1 . In America, we have a thing called stand-up comedy. This popular form of entertainment consists of a comedian standing up at the front of a club, holding a microphone, and telling jokes. Of course, comedy is popular in Chinese culture as well, but the performances are quite different from the style in the US. In China, it’s called cross-talk, which usually involves two guys engaging in an entertaining dialogue.

It’s believed that cross-talk came into being in the Qing Dynasty as a bit of a by-product of the imitation shows that were a popular form of entertainment in the Song Dynasty. After the PRC was established in 1949, this comedic art became more and more popular. Today, it’s still heavily featured in the CCTV New Year’s Gala programmes in China. The 1990s was the golden age of cross-talk; even foreigners studied the art of cross-talk. Mark Roswell, a Canadian named Da Shan in Chinese was relatively unknown in his native land but was a superstar in China. At the turn of the century, cross-talk began to decline, and many well-known actors left the stage.

There are four skills that are essential in cross-talk: speaking, imitating, teasing, and singing. Most of the time, it is performed with two actors—one serves as the lead actor while the other plays a support role. However, sometimes it is performed simply as a one-man show, and at other times there are several actors. In order to criticize something, the humor involved in cross-talk is satirical.

3 . Christmas cards are a big tradition in the English-speaking world. In 2017, people in Britain sent and received about 900 million cards. That’s an average of about twelve cards for every person, from tiny babies to the oldest grandparents. The number of cards that are sent around Britain causes an annual headache for the postal service. Each year, the postal service has to take on seasonal staff to help with the extra mail, and postal sorting offices are stretched to their maximum capacity and sometimes beyond it.

In 1994, before the age of email and social media, the service handled about 1.6 billion cards! In spite of advertisements telling people to “Post Early for Christmas”, few people got round to sending their cards off before December 10th; and from that point on, the postal service slowed down. Until the age of faxes, emails and social media, the pre-Christmas period often caused a lot of problems for firms, as “urgent” letters and documents took several days to reach their destinations by post, which were slowed down by the mass of Christmas mail!

During the month of December in Britain, a house with no Christmas cards is like a pub with no beer. For the most part, however, people of all faiths and of no faith join in the tradition of celebrating Christmas as a festival, whether they do so for religious reasons or not. Every British home at Christmas is merrily decorated not just with hollies, but also with a display of Christmas cards received from friends, family members, neighbors, employers and a variety of other people. In some places, the number of Christmas cards people receive is seen as a measure of their status among their friends and neighbors.

As for the subjects of Christmas cards, the range, today, is enormous. At one time, two principal themes predominated (占多数): the Christmas story, with pictures of the biblical scenes; and “traditional Christmas”, with imaginary scenes of Christmas which included burning wood fires and happy-looking parents and kids sitting together. Today, while “traditional Christmas” is favored by most people, there is no limit to the variety of pictures on cards.

While more and more people send e-cards to their friends and family members, you can’t hang an e-card on the wall, and you can’t decorate a room with rows of e-cards. Sending and receiving Christmas cards is still best done by “snail mail” which includes a real card and a real envelope. It’s much more fun.

5 . Beijing Opera is a kind of Chinese opera.    1    . With its fascinating and artistic accompanying music, singing and costumes, Beijing Opera is China’s national opera.Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents the audience with an encyclopedia (百科全书) of Chinese culture, as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, nice costumes, graceful gestures and martial arts.    2    , and it is popular among Chinese people, especially seniors.

The Peking Opera band mainly consists of an orchestra and percussion (打击乐) band.    3    while the latter provides the right atmosphere for battle scenes.The commonly used percussion instruments include castanets (响板), drums and bells.

    4    . Its main melodies originated from Xipi and Erhuang in Anhui and Hubei respectively and, over time, absorbed music and arias from other operas and musical arts such as the historic Qinqiang as well as being very strongly influenced by Kunqu, the form that preceded it as court art.Techniques from many other local operas were incorporated into Beijing Opera.

It is believed that Beijing Opera gradually came into being after 1790.    5    . Beijing Opera underwent fast development during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Dowager Cixi under the imperial patron, eventually becoming more accessible to the common people.

In 1828, some famous Hubei troupes came to Beijing. They often jointly performed in the stage with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Beijing opera’s main melodies.

6 . While telling others your zodiac sign (星座), you are being evaluated (评估). Evaluations are being made about your luck, your personality, future development and how you will do in a given year. So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? It’s a 12-year cycle labeled (标记) with animals, starting with a Rat and ending with a Pig. For example, if you were born in 2004, you are a Monkey.

The Chinese believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon. Unlike in Western tradition, the Chinese Dragon stands for power, strength and wealth. It’s everyone’s dream to have a Dragon baby. Ma Yun’s parents must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, the birthrate in China increased by about 5%. That means another one million more babies. With a traditional preference for baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys grow up, they will face much more serious competition in love and job markets.

According to the BBC and Chinese government reports, January 2015 saw a peak of cesarean sections (剖腹产术高峰). Why? That was the last month for the Year of the Horse. It’s not because they like horses so much, it’s because they try to avoid having unlucky Goat babies.

Tiger is another unwelcome animal, because of its dangerous and unstable (不稳定的) personality. Many Chinese places saw a considerable decline of birthrate during those years.

Perhaps one should consider zodiac in a different way, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see the most unwelcome two animals, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the list, even higher than the Dragon. So maybe we should consider that it’s much better to have less competition.

8 . Why do more and more people show interest in cultural heritage (遗产) these days?     1     Maybe it’s because technology has made it easier to learn about our ancestors. Here’s a list of several ways to connect you with your cultural heritage.

If you aren’t sure where your ancestors are from, a DNA test can be a good way. Companies like Family Tree DNA will sell you a testing box that teaches you what to do.     2     There have been concerns about the safety—your DNA information sold to companies without asking you. If a DNA test isn’t your cup of tea, you can try several other ways.

One of the most enjoyable ways to learn about your family tree is sitting down with an older relative to chat about it. Talk in person with a grandparent, great-grandparent, or any other family member who’s been around long enough to tell you about the past.     3    

    4     So one way to bridge the gap between your family’s past and present is to cook a traditional meal. If your ancestors are from Italy, you can learn how to host an Italian dinner party. Invite some relatives to share your common heritage over a meal.

Learning a language is a unique way to connect with your ancestors and culture.     5     Once you’ve known the language of your ancestors, you may want to get in touch with your heritage by picking up the basics of that language.

10 . In traditional Chinese culture, fish has rich meanings. It ______ wealth. Fish also stands for harmony and happy marriages ______ they multiply rapidly and some times swim in pairs. Fish is an important ______ in traditional values and are among the signs showing that something is ______ to be successful. The most popular fish theme found in Chinese art and ______ is that of the carp (鲤鱼). The ______ of “boneless” techniques makes the swimming fish more real and convincing. Known to most Westerners as koi fish (锦鲤), the Chinese carp has ______ symbolic values within Chinese culture. The carp is a powerful symbol of ______. The scales and whisker (须) of the carp is ______ to that of a dragon, a great symbol of power in China. During the Spring Festival “lucky money” is ______ in red envelopes decorated with a carp and symbols of long life ______ peaches and pine trees. There are many different ______ of the carp, with the major ones being black, white, red and yellow.

“You are not ______, so how would you know the happiness of fish? ” Chuang Tsu created this famous saying when he ______ an issue with Hui Tsu. The message of the story is that someone has his own enjoyment while others can ______ appreciate that.