As with any other cuisine, appearance, smell and taste are extremely important in enjoying Chinese food. Besides these basic elements, however, there is something unique     1     Chinese cuisine. One of them is the importance of texture (口感). The Chinese appreciate a far     2    (wide) range of textures in their food than most Westerners,     3    (include), for example, slippery, chewy and bouncy textures. Chinese people enjoy using their teeth and tongue to feel food, such as chicken feet and duck tongues. If you want to deepen your     4    (appreciate) of Chinese food, it     5    (recommend) that you order some chicken feet to appreciate what your teeth and tongue are doing while you eat them.

Another element of Chinese cuisine is the art of cutting. So you might like to consider the way that the ingredients are cut     6     how this affects the way they look on the plate. If your meal has been ordered by a Chinese person or someone else who is knowledgeable about the food, you might also notice that there is     7    (probable) a soup that is intended to provide     8     pleasing contrast to the more strongly flavoured dishes. You might also notice that there is at least one lightly flavoured vegetable dish,     9     will help to create a balance d meal that will leave you     10    (relax) afterwards.

Changxing Baiyelong dance is a     1     (character) dragon dance popular in Lincheng town, Changxing county, Huzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province. Baiyelong, which     2     (literal) means “a dragon made of a hundred lotus leaves”,     3     (inspire) by a local legend about a dragon born in a lotus pond.

The dance, which is usually performed by a team of 17 people during temple     4     (festival), is a customary practice that     5     (represent) the wishes of local residents for a prosperous year, both for their families and their motherland.

In 1957, a Baiyelong dance program took home     6     gold award at the sixth World Youth College Students Festival     7     (hold) in Moscow in 1957. In April 2004, Changxing set up a training base     8     (restore) the traditional art and established a government-backed troupe in June 2005. A year later, Changxing Baiyelong dance was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. In 2023, the Changxing Baiyelong dance was selected     9     a warm-up performance for the Asian Games’ opening ceremony and it made an immediate impression on hundreds of millions of TV viewers.

“We hope that this dance,     10     has been performed in Changxing for over 200 years, can be presented to the whole world in a brand-new way on the stage of the Asian Games,” said Gu Keni, the general director of the program.

Many Chinese people have recently been surprised     1     (find) that many types of food that they thought were imported are     2     (actual) grown or produced in Northeast China.

The northeastern region of the country has been attracting     3     huge amount of attention this winter, with so many visitors going to its tourist attractions in search of ice and snow, and     4     (praise) the enthusiasm of its people.

To show its     5     (appreciate) to the people of Heilongjiang for taking good care of a group of 11 kindergarten children from South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region during their visit     6     the northeastern province, Nanning, the regional capital of Guangxi, sent 189 tons of mandarins to Harbin, Heilongjiang’s provincial capital. Heilongjiang then returned the gesture and sent 100,000 boxes of cranberries to Guangxi.

The cranberries surprised a lot of Chinese people, even many from Heilongjiang Province,     7     didn’t realize that the fruit is produced in the region. Since the introduction of cranberries from North America in 2014, Fuyuan city in Heilongjiang Province     8     (grow) 280 hectares of cranberries, making it one of the     9     (large) cranberry growing bases in Asia.

Other types of fruits grown in Northeast China include blueberries and raspberries, which     10     (think) to be imported into China from other countries, too. Many people have also discovered that some precious foods, such as Wagyu beef, are also produced in Northeast China.

Hong Kong’s tiny Tai Hang district is usually one of the city’s     1     (quiet) places. But every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the neighborhood comes alive with the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance.

    2     (list) as China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance began in 1880,     3     the neighborhood was attacked by a deadly disease on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to the legend, a fortune teller suggested that the villagers perform a fire dragon dance for three days and three nights during the upcoming full moon. To their     4     (amaze), the disease disappeared     5     (short) after the dance. Since then, this tradition has been carried on every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The 67-metre fire dragon will wind through the streets of Tai Hang, like it did over a century ago with over 300     6     (performer) , 70,000 incense sticks (焚香), and lots of firecrackers.

Dragon dance leader Chan Tak-fai, who has been organizing the event for the past 20 years, first got involved     7     a child. “I grew up     8     (watch) all the elder makers—there were three on Sun Chun Street where I lived—create the fire dragon every year. I was able to learn and later teach young Tai Hangers,” says Tak-fai, now 70. “Back then, we always     9     (gather) in the street as there was no air-conditioning and it was cooler outside. That created     10     great sense of community.”

As a centuries-old art form, the popularity of Yingge dance on the streets of London during the Spring Festival was     1     success in terms of traditional Chinese folk art sailing overseas.

Literally     2     (translate) as the “Songs of Heroes” dance, Yingge dance is a 300-year-old folk dance that originated from the Chaoshan area of South China’s Guangdong Province. Dressed in colorful costumes,     3     (energy) performers wave wooden sticks in their hands in orderly formations while dancing to the music.

