Karakul Lake, which literally means “Black Lake” in the local language, is anything but black. I’ve     1     (personal) witnessed the water changing colors from light purple     2     a glowing blue and it really is spectacular. The lake’s location along the Karakoram Highway near Kashgar makes     3     a wonderfully secluded place     4     very few tourists tend to travel. At the foot of the Muztag Mountain     5     (lie) a small village whose buildings are still made of mud and brick, a great place to buy a hand-made wool carpe t from     6     (local). As always, be prepared to spend the night in a     7     (comfort) yurt (蒙古包). The area     8     (surround) the small Karakul lake isn’t quite as green as the other three lakes, but there is still plenty to do. While every lake offers some sort of horse or camel riding experience, Karakul is one of the few spots where you can completely circumnavigate (环航) the lake in     9     (little) than a few hours on horseback.

It’s also possible     10     (hire) a guide to help you climb the neighboring mountain, but their safety record is 3 deaths in 2008 out of only 300 climbers according to one local.

If you’re visiting Hangzhou, the one place you absolutely cannot miss is the West Lake. It     1    (locate) southwest of the city. It’s twice the size of New York City’s Central Park. West Lake’s natural beauty and     2    (history) relics have inspired Chinese poets and artists throughout time.

You would need a whole day to     3    (full) appreciate its beauty. The lake has 10 scenic sites, each with     4     story of its own.

You can start with the Leifeng Pagoda. Local legend has it that a white snake spirit was once imprisoned in the five-story, eight-sided pagoda by a monk,     5     tried to separate the immortal spirit from a mortal lover.

Afterwards, you can walk northward along the Su Causeway,     6    (construct) with the help of the great poet Su Shi about 1,000 years ago.

At the other end of the causeway, you will encounter a lotus pool and a winding courtyard. A culture show will be staged here     7     the tourists.     8    (make) sure to indulge yourself with a lakeside sunset before you leave. It’s here that the still waters of the lake meet up with the     9    (color) of the skies,     10    (create) an image you won’t soon forget.

Walking in the park of Helanshan Rock Art Relics in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region is like     1     (take) a wander through history. One can’t help but be amazed at the number of artworks and carvings on the rocks at the entrance     2     the Helan Mountains.

Altogether, about 6,000 carvings     3     (find) in the park area since the 1970s. And in the Helan Mountains region, more than 25,000     4     (piece) have been discovered. This enables visitors to get     5     brief look into prehistoric art, perhaps in a trip of just one or two hours. In other places, visitors often have to walk long distances to find such remains.

The highlight of the rock art in the Helan Mountains is     6     (certain) the human faces carved on rocks, a feature     7     is rare in other places. The patterns of the faces are interesting and sometimes hard     8     (explain), such as a face with one eye open and one eye shut. Another face has sheep in the eyes. These creative patterns reveal a rich spiritual world of humans     9     (live) in the past. Through this kind of art form, we can find out the substance of human nature: knowledge, culture, art, imagination     10     religion (宗教).

The Xi’an City Wall,    1    is a symbol of the history and culture of Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, has become an important city brand after continuous improvements.

The Xi’an City Wall    2    (build) in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) on the foundation of the imperial city walls of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties. It is the    3    (old), most well preserved, and largest ancient city wall in the world.

The city wall is more than 600 years old and suffers from cracks and flaky (薄片的) soil on a daily basis. In addition to    4    (extreme) large amounts of manual work, technology also provides    5    protective barrier for the city wall. “We have installed 8,700 metal detectors on the city wall    6    ( monitor) various dynamic data such as the pH level    7    the soil, moat (护城河) water level and daily soil moisture (水分) changes,” said Wu, who is a worker of the Xi’an City Wall Management Committee.

In addition to the Hanguang Gate Relic Site Museum, the watchtowers on the city wall have also been transformed into public cułtural and art    8    (site) such as the Jinhuidui Art Museum, Armor Museum, and City Brick Museum. So far, the city wall    9    (launch) a series of cultural and creative products, mystery boxes, and digital collections,    10    (attract) many visitors.

Shortly after dawn, the 680-year-old Lion Grove Garden wakes up to the sound of birds and its moist air is suffused with ascent. With a view of pavilions, early     1     (visitor) to this garden in downtown Suzhou, can feel     2     sense of Zenlike inner peace.

When monks during the Yuan Dynasty first constructed this garden, they may have wanted to enjoy a quiet retreat. But this charming garden has attracted celebrity guests,     3     have left poems, paintings and     4     (history) anecdotes in the following centuries.

“In recent years, we’ve tried     5     (restore) the landscapes of classical gardens, but a delicate garden cannot be an empty shell,” says Bai Lingzhi, deputy director of Suzhou Administrative Bureau of Garden and Landscaping. “We need creative ideas to lead people to the lifestyle     6     (advocate) by the gardens in the era,” she explains.

Last year, a new project was launched,     7     (allow) tourists in small groups to reserve places to enter the garden in the early morning before the regular opening time. Their visit ends up     8     making a traditional folding fan.

In 1997 and 2000, nine of the best-known classical gardens of Suzhou     9    (register) onto the World Heritage List. As UNESCO remarks: “Classical Chinese garden design, which seeks to re-create natural landscapes in miniature, is nowhere     10     (well) illustrated than in the nine gardens.”

Located at a 30-minute drive from Wuzhen, Maming village is the polar opposite of the famed     1     (tour) destinations. There are hardly any crowds here. The old houses are not as well maintained. Time seems to stand still in the village, making it a perfect day-trip destination for travelers who want     2     authentic experience of rural life.

    3     most people are sill asleep at 3 a.m., Tu Yuanqing and his father are already up on their feet, arranging cups, boiling water and preparing tea     4     (leaf) for their teahouse. Around 4 a.m., the space is a hive of activity as elderly residents, most of them     5     (age) sixty and above, sip cups of tea while     6     (chat) cheerfully with one another. Some villagers can also     7     (find) playing mahjong in a small room lit by a solitary light bulb.

Here, tea is a way of life. The street that the Tu teahouse is on may only be fifty meters long, but there are three other similar establishments. Not that anyone really cares about the     8     (compete). Tu says he helps run the teahouse, which was handed     9     to him by his grandfather,     10     (simple) because it is an integral part of their village culture.

The Great Wall,     1     (run) for more than 20,000 kilometers, is a historical landmark with worldwide fame, but climbing it is hard. Everyone may have some knowledge of it more or less, while only a handful may have the skill to     2     (physical) participate in its restoration (修复).

However, a WeChat miniprogram, Great Wall E-tour, is allowing every enthusiast to be a hero in a virtual world, in     3     one not just visits the Great Wall, but also protects it. The program     4     (attract) considerable attention in recent weeks and got a large fan base. Around 50,000 high definition pictures of the Xipanjiakou site of the Great Wall are used to offer users a     5     (remark) experience.

Liu Yuzhu, head of the China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, says an agreement with Tencent     6     (reach) to make people more aware of the historical landmark years ago. “We made documentaries and published animated books in the past. These are popular, but the Great Wall is     7     complex structure and deserves more attention. So we tried something new,” Liu says. “A series of programs like     8     (we) have been launched in China, with a combination     9     public education and restoration of relics through digitization.” Though there are bottlenecks (障碍) that need to be removed, the future is bright. “There’s no     10     (short) of new ideas speaking of protecting relics,” Liu adds.