1 . A short cooking video posted by a netizen on TikTok has recently become a popular hit on the site. Bearing the tag “Chinese food”, the video not only showed off the chief’s superb skills in making Chinese dishes, but it also got netizens abroad wanting to get a taste of China’s unique food culture.

Although the video was nothing master-level, just a rather standard homemade fried potato dish, it received more than 200, 000 likes after only three days of posting. In addition to praising the chef, commenters wondered why such a simple Chinese dish could look like a fancy cuisine that had been made through tons of effort. “Even the most basic Chinese dish needs to have three elements: color, smell and taste. For example, color not only requires a chef to have sharp eyes, but also valuable experience,” said Wang, an experienced Chinese chef in Guangzhou.

Chinese cooking is not the only type of content covered by the tag. Other popular videos under the tag include “odd food” challenges, traditional Chinese dishes and Chinese snack tasting, the latter of which has become particularly popular among young omnivore vloggers (video bloggers) living in a world of continually expanding cultural globalization.

“I have been a fan of Chinese food ever since my Chinese friend cooked me di san xian at university. I was surprised by the dish’s taste and its look, which was very different from my home food, but felt it was very familiar to me because I noticed we share similar cooking skills,” said Bianca, an Italian Asian food fan.

“I started my channel by recording my roommate tasting my cooking. These videos got likes and comments gradually. Seeing some people commenting in German or English and saying ‘I want to try it’, I felt these videos can narrow the gap between the two cultures,” said Mr. Bear, a vlogger on Bilibili who promotes Chinese cooking.

4 . For anyone connected with a school, the last couple of weeks should have been a pile-up of plays, choir (合唱团) performances, and talent shows. But a report found, alarmingly, that 53% of primaries and 63% of secondaries that normally hold a festive concert at the end of the first term did not do so.

It is deeply troubling that music is no longer being taught to 11-to-14-year-olds in more than half of state secondaries. And some children get as little as one day of music lesson a year. If this situation is allowed to continue, music-making will become the preserve (保留地) of those who can afford it. And the intense competition for better academic performance has only sped up this trend. A survey published this month of more than 1, 300 music teachers found that a third of British primary schools are not singing, while a quarter have stopped instrumental lessons. Almost three-quarters of primary and two-thirds of secondary schools have cancelled extracurricular music. Though a sharp decline of music provision is due to various social factors, Ofsted appeared to put this down to schools themselves, rather than pointing the finger at the government’s silence to educators’ appeal.

This is very sad and shortsighted. On the most basic level, music aids academic achievement. Research suggests that music-making improves speech and literacy. But academic progress is too narrow a standard of success. In her book, Joan Koenig argues that music is fundamental to a well-functioning society. Besides that, music-making nurtures sympathy and belonging. “People stand a much better chance of finding meaning and happiness in their lives if they feel that they belong,” as Koenig puts it. “Studies show that group musical practice can create and increase this feeling. It is when people don’t have a sense of belonging that things go wrong.”

In this time of uncertainty and fear, ensuring that all children can access music-making is a cause deserving meaningful backup and help from the government.

6 . Spring is coming, and it is time for those about to graduate to look for jobs. Competition is tough, so job seekers must carefully consider their personal choices. Whatever we are wearing, our family and friends may accept us, but the workplace may not.

A high school newspaper editor said it is unfair for companies to discourage visible tattoos (纹身). nose rings. or certain dress styles. It is true you can’t judge a book by its cover, yet people do “cover” themselves in order to convey (传递) certain messages. What we wear, including tattoos and nose rings. is an expression of who we are. Just as people convey messages about themselves with their appearances, so do companies Dress standards exist in the business world for a number of reasons, but the main concern is often about what customers accept.

Others may say how to dress is a matter of personal freedom, but for businesses it is more about whether to make or lose money. Most employers do care about the personal appearances of their employees (雇员) because those people represent the companies to their customers.

As a hiring manager I am paid to choose the people who would make the best impression on our customers. There are plenty of well-qualified candidates, so it is not wrong to refuse someone who might disappoint my customers. Even though I am open-minded. I can’t expect all our customers are.

There is nobody to blame but yourself if your set of choices does not match that of your preferred employer. No company should have to change to satisfy a candidate simply because he or she is unwilling to respect its standards, as long as its standards are legal.

9 . As reported in JAMA Surgery, the researchers discovered that e-scooter(电动摩托车) injury rates had increased dramatically in just four years, rising from 6 per 100,000 in the population to 19 per 100,000. Of the estimated 14,651 e-scooter-related injuries in 2018, 4,658, or 32%, involved the head. “While most people recover from head injuries, there is going to be a subset with long-term disability and life changes,” said Dr. Benjamin Breyer.

Dr. Benjamin Breyer of the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed to a 2019 analysis of the data from two hospitals in Southern California, which found just 4.8% of injured e-scooter riders were wearing helmets.

Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, believed that most e-scooter users are probably unaware of the risks. To make the point, she described a photo taken by a colleague. “There were two riders on an e-scooter,” she said. “No one had shoes on. There were no helmets. And the woman in front had a baby in a baby carrier.”

The new report highlights the need for more research on new technologies, said Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology(流行病学).

“Just as there is a global network of experts working on infectious diseases, there needs to be a similar program devoted to the surveillance(监视，监察) and prevention of injuries caused by merging technologies products and lifestyles, such as e-scooters, e-sports, etc.,” Li said in an email.

“The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to keep up with the ever-changing society and protect the public from unnecessary harm caused by new technologies and products without hindering innovation,” he added.