Based     4     the stories of the 108 Heroes of Liangshan Mountain from the classic novel Outlaw’s of the Marsh, this is a folk art     5     (combine) a variety of forms, from martial arts and Chinese operas to dance.

With its high compatibility (共存) with various art forms and years of inheritance and innovation, this Chaoshan-born dance art has spread to neighboring countries and     6     (region) in the last century.

Yingge dance     7     (bring) to Thailand by Chinese immigrants around a century ago, where it took off     8     expanded to over 10 provinces. For now, this traditional Chinese dance is     9     (wide) known by its inheritance among the younger generations who have     10     (enthusiastic) in practicing kung fu, and trying dragon and lion dances as well as being on the wind of social media.

The Fahai Temple, located at the southern foot of Cuiwei Mountain in the western part of Beijing, houses Ming Dynasty frescoes (湿壁画) dating back nearly 600 years.

The temple, which     1     (build) in 1439 during the time of Zhengtong in Ming Dynasty, is known as one of the three major fresco     2     (site) in China, together with Dunhuang of Gansu province and Yongle Palace in Yuncheng, Shanxi province. These impressive frescoes originating from the royal family were completed by 15artists,     3     used traditional techniques that led to the frescoes with vivid effect.

Despite the brilliance of this Ming Dynasty fresco art, it did not maintain     4     (it) splendor throughout history. With the fall of     5     dynasty, the golden time of the art came to a sudden end.

Today, a brand-new art center has been set up at the foot of the mountain, where visitors can immerse (使沉浸) themselves in a digitalized journey of discovery. “By     6     (employ) modern technology, we can bring the     7     (value) frescoes to life,” says Liu Xiaobo     8     charge of the Fahai Temple Mural Art Center.

    9     (current), the original frescoes are being protected and opened to the public in a controlled manner. Visits are arranged by appointment, with each viewing session limited to about 20 minutes. Visitors can only use cold light sources throughout the visit, allowing the original frescoes     10     (rest) more.

Thundering drums, yelling crowds and energetic, boatmen, such scenes of excitement     1    (be) not rare across China on Duanwu, or Dragon Boat Festival,     2     falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year.

Although tales of its origin differ, the two-thousand-year-old festival is widely celebrated     3     memory of Qu Yuan, a great poet during the Warring States Period (475—221 BC).

When Qu realized his country’s decline was beyond recovery, he became so unhappy that he killed     4    (he) on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Legend has it that the     5     (local) rowed boats to save the poet and threw zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, into the river to keep fish from eating his body.     6     tradition was passed down in China and even traveled across borders.

A host of other practices are also associated with Duanwu. The fifth day of the fifth month is considered unlucky and     7     (poison). To drive away the bad luck, many people,     8     (especial) those in South China, take herbal baths and hang special plants over their doors. Some people even wear little bags     9     (stuff) with Chinese herbs, all with nice smells,     10     (scare) away the bad spirits.

Recognizing the rising popularity of traditional music, the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) has launched a festival, Spring of Traditional Chinese Music.

The opening concert,     1     (hold) on April 8, 2022, saw a performance by China National Traditional Orchestra(CNTO) led by three conductors, Liu Sha, Lyu Jia and Li Xincao.

“    2     the first time, we performed with conductors who have never performed with traditional Chinese     3     (musician),” says Zhao Cong, president of CNTO. “When we discussed that idea with the NCPA, we were all very excited.” to Each of the conductors chose music pieces they’d like     4     (perform). For example, a piece from the Tang Dynasty   (618-907), titled The General’s Order,     5     (conduct) by Liu. “The sounds of traditional Chinese musical instruments are very different from Western musical instruments, which were     6     (total) new to me. However, this is the most interesting experience     7     will remain in my heart forever,” says Lyu.

“Playing works of traditional Chinese music and Western classical music     8     (be) like communicating with two people with     9     (variety) personalities,” says Li. “But music is all about emotions and expression, which is mutual (相互的).”

It’s reported that     10     festival will be held twice a year and invite more conductors of symphony orchestras (交响乐团) to work with traditional Chinese music orchestras.

Pickleball

It’s got nothing to do     1     pickles(泡菜) — it’s a sport. It has been described as a     2    (combine) of tennis, badminton and table tennis. Picture a small plastic ball soaring through the air     3     you need to bat back to your partner, or partners. Many Brits (英国人) are listening to their inner athlete and     4     (pick) up this racket game. In the UK, there are     5     (current) around 7,000 players, according to Pickleball England. But the association     6     (aim) to have more than 25,000 players by 2025 and is even attempting to get the sport played as part of promotion for the 2028 Olympics.

How exactly do you play this game? Well, it can be played indoors     7     outdoors and it can be played as a singles or doubles game. There are a few easy-to-understand rules. The ball is served underhand and should     8     (bat) diagonally across the court. On     9     first two hits, the ball has to bounce, but after that, players are free to volley.     10     (win) a point, the defending side must miss the ball.

So, if you fancy picking it up, find your local Pickleball court and give it a go!