A red envelope is simply a long, narrow, red envelope.     1     (tradition)red envelopes are often decorated with gold Chinese characters, such as the characters for     2     (happy)and wealth.

During Chinese New Year, money     3     (put)inside red envelopes. Parents, grandparents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends give them to younger generations. Red envelopes are also popular gifts     4     birthdays and weddings.

It depends on the situation as to how much money should be put into a red envelope. For     5     (young)children, the equivalent (等量) of about $7 is fine. More money is given to older children and teenagers. The amount (金额) is     6     (usual)enough for the child to buy a gift, like a T-shirt. If you go to     7     wedding, the money in the red envelope should be equivalent to a nice gift     8     would be given at a Western wedding.

For all occasions, certain amounts of money are     9     (avoid). Any amount with the number four in it is best avoided because four     10     (sound)similar to death in Chinese. Even (偶数的) numbers, except four, are better than odd ones-as good things are believed to come in pairs. For example, gifting $20 is better than $21.

To mark the 14th International Chinese Language Day, which falls     1     April 20, Cape Town in South Africa witnessed the opening of a special exhibition: The Way of Type — Modernization of Chinese Typography (活版印刷). By    2     (show) the development of fonts (字体), the exhibition gave visitors an overview of the modern development of Chinese characters.

The 2023 Chinese Language Day     3     (celebrate) under the theme of “Chinese Wisdom for a Green World” by the UN. Separate     4     (activity) included the school Chinese calligraphy event held at the Confucius Institute at the University of Johannesburg in Johannesburg South Africa,    5     folk music performances held in Vienna, Austria, which aided people     6     (have) a better understanding of the role of China’s traditional culture in today’s modern world.

Statistics show that so far over 180 countries and regions around the world have Chinese language teaching programs, eighty-two of which have included Chinese language learning into their     7     (nation) education system, such as the United Arab Emirates, an Arab country     8     the Chinese language is taught in about 60 schools.

“Academically speaking, the relationship between China and the Arab world has always been a hot topic. In     9     past few decades, the trend of mutual language learning between China and Arab countries has improved     10     (great),” said Xue Qingguo, an Arabic studies professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

China’s taijiquan, also known as Tai Chi,     1     (add) to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on Dec 17, 2020. On its website, UNESCO describes taijiquan     2     “a traditional physical practice characterized by relaxed, circular (绕圈的) movements     3     work in harmony with breath regulation and the cultivation (培养) of a righteous mind”. Influenced by Taoist and Confucian thought and the     4     (theory) of traditional Chinese medicine, Tai Chi has developed into many schools, usually     5     (name) after a clan (宗派) or a master, such as Chen-style and Yang-style.

Chen-style taijiquan has the longest history, and other styles directly or     6     (directly) branched out from it. Chen Bing, one of the inheritors (传承人) of the Chen-style taijiquan     7     (practice) it since he was six years old under the guidance of his uncles, Chen Xiaowang and Chen Xiaoxing, two iconic figures of Chen-style taijiquan in Henan province.

In recent years, public enthusiasm for Tai Chi has grown greatly throughout the world.     8     (popularize) taijiquan, Chen has developed a simplified version of some of the moves to help people relax at the office     9     held back nothing in imparting (传授) his taijiquan     10     (wise) during all of his online sessions. He has nurtured more than 400 followers, who, in turn, have passed the knowledge on to their students.

The city of Dunhuang,     1    (situate) in an oasis (绿洲) in Northwest China’s Gobi Desert, was a shining star on the ancient Silk Road. It is the site of the remarkable Mogao Caves, which are well-known for     2    (they) statues and wall paintings.     3     China’s oldest treasure house of Buddhist art, Dunhuang also witnessed cultural exchanges along the Silk Road.

But over the centuries wall paintings as well as the statues,     4     were made from clay on wood, have faced challenges due to natural damage and human activities.     5    (protect) the cultural relics, China has been working on digitizing Dunhuang, transforming the buildings into a digital version.

On May 1, 2016, the Digital Dunhuang resource database was launched,     6    (provide) clear images, virtual tours of the caves and so on. By August 2022, the “Digital Dunhuang” project     7    (complete) the digital collection of 278 grottoes, the image processing of 164 grottoes, and the 3D reconstruction of many cultural relics.

