The Duanwu Festival, also     1     (name) the Dragon Boat Festival, was established    2     memory of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475—221BC).

Qu Yuan,     3     died by committing suicide in the Miluo River, was known as a great patriot. Shortly after he died, the local people     4     (throw) food into the water to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats, known as dragon boats, making sound     5     (scare) away the fish.

    6     (tradition) celebrations of the Dragon Boat Festival include eating zongzi, drinking realgar (雄黄) wine, and     7     (race) dragon boats.

You don’t have to live in China long to know that     8     country’s most popular foods usually have a good story behind them. That’s     9     (particular) true of festival foods such as zongzi, the pyramid-shaped steamed rice packages in bamboo or reed leaves that have been associated with the Dragon Boat Festival for more than a thousand     10     (year).

Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry     1     (write) in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms and close connections with particular historical     2     (period), such as the poetry of the Tang Dynasty. Its existence     3     (document) at least as early as the publication of the Classic of Poetry or Shijing.     4     (variety) combinations of forms and genres exist. Many or most of these     5     (arise) at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Use and development of Classical Chinese poetry     6     (active) continued up to the year of 1919,     7     the May Fourth Movement took place, and is still developed even today. Poetry created during this 2,500 year period of more or less continuous development shows     8     great deal of diversity-classified by both major historical periods and by dynastic periods.

Of the key aspects of Classical Chinese poetry, another is     9     (it) intense interrelationship with other forms of Chinese art, such as Chinese painting and Chinese calligraphy. Classical Chinese poetry has proven to be of strong influence     10     poetry worldwide.

By drawing patterns on the surface of a cup of tea, Zhang Zhifeng, a practitioner of chabaixi, displayed a special Chinese tea trick in a recent TV drama,     1    (arouse)great interest among ordinary people due to its apparent     2     (similar) with modern latte art (咖啡拉花艺术).

Chabaixi, with     3     name Shuidanqing, can create endless patterns such as bamboos and mountains or even calligraphy. It is different from making latte because people use clear water as the object     4    (put) into the cup instead of milk. But when the water     5     (touch) the surface of whipped (搅打起泡沫的) tea, it turns into a white color and disappears in 20 minutes. The process before the drawing is known as the tea-making technique, diancha,     6     quality is crucial to whether patterns can be successfully produced later.

Chabaixi     7     (list) as part of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, after it was recovered by Zhang Zhifeng, who started researching the origins of chabaixi in     8     1980s and brought the technique back in 2009 after decades of trials and practice.

“Chabaixi, as one of the     9     (vary) forms of tea-making techniques in China, gives us a window into people’s lifestyle in the Song Dynasty, a period of time when leisure activities in some ways resemble     10     we have now. It would be a shame to let it fade. This technique must be passed on to the next generations so they can understand its history,” Zhang said.

Straw weaving (草编) is a method of manufacturing daily items or artworks. It       1     (list) as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008. The earliest straw-weaving products were discovered at Hemudu Cultural Ruins (河姆渡文化遗址),       2     Neolithic cultural site located in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. One such intangible cultural inheritor, Wu Cui, can turn the straw left over from harvested wheat     3     beautiful and eye-catching artworks.

Wu explains the process of straw weaving:    4    (select) of materials is the first step of a complicated, time-consuming and labor-intensive process     5     can take weeks, or even months, to complete. You need to sketch (素描) the piece on paper, which requires drawing skills. Next     6       (come) weaving, shaping and preserving of the work. Even by finishing that process, it does not mean that you will always create a good piece of work, and the hardest part is to make     7     lifelike.

There are only about 100 individuals     8     (involve) in the work across the country. “The world has changed, and     9     (craftsman) need to transcend practicality and pursue the beauty and artistry of straw culture to help the craft survive and thrive,” Wu says. When asked about her plans in the future, Wu says she will systematically study the local traditional culture     10     create cultural creative products by developing the straw-weaving technique.

Since the pre-Qin period, Chengdu    1    (be) an important cultural town in China. But    2    really sets the city apart, culturally, is its opera.    3    important aspect of Sichuan Opera is the magic of “face changing” where vividly coloured masks are changed within the blink of an eye. In opera gardens and tea houses across the town, audiences     4    (want) a glimpse of the local culture love to drink tea while listening to Sichuan Opera and watching face changing.

It is believed that “face changing” has its roots in    5    (evolve). Early humans    6    (need) strategies to avoid fierce animals and foreign invaders. Often, aggressive facial gestures and non-verbal cues were part of it. The Sichuan Opera is said    7    (bring) this range of emotions on stage.

Once the performance starts, the actor keeps pulling down one mask    8    another in swift movements to convey different emotions.    9    (astonish), no matter how close one is to the stage, they just can’t tell how the masks change.

In fact, the different kinds of characters and personalities that Sichuan Opera brings alive can    10    (find) among common people. This is why its emotions will continue to resonate with people for a long time.

A leaf fell into the water and changed the taste of it. Henceforth, tea was born.

China is known as the home of tea. Since ancient times, tea     1     (influence) Chinese culture, leaving its pleasant smell in poetry, etiquette and customs. Many tea lovers enjoy tea not just for its flavor, but for     2     beauty of tea ceremonies.

Picking tea     3     (leaf) is an important spring activity in the Yangtze River basin in South China. The earliest batch of tea is often ready     4     (pick) before Qingming, which is observed in early April     5     the temperature begins to rise and rainfall increases. This precious small output of tea, widely     6     (seek) after for its outstanding quality, is called Mingqian tea.

East China’s Zhejiang province is acknowledged     7     a major producer of tea. White Tea in Anji county and West Lake Longjing Tea in Hangzhou are two renowned teas in both China and abroad. In spring, local hillsides are filled with tea workers     8     (sow) seeds on their land. In the peak seasons, many tourists flock to witness the beautiful scenery of tea farms for     9     (they), while enjoying a     10     (fresh) brewed cup of tea.

In 2022, traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The leaf has traveled a long way and continues to bloom, even today.