Escape from the British Museum

A video series named Escape from the British Museum     1    (release) on Wednesday with its trailer (预告片)     2    (spark) a lot of discussion in China’s social media.

    3    (direct) by two Chinese vloggers, the three episode series tells the story of     4     a Chinese cultural relic escapes from the British Museum and finds     5    (it) way back to China.

In the video series, a female vlogger plays the role of an ancient Chinese jade teapot     6     her male partner is a journalist who helps the artifact return to China. They went to the UK in June and spent three months     7    (shoot) the video. They said the story is based on historic facts and aims to draw attention to the Chinese cultural relics held abroad.

Currently, the museum has a total of 23,000 Chinese relics, while about 2,000 Chinese relics are     8     long-term display. The Chinese objects,     9    (stretch) from the Neolithic age to the present, include paintings, prints, jade and ceramics.

“Eventually, there will be a day     10     the items come home in a dignified way,” a user commented on Weibo. The series release has come as the British Museum faces intense pressure over the thefts.

Have you ever had this kind of childhood memory: a family sits together casually during a holiday, drinking and tasting tea after lunch or dinner? This has been a     1     (day) activity for Chinese people throughout the history.

After being spread to different parts of the world, tea has received top-level global recognition     2     a shared cultural treasure of mankind. “The     3     (practice) of greeting guests with tea are shared among multiple ethnic groups. They provide     4     sense of identity and continuity for communities, groups and individuals     5     (concern),” states a document from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to UNESCO.

This explanation can be fully manifested by weilu zhucha, which     6     (mean) boiling tea at a stove, a social tea activity going viral among the young generation of Chinese people. By the end of November, 2022, videos recording or introducing this activity     7     (play) 1.14 billion times, and related posts had attracted 11.58 million views on social media platforms, reported CCTV.

Weilu zhucha might be a replacement in the cold seasons for the camping craze.     8     (sit) around with friends and families with a stove, some tea, fruit and refreshments on the table, people may chat, view the surrounding scenery,     9     be immersed in traditional Chinese culture by boiling tea together in person. “    10     appeals to me most is its warm atmosphere when boiling tea.” an Internet user commented on Sina Weibo.

4 . The Rise of “China-chic”

Over past years, guochao, or “China-chic” has been gaining popularity among Chinese consumers. Guochao conveys the cultural heritage and values of China.     1    . “China-chic” is rising, but what is it?

The idea of guochao was first borrowed from some international brands, and began to win over Chinese consumers in 2015.     2    . In 2018, Chinese sportswear band Li-Ning presented its Wu Dao (the principles of Taoism) collection at the New York Fashion Week. It featured bright red color and Chinese characters. More brands have since followed, heralding (预示) the early period of guochao.

    3    . This was a period when applications of big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and 5G technology hit the market one after another. Domestic tech companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and DJI made headlines.

In its third stage, guochao became more common in everyday life. Over the past decade, guochao has expanded from consumer goods to experiential products. As consumers are showing greater interest in cultural identity and creativity, productions like the TV program National Treasure, and the dance show Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace integrate cultural and historical elements with the latest audio-visual technologies.     4    .

Nowadays, guochao is moving to the next stage. No matter how the trend evolves, Chinese people’s positive attitude toward the country’s development and their recognition of and growing confidence in national culture won’t change.     5    . Seen from a broader perspective, guochao mirrors the rise of China, a country eager to make its presence felt globally. Guochao is a style, but more importantly, it transmits culture and values.

According to a recent survey conducted by wenjuan.com,an online survey platform,some 96 percent of surveyed youth said they were willing to purchase guochao products,    1     refers to products by homegrown brands.    2     the same time，91.6 percent of respondents    3    （voice）their expectations for more video programs digging deeper into traditional Chinese culture.The age group of the interviewees ranged from the post-80s to the post-2000s generations，with the latter     4    （account）for 22.1 percent.

“Nowadays we are     5    （deep）connected with most countries in the world,which results in a comprehensive understanding of the outside world,yet we still have confidence in our own culture．This sense of pride     6    （base）on rational thinking，” said professor Su Junbin of Xiamen University.

