Hanfu has become popular again in recent years. A growing number of young people in China are starting to wear the (tradition) Han Chinese clothing. The style has even attracted some foreigners. One of them is Rian, a young man from Brazil.

Rian lives in Xi'an. Two years ago, he came to the beautiful city and became English teacher at a kindergarten. After (see)many people wearing Hanfu in the streets, Rian developed a strong interest in it and wanted (try) it on himself. "My first taste of Hanfu was the Tang style. is fun to wear it." said the young man. "Today, it is still my favorite Hanfu style." Every time he puts it on, he feels as if he has travelled back to ancient times.

Since then, Hanfu has helped Rian learn more China. In the past, the only thing he  (know) about the country was that it had a long history and a rich culture. But now Hanfu has shown him more details about Chinese culture.

He wants to share his feelings with friends both in China abroad, so he begins to make short (video) of himself trying on Hanfu and posts them up on Western social media platforms. It has  (quick)become a hot hit on the Internet. He spreads Chinese culture in his own way.

How many pairs of socks do you own? Socks keep your feet  and protect them. Socks are a part of everyday life, but how  do you know about socks?You can learn about socks at the Sock Museum. Some socks on show are produced in  of the earliest sock factories in our country. 

The museum people many things about sock knitting(编织). people visit the different parts of the museum, they can find out answers to some questions, such as "How are socks , what are ancient socks liker, who wore socks in the past. " Maybe the answers to the questions can help socks in a way.

Besides learning about the  of socks, people can have some fun. There is a classroom  the museum, and they can see hand-crank(手摇曲柄的) machines. They can use these machines to make socks by . It must be an exciting and interesting experience. 

Chinatown is the name given to an area in the middle of London.It is just between Leicester Square and Shafts bury Avenue.Gerrard Street is at the center and is the most important street in the area.There is a large Chinese community（社区） with a lot of Chinese restaurants，Chinese supermarkets and shops in this street.

In the 1950s，it was a poor area and everything was very cheap.At the same time，the world rice market changed and a large number of farm workers in Hong Kong lost their jobs.They began arriving in London to look for work.They found jobs in the restaurants in this area.Many British people like Chinese food，and the restaurants were popular.

These restaurant workers often worked 17 hours a day and had no time to learn English.As more Chinese arrived，more shops and businesses grew up.Wives came and joined their husbands and children came and joined their fathers.The community grew，and Chinatown was born.

In the 1970s and 1980s，British﹣born Chinese had a better education.This brought economic（经济的） success to the area.Many families moved out of Chinatown，and there was more space for businesses.Gerrard Street become a street only for visitors and was soon a popular place for tourists.

Now everyone knows about London's Chinatown.During the Chinese New Year，the streets are seen with flags and thousands of Chinese go into the streets.For most of the year，though，Londoners and tourists go there mainly for the food in the Chinese restaurants.The best restaurants are the ones where the Chinese eat.

A road is a bridge between two places.    你听说过丝绸之路吗? It has been there between East and West for more than 2, 000 years.

But did you know that the Silk Road is not a single route? It is actually a series of trade and cultural transmission（传 送）routes. It started to take shape during the Western Han Dynasty. The trade route started from the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi province and ended in eastern Europe, near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea（地中海）. The Silk Road went across one-fourth of the earth and it is about 6, 500 kilometers    long.

The Silk Road got its name because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Besides silk, jade（玉）, tea and steel also went west to Rome. From the West came glass, gems（宝石）, and foods like carrots and sesame（芝麻）.

The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. 

Not only trade, but also knowledge about science, arts and literature （ 文 学 ） , as well as craftsmanship（ 手工） and technology, was shared across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other. As a Chinese student, it is necessary to know something about it. Today, many historical sites along the Silk Road are popular travel destinations, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes（莫高屈）in Dunhuang. A new train line, the New Orient Express. is running from Beijing across the Silk Road.它是世界上最著名的道路之一

Chinese cultures have passed on for thousands of years, and goldfish have been recorded for nearly two thousand years. A report from the Jin Dynasty described "red fish" swimming in the Red River. Goldfish were widely mentioned in the Tang Dynasty poems. They were collected in the pond(池塘) by rich people at that time. 

During the Song Dynasty, a ruler built a pond in Hangzhou to raise goldfish. It marked the time when people began to raise them. However, owning yellow goldfish was not allowed because that color was thought to be a sign of the king. Common people were forced to raise orange ones, which is probably why that color is more common today

Until the invention of the goldfish bowl in the Ming Dynasty, goldfish were always seen to live outdoors in ponds. The goldfish bowl allowed more people to keep goldfish and interested people in raising more beautiful kinds such as the "lion head" that could not live outdoors Goldfish traveled to Japan in 1502, Europe in 1611, and the United States in the early 1,8008. 

Chinese people have expressed good wishes through images(形象) of animals, plants and other objects. Chinese has many homophones, and these homophones connect images of objects with special good wishes that sound the same. The Chinese word for "fish" is a homophone of the word for "more", so fish express wishes for "owning more". The goldfish, however, also has the word for "gold", so goldfish images express wishes for "owning more wealth"

Goldfish competitions, which began in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty, continue in China. Even in Hong Kong, there is a busy goldfish market to meet the modern requirement of the fish of wealth and good wishes. 

