China's traditional tea-making techniques were     1     (official) recognized by UNESCO on November 29th, 2022, when the techniques and associated social practices     2     (add) to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) of Humanity.     3     forty-three items on the list, China maintains its No.1 position in the field.

With the success of the application starting in March 2021, the list of world intangible cultural heritage has recognized the knowledge, skills, and practices     4     are about the management of tea gardens, picking of tea leaves, hand-made processing, and the drinking and     5     (share) of tea.

The result has been widely praised by the Chinese public and experts because it is     6     important step for conservation and promotion of traditional tea culture. “Years ago, Chinese tea culture     7     (become) widely known by people in many     8    (country) around the world through the ancient Silk Road. The     9     (success) application of Chinese tea-making can further help improve     10     (it) international influence,” Zheng Changling, secretary general of the China Folk Culture Innovation and Development Center, told the Global Times.

The conch (海螺)     1     (consider) as the national dish of the Bahamas. Queen conch is the most important food species and can live for 30 years.

Conch can be very costly in the US and other     2     (place). But it is so common in the Bahamas that it can often be found in meals     3     (cost) less than $10. That is less than the price of many meats on the island. Nearly two-fifths of the population in the countryside of the Bahamas eats conch     4     (week).

The country with a population of about 400,000 is home     5     9000 conch fishers around two percent of the population. This number appears to be holding steady (稳定的) even as conches decrease (减少) in number. The meat of the conch     6     (be) worth millions of dollars per year, and it also helps increase tourism to the islands.

Fishers usually catch the conch by hand. They often use simple equipment. Sometimes fishers can take home as many as 1,000 conches in a single trip. Many fishers fish for other species too, but they view     7     (they) as conch fishers first. And for many, fishing is both a family tradition     8     a path to middle class life on the islands,     9     the cost of living is higher than in the US.

Conch is one example of the threat overfishing presents to     10     (tradition) foods around the world.

In 1909, hundreds of teahouses     1     (find) in the city of Chengdu. However, tea shops are less popular in people’s lives these days as people are turning to different modern     2    (drink). In spite of this, some young tea lovers are trying to revive (复苏) the traditional ten-drinking culture in China.

Leo Liu,     3     was born in Yunnan Province, the birthplace of tea,     4     (grow) up surrounded by tea. When in college, he began to learn to appreciate its rich culture. After graduation, Liu opened teahouse in an attempt     5     (carry) forward tea-drinking culture and spread his love of tea worldwide. Chengdu was the location that he chose, due to the city’s tea culture.

Apart from     6     (introduce) different types of tea to his customers, Liu hosts a variety of events to promote the drink. One popular event is mainly about dian cha in the Song Dynasty,     7     old tea preparation method. Liu believes that by experiencing such tea customs first hand, more and more youth will eventually learn to appreciate tea

“    8     is natural for youth to be attracted to fashionable drinks such as coffee or milk tea. But even milk tea can be a gateway to falling in love     9     tea,” says Liu. “We don’t need to push it. Interest comes     10     (gradual) with time.”

No trip would be complete without experiencing the local food culture. Actually, China has various kinds of delicious food, including     1     wide variety of local snacks.

Without doubt, for the majority of the foreigners I contacted, and myself included, Peking duck, dim sum and Sichuan hotpot are the favorite Chinese     2     (dish). China is a place     3     the food is not only the most delicious, but the     4     (cheap) I’ve ever found.

On    5     (I) last night in Beijing before returning to the United States, I went to a Peking duck restaurant that had been suggested for me to try. What a beautiful place! Splendid woodblock prints on the walls, fresh flowers in the vases on the table, attractive silverware(镀银餐具)     6     beautiful chopsticks. I     7     (hand) a menu and I surprisingly found that most of the prices were especially low. The duck came in whole or half, along with all the little decorations that you know if you’ve ever eaten Peking duck-a little tortilla(玉米粉薄烙饼) to put the sliced duck, vegetables, chopped onion and sauce in.

Anyway, I ended up ordering a whole duck and thought that if l couldn’t finish it I’d just take the rest back to my hotel     8     (eat) later.     9     (believe), in the end there was none of the whole duck     10     (leave) on the plate. Unm, yummy!

Song in a cup

It’s common to see a barista create coffee art,     1     it’s a whole different ballgame doing same thing with tea. Han Zheming has managed to perfect the skill, creating tea art in cups, or dian cha in Chinese, which used to be a ritual (仪式) during the Song Dynasty (960 — 1279).

Dian cha is a tea art from the Song Dynasty.     2     art begins with pouring water over fine powdered tea, creating a paste and then adding more hot water,     3    (constant) whisking (搅拌) it by hand with a bamboo whisk. “It’s like     4    (add) bells and whistles to tea and creating a special atmosphere for tea drinking,” said 40-year-old Han Zheming, a designer     5     has been fascinated by dian cha since childhood. Over the past six years, he     6    (use) tea and spoons to create nearly 200 patterns based on ancient paintings.

Creating patterns on the foam (泡沫) is cautious but quick work. Usually, the whole process has to be completed within 10     7    (minute). The ideal state is when the tea’s temperature is around 40℃ and ready for drinking. It was through trial and error     8     Han understood the art of dian cha.

    9    (spread) dian cha culture, Han put the process of tea-whisking and drawing on social media platforms. Speaking about his understanding of this tea art, Han said the art is “to increase the beauty” rather than change the nature of tea. “As well as poems, calligraphy and paintings that     10    (create) back then, I want more people to understand the tools used by people to drink tea, and the reasons behind the ways they prepared tea,” he explained.

Yours,

Li Hua