CHANGSHA—Giant animal puppets (木偶) held up by actors and aerial dancers swinging via red ribbons, all formed part of a puppet show on top of a shopping mall     1     impressed the audience with its French flavor in the     2     (center) Chinese city of Changsha on Wednesday.

The puppet show De La Fontaine is     3     tour in China from May 4 to 12, and will be staged in Harbin in Northeast China this weekend, after     4     (early) hitting the streets of China’s Wuhan and Changsha.

Staged by international theater company Archibald Caramantran, the shows are part of this year’s Croisements Festival     5     (mark) 60 years of diplomatic ties between China and France, according to Thomas Penot, ambassador at the French Consulate General in Wuhan.

The shows, staged in open-air public places,     6     (base) on French writer Jean de La Fontaine’s fables Red Balloon and Rooster and Stork Romance.

“We really enjoy performing for a Chinese audience,     7     audiences here are very playful when interacting with the actors,” said Olivier Hagenloch, the company’s artistic director, adding that     8     visit has helped the company understand China better.

The Croisements Festival     9     (provide) a platform for cultural exchange between China and France for 18 consecutive years. This year, the festival will take place in over 30 Chinese cities     10     feature more than 400 events.

4 . π (Pi) Day falls on March 14. This is the day when mathematicians and geometry (几何学) lovers around the world get together and celebrate the mathematical constant (常数) of Pi.

    1     Firstly, the date which can be represented numerically in the format 3.14 represents the first 3 digits of π. Besides, one of our greatest physicists Albert Einstein was born on March 14,1897. In 2018, the famous physicist Stephen Hawking passed away on Pi Day.

The earliest known celebration of Pi Day was organized by the physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988, featuring eating different kinds of fruit pies.     2     The museum staff marched around a circular room, sang songs, and ate pie. News stories about the celebration spread the idea to schools, museums, and communities. In 2009, US House of Representatives officially named this special day — “Pi Day”.

Many people celebrate Pi Day with family and friends.     3     People make pizzas (round ones, of course) and bake cream pies. Some people even use a special pie pan shaped like the Greek letter π. They are also willing to drink pi-neapple juice.     4    

Over thousands of years, people tried to unfold the puzzle behind this magic number. Before the appearance of modern computing technologies, mathematicians all over the world have made their efforts on calculating the approximation of Pi.     5     While Indian mathematician

Aryabhata approximated Pi to √￣9.8624 using the circumference of a polygon (多边形) with 384 sides. On 2019’s Pi Day, Google announced that the calculation of Pi has already reached 31.4 trillion decimal (小数的) places.

La Fête du pain, the annual bread festival held in France is a big feast in the baking world. This year, an unexpected Chinese     1     (present), the Chinese steamed buns, known as mantou in Chinese, made     2     appearance at the festival in front of the Notre Dame, Paris, from May 7 to May 16.

A Chinese netizen     3     attended the bread festival posted a video on TikTok. In the video, a line of mantou was on display with bread from different countries. Among all kinds of bread, Chinese Mantou stands     4     for its unique shape and flavor. The label     5     (attach) to this food gave a brief introduction: “Made with wheat flour, yeast, and then steamed. The mantao (mantou) has a smooth surface and a dense crumb. In the southern regions of the country, sugar and fat are added. A staple food, it comes in various shapes, with the most common     6     (one) being round, leaf, flower.”

The video quickly became     7     (influence) on Chinese social media platforms,     8     (bring) attention to this most beloved staple food in Chinese diet.

Mantou can be enjoyed in diverse ways. When     9     (fresh) steamed, it is a delight on its own, alternatively, it can be roasted, skewered, and grilled to golden brown, and its flavor can     10     (enhance) with aromatic spices like cumin and chili powder.

The more water people splash on you, the     1     (lucky) your life will be. That’s the positive message from the water sprinkling festival in Xishuangbanna, in Southwest China’s Yunnan province. The festival is one of the most important festivals for the Dai people —an ethnic group mostly     2     (live) in Xishuangbanna Dai, who recognize the festival     3     the new year and organize activities like splashing water and dragon boat races.

“Water” is     4     unique way of sending blessings to the Dai people on New Year’s Day. The more you     5     (soak), the more blessings you get. This is       6     people express their feelings and wishes for the future. A visitor from the United States said two elderly women     7     (dress) in Dai ethnic clothes splashed water on him and he splashed back. Laughter and water twisted to make them feel like they were best friends, as if they     8    (meet) before.

Xishuangbanna is home to 12 ethnic     9     (minority) and boasts a border extending over 966. 3 kilometers. Neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos also celebrate the festival, taking place in the mid-sixth month of the Dai calendar,     10     (rough) ten days before or after China’s Qingming Festival.

Many people hold some memory of a kite from their childhoods, but nobody knows exactly when a kite was first flown. One legend goes that the first kite     1     (invent) by Mozi, who spent three years making a wooden hawk (鹰). Later, Lu Ban made improvements by replacing wood     2     bamboo. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun improved paper-making     3     (technique), leading to the invention of “paper hawks”,     4     looked like kites as we know them today. In the Song Dynasty, kite flying became     5     fashion. On the Tomb Sweeping Day and the Dragon Boat Festival, people would fly kites     6     (shake) off ill luck, so that family members could live long and healthy lives.

Although     7     (original) used for military purposes like signaling, kites     8     (be) close to people’s daily lives throughout history. As a combination of physical activity     9     folk tradition, this heritage has been passed down,     10     (reflect) the lasting charm of Chinese civilization.

The ongoing Huazhao Festival, or Flower Festival, at Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai is offering visitors unique experience of traditional Chinese culture.

Celebrated for over 2,000 years, the festival     1     (hold) in the second month of the lunar calendar in memory of the birthday of the flower goddess. According to ancient     2     (belief), the flower goddess controls human reproduction, and it has become     3     custom to celebrate her birthday to invite prosperity.

Despite     4     (region) differences in celebrating, the Huazhao Festival usually shares a number of features: hanfu, traditional Chinese clothes, flower appreciation and traditional culture.

Running through April 27, the festival at Yuyuan Garden features colorful decorations    5     (base) on flowers and flower fairies. A series of activities is also taking place     6     (help) visitors enjoy in a traditional Chinese culture atmosphere,     7     (include) light shows, performances, markets, parades and interactive events.

According to the festival’s organizers, interest     8     traditional culture has been growing among young people in recent years. Products and activities featuring traditional elements combined with modern designs     9     are called the “new Chinese style”, are becoming     10     (increase) popular. Through special events like the Huazhao celebrations, the organizers aim to promote traditional culture and boost spending at the same time.