Digital technology has enabled us to visit Dunhuang online in     8     innovative way. It has also made the cultural relics of Dunhuang     9    (access) to the whole world. Nowadays “Digital Dunhuang” is visited by people who show great     10    (curious) in Chinese cultural heritage in different countries and regions.

Yunnan is the hometown of tea. It provides the ideal climate and the ecological environment for large-leaf tea trees, which are located in the     1     (region) along the Lancang River. Thousands of years ago, they formed those ancient tea plantations,     2     are the best gift that nature has grated us.

    3     (preserve) the ancient tea trees, Southwest Chinn’s Yunnan Province has passed a protection regulation recently,     4     (clarify) that wild and cultivated ten plants aged over 100 wars should be better protected in the province. The new regulation, which will come into force starting from March 1, 2023,    5    (prohibit) six kinds of behaviors that harm ancient tea plants and their growing environment. Unauthorized cutting and transplantation of ancient tea trees, carving tree branches, digging the roots,     6    damaging the ancient lea trees are all banned.

Other     7     (legal) practices include using harmful chemical herbicides, releasing waste gas and water, as well as dumping and throwing waste     8     (casual) within the protection range of the trees, according to the regulation.

Yunnan has diverse resources of tea trees. The regulation also advocates proper research and     9    (apply) of Yunnan’s resources of ancient tea trees, raising varieties     10    new tea trees of good quality, as well as the establishment of relevant industrial chains.

A 150-year-old shipwreck (遇难船) believed    1    (be) a treasure of cultural relics was       2    (eventual)lifted from a riverbed near Shanghai early Monday morning in a high-tech salvage (打捞) operation.

The merchant ship,    3     (refer) to as Yangtze River Estuary No 2 Ancient Vessel, dates back to the period of Emperor Tongzhi (1862-1875) in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). When it     4     (discover) in 2015, it was sitting 5.5 meters off the northeast tip of Hengsha Island in Chongming district.

Recovery of the merchant vessel—about 38.1 meters long and 9.9 meters across at its widest point—was one of the most important and challenging underwater archaeological excavation (挖掘)    5    (project) China has undertaken.

“The retrieval (取回) of the vessel marks the perfect    6    (combine) of underwater engineering and cultural relics protection principles,” said Guan Qiang, deputy director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

“The project has provided a Chinese example, Chinese model, and Chinese experience for the global protection of underwater cultural relics,” he said.

In the coming days, another ship will take the shipwreck to the former site of Shanghai Shipyard in Yangpu district, where it will be examined and studied. The ship has been described by the heritage administration as “the largest and best-preserved sunken wooden sailboat in China’s underwater archaeological findings, with    7    huge number of cultural relics    8     board”.

Fang Shizhong,    9    position is director of the Shanghai Cultural Heritage Administration, said that the discovery of the ancient boat was very    10     (meaning), which “proves Shanghai’s position as an important shipping and maritime commerce center for East Asia and even the whole world.”

Valentine’s Day in China

It is really difficult to know the exact time     1     western Valentine’s Day was introduced into China. However, western Valentine’s Day is     2     (wide) celebrated in urban areas where there are a lot of commercial (商业的) events, especially in big cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Valentine’s Day is not so popular in small cities,     3     (town) and the countryside.

So far, Chinese people     4     (accept) the tradition westerners on celebrating Valentine’s Day, such as     5     (exchange) gifts, having a romantic dinner, watching a movie in the evening or even making a marriage registration if Valentine’s Day falls on a workday.

On this day, larger amounts of chocolate will be on sale in supermarkets,     6     compared with the ordinary days, cinemas will be much     7     (busy) and the price of flowers and restaurants and hotels can be a lot higher. Many restaurants will have special menus, especially those in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. If you want to have a smooth     8     (celebrate) on Valentine’s Day, remember     9     (make) reservations (预定) as far in advance as you can.

Chinese people have also made some changes to the western way of celebrating Valentine’s Day. For some couples, the husband may prepare a rich dinner or buy a beautiful dress     10     his wife on this day to show his appreciation.