What is archaeology?

It’s more than just digging and putting things in museum cases.

Archaeology tells the full story of humanity. Archaeology is the study of the human past. What, then, separates it from history? The key is that     1     history primarily uses the written word, archaeologists study the human past through things. Archaeologists use the material     2     (remain) of human societies in order to reconstruct everything.

Archaeologists use every kind of material that has survived into the present day, not just the things that you might expect, such as pottery and stone tools,     3     items such as animal bones and shells and even the microscopic silica deposits (phytoliths 植物化石) that plants produce, which can survive for centuries after plants die. Every tiny piece of evidence gives us     4     insight into how the world used to be, and how people lived, ate,     5     (interact), and constructed their landscape.

Archaeology ranges     6    the splendor of well-known wonders such as Stonehenge, the Terracotta Army and Machu Picchu, to     7     (small) but no less wonderful discoveries.

Archaeology’s relevance is not only in the past, though, it is a fundamental way of understanding the current state of the world.

It takes a huge workforce     8     (understand) the ancient world, people from all backgrounds     9     (work) together in different ways to build up a     10     (comprehend) picture of our shared past. The most known are those who work as field archaeologists.

Jili silk is a type of silk produced in Jili Village, Huzhou City Zhejiang Province. Jili Village has produced silk     1     the village was established in the late Yuan Dynasty. Jili silk is soft and fine with     2     even thickness and shiny white color. With these features, Jili silk is widely recognized in China and across the world.

In the mid-Ming Dynasty this silk became well-known for     3     (be) one of the materials used to make the emperor’s robes. In the Qing Dynasty, the government used to purchase a large amount of Jili silk each year. In 1851, Shanghai merchant Xu Rongcun took Jili silk to the first World Expo held in London,     4     the fabric won two top awards. In 2011, Jili silk     5     (include) in the list of China’s national intangible cultural heritage items.

The silkworm (蚕)     6     (raise) for Jili silk is called the Lianxin, literally meaning lotus seed. In Jili Village, wooden reeling tools were designed     7     (specific) for Jili silk. The silk making technique was traditionally passed down by female members of a family. In addition to being used for clothes, quality Jili silk can also be made into strings for Chinese guqin, or used as materials     8     (restore) ancient silk scrolls (卷轴).

Today, through genetic screening technology, inheritors of Jili silk making can make silk with natural colors. The step of dyeing (染色) thus becomes     9     (necessary) in some cases. The efforts of combining the     10     (wise) of Jili silk making with modern technology are giving a new life to the ancient Chinese handicraft in the modern era.

The China Cultural Center in Paris hosted the “Nihao! China” Lantern Festival Culinary (食物的) Night at the Jardin Acclimatation amusement park in Paris on     1     eve of the Lantern Festival. During the event, the guests watched an ethnic music performance presented by five European-based     2     (musician).

Guests also     3     (visit) the Yuyuan Garden Lantern Show, which has lasted 72 days and covered important holidays such as New Year’s Day, Spring Festival and Lantern Festival. Themed “Classic of Mountains and Seas”,     4     shares the name of the ancient Chinese mythology (神话) of Shan Hai Jing, the show contains 2,000 traditional lanterns,     5     (allow) visitors to appreciate the spectacular art of Chinese lanterns and much     6     (rich) Chinese culture. In the food experience session, guests enjoyed traditional Chinese delicacies such as bingtang hulu and dao xiao mian, further deepening     7     (they) understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture.

The “Nihao! China” Lantern Festival Culinary Night served     8     the closing event of the 2024 “Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations of the China Cultural Center in Paris. The “Nihao! China” Lantern Festival 24-Hour Live Global Broadcast,     9     (host) by China Daily, covers six cities in four countries: China, France, Hungary and Italy, presenting an ever-increasing feast visually and     10     (cultural).

There are many folk stories in China. A more generally     1     (accept) legend goes that humans were created by a goddess named Nüwa,     2     had a human head but the body of a snake. As she traveled     3     earth, Nüwa began to feel lonely. So she took some yellow earth,     4     (mix) it with water and formed a human. This new person immediately began dancing about and shouting in     5     (happy). Nüwa was pleased so she continued to form other people     6     the world was full of humans.

Later, GongGong, the god of water, and Zhu Rong, the god of fire, had a great fight,     7     (create) a mess in the heavens and on the earth. In the end, Gong Gong lost. He was so angry that he hit his head     8     Buzhou Mountain, which was holding up the sky, and the mountain fell. As the sky began to fall, all the planets and the stars started to move to the northwest, leaving a hole in the sky. Worried that her humans would be killed, Nuwa took stones of five different colors, melted them and then used them to cover up the hole in the sky.     9     (keep) the sky from falling, she put a turtle’s leg at each corner to hold it up. In this way, humans     10     (save).

As one of the major schools of opera in China, the Sichuan Opera has a long history. It     1     (date) back to the end of the Ming Dynasty,     2     there were several different forms of popular theatre in the Sichuan area which gradually developed and combined to emerge as the present Sichuan Opera.

Today’s Sichuan opera is a     3     (relative) recent combination of 5 historic theatre styles. It is characterized by solo singing, skillful acting and incredibly funny     4     (comedy). Performers wear brightly colored costumes     5     move to quick and dramatic music. They move their heads up and down or back and forth in an instant,     6     (change) the thin painted masks over their faces. Their movement is so quick and frequent that you will be left amazed at how they could control the masks so skillfully.

    7     (attract) the audience, Sichuan Opera uses vivid, humorous narration, singing, and actions. Its     8     (perform) is always full of wit, humor, lively dialogues, and     9     (pronounce) local flavors.

Most Sichuan Opera repertoires (轮演剧目) are adapted from the Chinese classical novels, mythologies, legends, and folk tales. Statistics show that     10     total number of Sichuan Opera plays is over 2,000.

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.