California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday signed legislation that makes Chinese Lunar New Year a state holiday. The move recognizes the diversity of cultures which Asian Americans have brought to California, the third     1     (large) state in the US.

The legislation lets any state employee take eight hours of vacation, annual leave or compensatory leave     2     (celebrate) Chinese New Year.

In a     3     (sign) letter, Newsom emphasized the diversity and cultural significance that Asian Americans represented in California and     4     (encourage) all Californians to participate in the festival.

Lunar New Year is celebrated by thousands of Asian and Pacific Islander Californians at community events that illustrate     5     state’s rich cultural history and commitment to racial, religious, and cultural diversity. Many jurisdictions (辖区) in California have already made Lunar New Year an     6     (office) school holiday.

Also on Friday, a ceremony     7     (hold) in San Francisco’s city hall to raise China’s national flag in celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the     8     (found) of the People’s Republic of China.

Zhang Jianmin, China’s consul general in San Francisco, raised the flag with Meron Foster, a senior officer at the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Protocol. Zhang expressed his gratitude     9     San Francisco’s “very genuine gesture of friendship” toward China,     10     he spoke to an audience of us elected representatives, business figures and community members.

Do you have any idea of New Year paintings? Known     1     “paper paintings” and “painted pictures”, New Year paintings are a special art form in Chinese folk culture. Without New Year paintings,     2    (we) traditional Chinese folk culture would be much less colorful. The paintings get such a name because they are mostly posted during the Chinese New Year holiday for     3    (decorate) and they are also accepted as     4     symbol of New Year’s greetings.

New Year paintings appeared around the Tang Dynasty,     5    (replace) the previous door pictures which were believed     6    (protect) the residents and drive away evils. In the Song Dynasty New Year paintings     7    (create) on a large scale. With the advancement of printing technology, the contents    8    the forms of New Year paintings became various. The development of the paintings matured in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, during     9    the art hit its heyday (全盛期).

Traditional printing     10    (method) of New Year paintings include woodblock printing, stone-block printing, offset (胶印的) printing, etc. According to a recent survey, woodblock-printed New Year paintings are the most popular and interesting ones.

The Chinatown in San Francisco is the     1     (big) in America. It is a very popular tourist draw     2     receives many visitors each year.     3     (historical), Chinese immigrants settled in the area during the railroad construction and gold rush period. Now the     4     (major) of residents in Chinatown are still ethnic Chinese.

Most of Chinatown     5     (destroy) in the 1906 earthquake, but the city and residents rebuilt it,     6     (take) care to include lots of Chinese architecture. There are many famous sites in Chinatown including the Tin How Temple, Bank of Canton and Portsmouth Square,     7     (name) but a few. People can find     8     unique range of souvenirs, goods, and clothing in the stores in the Chinatown. But perhaps     9     people treasure most is its food that     10     (suit) everyone’s taste.

There are many Festivals in Chinese cultures. How much do you know about it?

The Mid-Autumn Festival is in September or October,     1     is celebrated traditionally by the Chinese people all over the world. On this special occasion for Chinese families, people like to meet in the evening and    2    (admire) the full moon, and eat moon cakes of all     3    (kind), even till midnight.

The Lantern Festival    4    (fall) on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month,     5    (mark) the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. During the festival, people light lanterns    6     (decorate) with pictures to celebrate the power of light over     7     (dark), and eat the special food — sweet dumplings served in hot water.

The Dragon Boat Festival comes    8    the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar year. As it is in early summer, it marks the     9    (begin) of the hottest season of the year. People take part in     10    (vary) dragon boat races and enjoy the fun. The special food for the festival is called zongzi, which is sticky rice in fresh bamboo leaves.

With his wrinkled fingers, Wang Qiming put traditional makeup on the faces of young performers before dawn, making final preparations for the shehuo parade (游行庆祝).

The shehuo parade, a time-honored performance enjoying widespread    1    (popular) in rural areas across China,    2    (date) back to about 2, 000 years ago when sacrificial (祭祀的) activities were performed to pray for a good harvest. Later on, as dancing and singing became part of the parade, it developed into a folk custom    3    (stage) during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival    4    (remove) bad luck and bring a fresh start in the new year.

Wangmazui is in Longxian county,    5    (previous) known as Long Zhou, which is famous for shehuo parades    6    (feature) authentic performances and simple yet delicate facial makeup. The county was named the hometown of shehuo performances by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association in 2013.

More than 100 shehuo festivities are held in Longxian every year, each of    7     involves dozens or hundreds of villagers. Participants usually perform on horses     8    pickup trucks, showing different performances including stilt (高跷) dances and land boats.

Wang, 65, has clear    9    (memory) of the annual performances when he was a child. “My family has been engaged in shehuo performances     10    generations, ” he said. “I started to watch the show in my childhood, and now I joined them by making face-painting. ”

The Spring Festival is     1     most important festival in China. It is meant     2     (celebrate) the beginning of a new year on the Chinese calendar.

During the Spring Festival, families gather together and enjoy the family reunion.     3     many people like best is setting off     4     (firework), which is a popular activity during the festival. Children are fond     5     the festival very much, when they can wear new clothes and have delicious food like dumplings, which are     6     (tradition) Chinese food. They can also get some money     7     was put in red envelopes from their parents for good luck.     8     (typical), people put up new couplets (对联) on the door for good fortune. The Spring Festival lasts about 15 days, during which people visit relatives and friends sending their Spring Festival greetings.

With more and more people     9     (enjoy) the Spring Festival around the world, it has become more popular. People hold the     10     (believe) that the Spring Festival has a rich cultural meaning and will be valued forever.