1 . The 2023 Shanghai Coffee Culture Week opened on May 13, with a variety of activities integrating industry, culture and lifestyle scheduled.

Shanghai, home to more than 8,00 coffee houses, has hosted the event since 2021. This year’s Coffee Culture Week is organized by the Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry Promotion Association, and will run through to June 2.

Coffee has become a key part of Shanghai culture, showcasing the city’s characteristics of opening-up and inclusiveness(包容),local officials said at a news conference in early May.

On the event’s opening day, Yongpu Coffee, in collaboration with the food delivery platform Eleme and China Construction Bank, offered 30,000 cups of coffee for free. Multiple coffee brands such as Luckin Coffee and McCafe will also provide free coffee and coupons (优惠券) during the event.

From May 18 to 21, West Bund International Coffee and Lifestyle Festival is taking place in Xuhui Binjiang area, involving more than 100 coffee brand outlets (销售点) located along a 5-kilometer shoreline of the Huangpu River.

It is the first time that Shanghai has launched such a large coffee-themed market, organizers said. In addition to enjoying freshly brewed coffee, visitors can attend diverse activities such as exhibitions, performances and workshops to experience coffee culture.

Many cultural sites in the city are also participating in the coffee culture week. Sinan Mansions in downtown Shanghai is holding the Bonjour Coffee Art Fair from May 19 to 21,which has attracted some 20 coffee staff members and 80artists.

The Shanghai History Museum will launch the Square Coffee Festival, inviting fans and industry experts to share their knowledge about coffee. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Books and Periodicals Distribution Association will hold a coffee-themed book fair in more than 80 stores across the city.

Organizers said they hope these events will boost the consumption of coffee and cultural products, and promote the coordinated development of the two industries.

The Shanghai Coffee Industry Summit will take place on May 26, which includes two roundtable discussions and about 10 seminars. Corporate leaders will discuss the latest consumer trends and offer their insights into hot topics.

According to data from domestic tech and retail giant Meituan, the value of China’s freshly brewed coffee industry is expected to reach 15.79 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) this year. It was valued at 8.97billion yuan in 2021.

3 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.

His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it,” says Filippi.

Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.

Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has since fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.

“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video garnered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.

Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”

The traditional Chinese craft of turning thick bamboo into delicate slices achieves fame on overseas short video platform TikTok, receiving more than 10 million     1     (view) and hundreds of thousands of likes. The skilled bamboo craftsmen are recording the daily detailed production process of their handicrafts on social media,     2     are regarded as a “    3     (mystery) Chinese power” in the eyes of foreign netizens.

Anne,     4     TikTok talent from Omaha, USA, filmed a reaction video to the artistry and posted     5     online. While witnessing the process of bamboo gradually turning into bamboo silk and pot brushes, she couldn’t contain her     6     (surprise) expression. “A real craftsman,” she said in the video.

    7     fancy tools, these bamboo craftsmen make amazing works of art     8     (simple) using their own bare hands. Pan Yunfeng, 51, from Lin’an, Zhejiang, started learning bamboo weaving at an early age and by now with over 5 million followers on Douyin, he     9     (become) a genuine influencer for netizens home and abroad.

Bamboo weaving art,     10     (originate) from the Warring States Period 2,000 years ago, has become an essential part of Chinese traditional culture. Now, the popularity of bamboo art on TikTok has opened a window for foreign netizens to better understand Chinese culture.