Seal cutting or Zhuanke in Chinese is a comparatively independent traditional art form. It takes Chinese characters as its form of     1     (express), using carving knives instead of the writing brushes, and stone instead of paper. It is similar     2     inscriptions (碑文) on ancient bronze and stone tablets (石碑)    3     it can be viewed as a pocket edition of tablet inscription.

The seal has many names in history. It was called Xiyin (玺印) during the Warring States period, the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Wei and Jin periods. The Ming and the Qing dynasties were     4     (universe) acknowledged to be the two golden periods in the history of seal cutting. And     5     long period from the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty turned out to be a time     6     the royal seal was on the decline. The use of the seal also varied. Clay impression was used before the Sui and Tang dynasties and inkpad or red ink paste     7     (use) since the Tang and the Song dynasties.     8     (classify) into two categories — official seals and private seals, Xiyin is still widely used nowadays. Official seals refer to     9     of emperors and officials. The making materials in ancient times mainly include gold, silver, copper, jade, stone, bamboo and wood with seals     10     (make) up an overwhelming majority.

A small village in Yunnan Province is     1     (wide) known as the Dai paper factory. There are nets for drying paper all over the village and inside villagers’ houses. Dai paper     2     (make) for over 800 years there up to now.

One of the best papermakers is Yan, who was already interested in Dai paper     3     an early age.     4     (teach) by his grandparents to be a papermaker at 16, Yan was quickly able to complete     5     production independently.

Unlike ordinary papermaking     6     trees need to be cut down, Dai paper is environmentally friendly. This is     7     its raw material is the recyclable bark of a kind of trees unique to the area. Dai paper’ production process is still used today. In a workshop, Yan demonstrated 11 different papermaking     8     (process) to us.

Although Dai paper     9     (carry) the culture and belief of the Dai people, the crafting of it is faced with great challenges. To address the problems, Yan improved Dai’s papermaking technology, thus saving production time and     10     (reduce) labor costs. And then he started teaching the villagers his new papermaking process for free.

I felt butterflies in my stomach when I started calligraphy class ten years ago. I wondered what I was doing there. At that moment, I couldn’t have known that I’d just made one of the best     1     (choice) of my life. I sat down and listened to the teacher     2     (introduce) the tools of the craft. Then it was time for me to try my hand. I took up the brush, using the correct gesture,     3     (dip) it in the ink, and carefully wrote “one”     4     Chinese. After nearly five years of practicing. I started to make versions of well-known poems. Calligraphy seemed like a bridge,     5     connected me to authors from centuries past. Stroke (笔画) by stroke, word by word, I could feel their emotions, cherished my own peace and learned     6     (appreciate) my daily life. Now, calligraphy is not just     7     hobby, but a way to remove     8     (I) from the worries of life. Rolling out the paper, I can write for a whole day. Calligraphy     9     (enable) me to balance my busy schedule and live     10     (peaceful).

June 11 marks the annual National Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in China. As one of the featured celebratory     1     (event), the 2022 Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) Shopping Festival kicked off last Saturday. Relevant departments of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism     2     (organize) multiple major e-commerce platforms to show the essence (精华) of Chinese cultural heritages,     3     brought those cultural products to people’s daily lives.

The theme of this year’s festival is “connect modern life and exhibit historical charm”.     4     (vary) platforms launched live streaming, flash purchase and other activities     5     (support) inheritors (继承人) and handicraftsmen, especially those from remote areas, to sell their products, boost employment       6     promote economic developments in the intangible cultural sector.

An official with the Intangible Cultural Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said that since 2020, China has been promoting the protection of intangible cultural heritage,     7     ( help) inheritors and enterprises get through the challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and trying to win the battle against     8       (poor).

Over the past two years, the festival     9     (receive) active responses from many e-commerce platforms, media and provinces around China. It has now grown to be     10     popular brand activity for the Chinese people.

When it comes to Chinese paper-cutting, many think of the Chinese character fu,    1     (mean) luck, or xi, which means happiness. Ye Kaiyuan,    2     is a paper-cutting artist from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, experimented many years to make the traditional art more modern and fashionable.

Ye     3     (be) once a successful tea dealer. As a child, Ye would draw and cut. He even won second place in a national     4     (compete). In the summer of 2012, he held an exhibition of paper-cuttings made all by    5     (he).

In the traditional approach     6     the craft, cutting comes first, then dyeing. However, Ye tries to dye first and then cut. “This means you won’t know the final color of your work, which is interesting,” he said.

Ye always carries paper to write down his inspirations. The idea for his work     7     (call) “A Picture of Two Fish”came when he saw salted fish at a store. Other inspirations come from his observation of things such as fruit and visits to     8    (variety) places. The creative process is slow. It took Ye at     9     (little) two weeks to draw and make “Farewell My Concubine”. “Cutting paper is like living life, abandoning fear and hesitation     10     being transparent,” Ye said.

As the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar approaches, all kinds of items     1     (relate) to the Chinese zodiac (十二生肖) have been selling rapidly. Since last month, the sales value of goods featuring tiger elements     2    (rise) 9.4 times year-on-year (与去年同期数字相比的), according to e commerce platform JD.

In China, the tiger is known as the “king of all beasts” and it is a symbol of     3     (brave) and power. In ancient times, the tiger     4     (regard) as an auspicious (吉利的) animal,     5     expelled (驱逐) evil spirits and       6     (bring) blessings and peace.

On Dec. 17, the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute and fashion brand Teenie Weenie jointly launched a new series     7     (celebrate) the Year of the.

Tiger. A week     8     the launch, consumers responded     9     (positive) to a preview, with a large number of presale bookings. After the official launch,     10     series saw sales of 10 million yuan ( $1.57 million) in just two weeks.