Unlike older generations who might favor Western culture and brands，Chinese youth were born and raised when the     7    （country）economy was taking off, so they tend to have strong confidence in their national identity and culture.They have gained     8     full understanding of the outside world，and after several rounds of comparison,have finally found     9    （they）to be in a strong position．So the timing is perfect，Su said，    10    （push）forward cultural products imprinted with traditional Chinese cultural features.

Decorative stove artwork attracts a growing number of     1     (admire), who enjoy the memories it evokes, Yang Feiyue reports. The distinctive art form in Jiaxing     2     (list) as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

An old wooden stove,     3     (bear) rich vivid images, took center stage at a village Spring Festival gala in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, in early February. The images feature historical and legendary figures, fairy tales, animals and flowers, all of     4     are depicted in bright colors and have a way of claiming attention from viewers.

It was once common for farmhouses, especially those along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River,     5     (have) a zaotou that was painted with floral figures. Locals burned firewood and straw in it to cook     6     gas burners or microwave ovens were available. “Historical evidence shows the art has     7     history of at least 300 years,” says Zhao from Haiyan’s Tongyuan town.

Most of those engaged     8     zaotou painting were bricklayers in rural areas where they were often hired by villagers to build a mud stove in     9     (they) new home. Tools used to produce such art included a selection of brushes, rulers, and paint. As people’s aesthetic appreciation grew, watercolors were applied, mostly red, yellow and blue. “But no matter what material is used, the stove painting is always     10     (symbol) and harbors good wishes for the owners,” Zhao says.

7 . In China, tea has become an important part of everyday life for thousands of years. As the tea-processing methods and tea culture have evolved over the years, tea sets have also changed to meet the practical and cultural needs.

During the Tang Dynasty(618~907AD), tea leaves were traded across the country and Asia. For the convenience of transportation and storage, tea leaves were pressed into bricks. To prepare tea, drinkers had to cut them into small pieces and boil them in heat-resistant teapots.

By the Song Dynasty(960-1279), drinkers started to turn the hard bricks into powders (粉末) that could be whipped (搅打) in a cup with boiled water. This whipped tea is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremonies today.

By the 1500s, tea bricks gave way to the form of rolled leaves. This innovation led to the invention and use of teapots as we know them today. These teapots originally came from the Yi Xing region of China and were soon copied throughout the world. Then Japanese teapot-makers moved the handle from the side to the top of the teapots.

Tea finally reached Europe in the 1600s, along with the necessary tea sets made in Japan and China. As English teapot-makers began to adapt the tea sets to their country men’s tastes, they eventually added a handle to the tea bowl because of the English habit of drinking hot black tea, which was consumed at higher temperatures. The size of teacups also grew to accommodate milk and sugar in their tea.

By the early 1900s, innovations in tea drinking became an American affair. The most revolutionary one was the tea bag, which was accidentally commercialized by Thomas Sullivan. He had been sending customers tea wrapped in silk bags. Rather than take the leaves out of the bags, as Sullivan intended, the customers put the bags into their teapots instead. Not only did the tea bags push the teapot back to the sidelines of tea service, they were also too large for teacups and led to the modern practice of drinking tea from mugs.

The Han Dynasty was one of the heydays in ancient China. Han has a history     1    (date) back thousands of years and the traditional clothing of the Han people is called Hanfu,     2     charm has also flourished for centuries.

Hanfu is     3     important carrier of Chinese civilization, with etiquette (礼仪) as its core. Hanfu not only embodies the Chinese aesthetic taste,     4     reflects a unique meaning in etiquette, religion and culture. As long as people put on Hanfu, they should behave in accordance with     5     the “etiquette” system requires.

Hanfu is composed of yi, chang, headgear, hairstyle, shoes, etc. There are two types of “yi”.     6     is the kind with the separation of the upper and the lower garments, while the other is the one-piece kind that unites the upper and the lower garments together. The decoration on the garments represents the faith and customs in the Han culture. The Yin-Yang and all the subjects on earth     7    (picture) on Hanfu profoundly reflect the Chinese ancients’ understanding of the universe and nature.

In recent years,     8     people’s enthusiasm for traditional culture growing, wearing Hanfu in a trip or in a party     9    (become) a new trend among young people. The revival of Hanfu is a new exploration of the beauty of Chinese clothing by contemporary people, and also represents the new     10    (recognize) of the value of traditional culture by the younger generation.