the faces of the past.

This is a    9     (gold) opportunity to know more about ancient Chinese art     10     we guarantee that you will be satisfied with this exhibition.

Harmony is a core value of China’s Hehe culture, which is    1     (wide) appreciated in modern Chinese society.

The term “Hehe” (和合)     2     (consist) of two Chinese characters that have the same pronunciation but different meanings: the first means harmony, and the second means convergence. In short, Hehe culture involves    3     (seek) common ground while reserving differences, and it means harmonious coexistence and coordinated development. Liuchixiang, a 2-meter-wide alley in Anhui’s Tongcheng City, is a location in China    4    has its own story of harmony.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi over 300 years ago, high-ranking official ZhangYing received    5    letter from his family in Tongcheng, his hometown. In their letter, they told Zhang that they had quarreled    6    property boundaries with their neighbor, Wu, and asked for help.

Zhang replied to their letter with a poem: “A letter is written, just for a wall.     7    it moves a meter, what harm is done? The Great Wall still stands tall today, yet    8    (go) is its builder, Emperor Qinshihuang.”

Enlightened by his reply, the Zhang family decided    9     (bring) their walls back by approximately one meter. Deeply moved by their generosity, the Wu family also brought their walls back by a meter, and the two households created a 2-meter-wide alley between their homes for passersby.

The alley is now a popular    10     (attract) that is traversed daily by locals.

Jacopo Della Ragione was born and raised in Florence, Italy. While    1    student of Medieval History at Milan University, he also learned graphic design and printing. In 2001, his passion for China's traditional and modern art brought him to Beijing, and he     2    (work) there ever since.

In July 2001, Ragione was in China     3     Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. He witnessed this historic moment and shared in the    4    (happy) of the Chinese people. He has worked in many companies in China and also married a girl in Beijing,    5     has allowed him to know China better.

When     6    (talk)about how he carries out his work, Ragione said he designs the picture in his mind first, and then follows the instincts (本能) of his body     7    (finish)   the job. “It's a bit like China's calligraphy and Kung Fu, which has brought me much inspiration,” he said.

Ragione is now deeply attached     8     China. He has witnessed the great changes that have taken place here: streets have become more lively, buses are more advanced, and traveling by subway has become more convenient….

“I have visited many cities in China, and Beijing is the one I love     9    (much). I fell in love with it     10    (gradual). Italy is where I was born, and Beijing is my home now,” he said in fluent Chinese.

Visual designer Cao Siyu was born and raised in Beijing.     1     the age of 20, she left home to study in the United States for her bachelor’s degree in English literature, and later, the United Kingdom for her master’s degree in graphic design. She now     2     (run) a visual thinking workshop in Paris.

Visual thinking     3     (define) as “any mental process based on the visual processing capabilities of the mind”, a common mode of thinking alongside verbal, kinesthetic, musical and mathematical thinking.

After she encountered many     4     (misunderstanding) while living abroad, and came face to face with stereotypical views about China, Cao tried to build     5     bridge and break the stereotypes (成见) between different cultures. She was inspired     6     (create) Tiny Eyes Comics, an internet-based cartoon strip illustrating the “big world through tiny Chinese eyes”.     7     (focus) on everyday topics, including family relationships, food, different ways of thinking     8     social customs, Cao’s comics feature a girl named Tiny Eyes and portray her life in a lighthearted way.

Since her first illustration in late 2016, Cao     9     (post) more than 300 comics to her Instagram account,     10     has attracted about 41,000 followers. Her comics has shed light on China for foreigners who are curious about the country.

Known as “Magic of the East”, shadow play (皮影戏) is considered the early form of modern cinema and cartoon. This unique art     1     (create) during the Western Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago.

Shadow play is a kind of drama     2     the players made of animal skins are projected onto a white screen. The players are dyed in five colors and made transparent (透明) after chemical     3     (treat). So the shadow shows dramatic colors on the screen,     4     (add) great appeal to the play. More interestingly, every player is comprised of 11 parts: a head, two body parts, two legs, two upper arms and lower arms as well as two hands.     5     (control) through sticks and strings by the performers behind the screen, the players can do various movements     6     (vivid).

Shadow play demands high performing skills. Besides operating three or four players at a time, performers have to catch up with the music as well as speak or sing     7     (tell) the story. Hence, it is not     8     easy job to become a mature shadow play performer.

With the development of modern audio-visual media, shadow play is not as popular as before.     9     thanks to the harmonious application of so many artistic factors—light, screen, music, singing and puppetry (木偶), this art remains a highly     10     (value) cultural heritage in Chinese art field.