I have been living in Xiamen for more than six years, but every time I visit Kulangsu, it feels special. When I first visited the island, it felt like     1     (step) back in time, right into a time when people were closer to one another.     2     (casual) walking through the isle streets, bumping into an old friend, sharing a few     3     (word) with another visitor who crosses your path... Seemingly trivial (微不足道的) things but such precious experiences in our hurried modern paces of life.

Thanks to     4     (it) special mix of cultural and historical elements, Kulangsu makes you feel enriched, and makes you want     5     (know) more about its history. Moreover, thanks to the fact     6     it is a pedestrian-only island, visitors can enjoy long walks travelling the historical settlement.

Thanks to the     7     (unique), the island receives some 10 million tourists every year. Subsequently (随后), its preservation becomes     8     big challenge to the local government. In order to better manage visitor traffic on and off the island, there is an international ferry terminal that specifically     9     (cater) to sightseers. People living on the island and holders of a Xiamen Social Insurance Card can use the smaller, faster ferry located next     10     yet another top tourist spot in Xiamen, Zhongshan Pedestrian Road.

Kulangsu... Every time you go there, you’ll find a new spot. And a new story.

A giant panda-themed museum offering visitors a     1     (true) interactive experience opened to the public in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province on March 3rd, 2021.

    2     (surround) by huge touch screens and well-designed setting, the Chengdu Giant Panda Museum provides an immersive experience. Meanwhile, it     3     (present) various interesting facts about the precious species of giant pandas. Those include their history, habits, and the measures China has taken to protect     4     (they).

The museum covers     5     area of 7,179 square meters with seven exhibit sections.

It is several years since the museum     6     (build). Visitors can access various information about giant pandas by     7     (press) on the screen and being guided by an animated panda. Scenarios (情境) reproducing pre-historic environments explain the reasons     8     giant pandas first emerged in the place.

The museum aims to increase the general public’s understanding of giant pandas     9     other wild animals. Moreover, it raises public     10     (aware) of the ecological environmentanimal protection.

I have been in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, for two years since I     1    (admit) to a PhD program in Shanxi University as an international student.

Over the two years, I found     2    (I) falling in love with Shanxi and China as I got more familiar     3     the city, the province and the country. You have to adapt to everything—food, language and culture. But for me, the     4    (adapt) didn’t take a long period of time. I have got used to eating noodles for breakfast and using online payment via my smartphone very     5    (quick).

My favorite sport is cycling and I find China is very cyclist-friendly because it is convenient     6    (hire) bicycles in every city in the country. I like to cycle on     7     streets in Taiyuan and visit places I meet randomly. The cycling tours helped to deepen my understanding of the city.

Taiyuan     8    (have) a history of more than 2,500 years, among the     9    (old) cities in China. An abundance of well-preserved ancient structures, like the temples in Jinci, are the material evidence to help you get a quick look at     10     ancient China looked like.

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1     (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       3     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     4     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     5     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     6     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     7     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     8     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     9     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     10     (day) routines.