2 . Chinese ancient poetry was the heart and soul of Chinese ancient literature. Poems and songs have been the means of entertainment of men from the earliest times. Chinese ancient poetry was primarily written to be chanted or sung.

The poetic persona (表面形象) is a feature of classical Chinese poetry. The persona appears when the poem is written from the viewpoint of some other person. Some poems are comments on the contemporary society and life. Chinese ancient poems, although apparently simple in the first reading, have deeper and greater meanings when read intensively.

The earliest Chinese ancient poetry begins with The Book of Songs which is a collection of 305 poems. It was the first comprehensive compilation(辑)of Chinese ancient poems. Each poem in The Book of Songs was set to music and could be sung. Folk songs made up the most part of the book! Confucius, the great ancient philosopher, was fond of this book. It was also the accepted textbook of the Confucian school.

Chinese poetic history is extremely long and colorful. The Tang dynasty, the golden age of Chinese ancient poetry, produced many famous poems. Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, was compiled by Heng Tang Tui Shi(蘅塘退士) of the Qing dynasty. This was used for very many years to teach primary students.

Almost everything is the subject of Chinese ancient poetry including marriage, agriculture, courtship(求爱), sorrow and joys, romance, heroic deeds and so on. Generally, each poem is usually composed of lines of four, five or seven syllables. Translations of Chinese ancient poems are available in books and also online. Now these beautiful poems have attracted readers all over the world.

4 . Statistics show that most toddlers (刚学走路的小孩) learn how to say about 20 words by 18 months. Talking is easy. If you ask anyone, none will remember how they started doing it, it just comes naturally.

But what might not flow as smoothly as words, is body language. It’s a whole different deal when you’re using your hands, eyes or head instead of your tongue. And what makes it even more complicated is the fact that body language differs all around the world.

I find it shockingly amazing how just a small finger gesture could mean one thing in the East and the completely opposite in the West. For instance, in Japan bowing is the most common greeting. It shows respect and Japanese pay a lot of attention to the details like the timing, posture and movement. A bow in Japan represents sincerity, respect and graciousness. While in New Zealand Maori the pressing of noses and foreheads is the traditional greeting. They call it “hongi”, which is regarded as the breath of life.

For most of us, nodding our heads up and down often means agreement, but not for the Bulgarians or Greeks. In both cultures, nodding one’s head up and down actually means “no”. The American goodbye wave could actually be interpreted (领会) as a “no” in many parts of Europe and Latin America. And the Italian goodbye wave would be understood in America as a “come here” and the American “come here” gesture would actually be seen as an insult (侮辱) in most of Asia.

So before you travel to explore a different culture, make sure you’re aware of alternate meanings for body language. We live in a world with many different cultures, so don’t forget how differently one hand gesture can be interpreted!

7 . If it had not been for Fan Jinshi and her team, the world cultural heritage of Dunhuang Mogao Caves in a remote Chinese desert might have long been destroyed by sand, weather or humans.

Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Fan has spent half a century fighting an uphill battle to preserve the ancient Buddhist wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. The 1,653­-year­-old Dunhuang Mogao Caves are a huge collection of Buddhist art—more than 2,000 buddha figures and 45,000 square metres of paintings spread among 735 caves. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeologist Fan was sent to Dunhuang after graduating from Peking University in 1963. While in Dunhuang, a remote village in the desert then, Fan lived in an abandoned temple. At first, she did not even dare to go out to the toilet at night. To protect the treasures from sand and dampness, Fan and other workers put doors on the caves, planted trees and started monitoring temperature and humidity in the caves. They also controlled the number of visitors.

In the late 1990s, with tourism booming nationwide since national holidays were extended, the local government planned to go public with Dunhuang Mogao Caves, but found Fan firmly in_their_way.   “The heritage would have been destroyed if it had been listed，” she said.

Dunhuang Academy has now photographed and cataloged online all the sculptures and paintings. “Despite our efforts to minimise damage, we can’t completely stop them from being eroded. But the digital database will last.”

Fan was grateful when her husband joined her in Dunhuang in 1986 after 19 years of separation. Her two sons grew up seldom with her accompany. “I have not been a good mother or wife. With regard to my family, I’m full of guilt，” she said. Fan, 81, retired four years ago as the director of Dunhuang Academy but continues her efforts as a national political adviser.

Do you know Dunhuang? Dunhuang is home to the Mogao Grottoes,     1     UNESCO World Heritage Site, elements of which are     2     display in an ongoing exhibition at the National Base for International Cultural Trade, Beijing. Painted sculptures and other items of cultural heritage have been reproduced, while the caves     3     are now closed have been reproduced in digital form.

The exhibition area,     4     (cover) some 1,600 square meters, features the results of research on nearly 50 sets of cultural relics from the Dunhuang Academy.     5     the real grotto in Dunhuang is no longer open to the public, the digitally     6     (restore) grotto can be protected forever in the digital space.

The exhibition will last for three years. It is the first time that the Dunhuang Academy     7     (hold) such a long exhibition in Beijing. By the end of 2021, the “digital Dunhuang project” had completed the digital     8     (collect)of 268 grottoes. Such projects have provided a means of protecting China’s cultural heritage for future generations, while making it more     9     (wide)available both at home and abroad. It is hoped that the “digital Dunhuang” will not only allow more audiences     10     (experience)the artistic charm of Dunhuang, but also promote exchanges between cultures along the Belt and Road under new historical conditions.

The traditional Chinese name chop or seal (印章) has been used for thousands of years.     1     is quite likely that people began using name chops because Chinese characters were so complex and in ancient times few people     2     (be) able to read and write. In addition, chops date back to a time     3     there were no other forms of     4     (identify) such as ID cards. A chop also served as a valid signature. All official     5     (document) in China needed a chop to be valid at that time. Today, most Chinese are educated, but the tradition     6     (keep) alive in China.

If you spend a long time in China, you will almost     7     (certain)need to have a chop. If you’re staying for a short time, a chop makes an     8     (amaze) souvenir. A chop can be made quickly, but first you will need to have your name     9     (translate) into Chinese characters.

There are many different sizes and styles of chops. Inexpensive small chops can be carved     10     wood or plastic, while upmarket (高档的) chops are made from jade or marble. Only a special type of red ink is used for a name chop, so if you buy a chop in China, get some Chinese vermilion seal paste too.

10 . The exhibit, Digital Dunhuang — Tales of Heaven and Earth, which was held at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, brought to Hong Kong more than 100 exhibits including the visual murals and other related programs that could allow visitors to learn about the art and history of the Mogao Caves in a fun way.

“Dunhuang was an international city, a place where East met West, on the old Silk Road. So the Mogao Caves, which were completed in a period of over 1,000 years, record the ways of life and beliefs of the different peoples that crossed paths there,” explained Fion Lin of Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

Visitors can now get up close and personal with these faraway treasures without having to step into the caves, thanks to the digitization project of the Dunhuang Academy, a pioneer that has made great progress in the digitization and 3D scanning of the Dunhuang treasures.

“Studies have shown that in a cave, both temperature and CO₂ concentration level can rise with 15 tourists inside for ten minutes. As a result, the wall paintings are going to eventually fade. Digital technology has helped to strike a balance between sharing the treasures and protecting them,” said Lin.

However, digitization of the caves faces many challenges such as poor lighting and rough wall surfaces. On average, 40,000 pictures have to be taken to cover 300 m². Great amount of efforts have been made to piece the pictures together. What the exhibition presented is the result of years of hard work.

During the exhibition period, a mini display on Dunhuang music culture was also being held at the Museum for public participation.