In the winter of the year 759, Du Fu, together with his family（安史之乱）. In the next spring, he set up a straw﹣roofed house  Chengdu Thatched Cottage（草堂）, where he lived for about four years and wrote more than 240. After Du Fu died, the Thatched Cottage quickly fell into disrepair. Wei Zhuang, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty. Thereafter, the Thatched Cottage has continued to be repaired and enlarged throughout the Song, Yuan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Du Fu Thatched Cottage also experienced large﹣scale renovations（大规模的修复） and since then it has been to the public. Nowadays, the Thatched Cottage has an area of 800 mu. 

Nature, love for his family and friendship found expression in many of the poems. It might be due to his life as a semi﹣hermit（半隐士）, there were  poems directly describing the people's life. But deep in his heart, Du Fu neverthe serious situation and the physical and mental pain of the people. So when his Thatched Cottage was destroyed by the autumn wind, he could not help thinking of those  people. He prayed to God that he could give up his Thatched Cottage and even life if he could offer the poor warmth and. That is the spirit of Du Fu's poems and the Thatched Cottage. by the spirit, people have rebuilt the Thatched Cottage generation after generation, turning it into a monument to the spirit of Du Fu and the sacred land of Chinese literature. 

Chinese cultures have passed on for thousands of years, and goldfish have been recorded for nearly two thousand years. A report from the Jin Dynasty described "red fish" swimming in the Red River. Goldfish were widely mentioned in the Tang Dynasty poems. They were collected in the pond(池塘) by rich people at that time.

During the Song Dynasty, a ruler built a pond in Hangzhou to raise goldfish. It marked the time when people began to raise them. However, owning yellow goldfish was not allowed because that color was thought to be a sign of the king. Common people were forced to raise orange ones, which is probably why that color is more common today. 

Until the invention of the goldfish bowl in the Ming Dynasty, goldfish were always seen to live outdoors in ponds. The goldfish bowl allowed more people to keep goldfish and interested people in raising more beautiful kinds such as the "lion head" that could not live outdoors. Goldfish traveled to Japan in 1502, Europe in 1611, and the United States in the early 1,800s

Chinese people have expressed good wishes through images(形象) of animals, plants and other objects. Chinese has many homophones, and these homophones connect images of objects with special good wishes that sound the same. The Chinese word for "fish" is a homophone of the word for "more", so fish express wishes for "owning more". The goldfish, however, also has the word for "gold", so goldfish images express wishes for "owning more wealth".

Goldfish competitions, which began in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty, continue in China. Even in Hong Kong, there is a busy goldfish market to meet the modern requirement of the fish of wealth and good wishes. 

Do you know the Silk Road has been a bridge between East and West for more than 2,000 years? It began during the Han Dynasty. It was a network of trade routes (路线) connecting Europe, Africa and Asia. 

The Silk Road is about 7,000 kilometers long with 4,000 kilometers in China which includes Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. 

The Silk Road got its name because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Besides silk, china and other products went west. 

Here are people who played an important role in the Silk Road. During Western Han, Zhang Qian visited the Western area of China twice, forming a route, which enabled silk to spread and became popular for the first time. Ban Chao from Eastern Han Dynasty set off on a diplomatic (外交的) trip to western China. What he has done made the Silk Road to Europe even longer. During Yuan Dynasty, Italian traveler Marco Polo reached China and described many details about the trade route to the whole world through his book. 

The Silk Road was very important to the world. During the trade, knowledge about science, arts and culture were shared across the Silk Road. The towns and cities along the Silk Road developed as well because of the trade. 

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes are still used, but trains go through the Road instead of camels and horses. Now, beginning in August, 2022, a new train line, the New Orient Express, runs from Beijing across the Silk Road. Today, places along the Silk Road are great places of interest, such as Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuan, Gansu.

Chinese cultures have passed on for thousands of years, and goldfish have been recorded for nearly two thousand years. A report from the Jin Dynasty described "red fish" swimming in the Red River. Goldfish were widely mentioned in the Tang Dynasty poems.

During the Song Dynasty, a ruler built a pool in Hangzhou to raise goldfish.  However, owning  yellow goldfish was not allowed because that color was thought to be a sign of the king. Common people were forced to raise orange ones, which is probably why that color is more common today. 

The goldfish bowls allowed more people to keep goldfish and interested people in raising more beautiful kinds such as the "lion head" that could not live outdoors. Goldfish traveled to Japan in 1502, Europe in 1611, and the United States in the early 1,800s.

Chinese has many homophones(同音异形异义词), and these homophones connect images of objects with special good wishes that sound the same. The Chinese word for "fish" is a homophone of the word for "more", so fish express wishes for "owning more". The goldfish, however, also has the word for "gold", so goldfish images express wishes for "owning more wealth".

 Even in Hong Kong, there is a busy goldfish market to meet the modern requirement of the fish of wealth and good wishes. 

Words in the Snow

In the time of the Yellow Emperor, there were no written words. People recorded things by tying knots(打结)in ropes and carving(雕刻) shapes on stone walls. One day, the Yellow Emperor discussed an event with a wise man named Cang Jie. Cang took out a piece of knotted rope, but found it was rotten(腐烂的). It was impossible for him to remember the event clearly. Then he turned to a stone wall, but could hardly read the shapes on it. They had been carved by another person except himself. 

"The ropes will be rotten. And the shapes can only be read by a few people, "the emperor said to Cang. "Can you come up with something better?"

Cang thought over the matter for days and nights. On the morning after a heavy snowfall, the earth was completely white. He saw the footmarks of some different animals by accident. These footmarks helped him to recognize what animals had passed by. Cang suddenly had an idea. He picked a stick and drew on the snow-covered ground. He first drew a tiger and a bear to show that they had passed by. But soon, he found this was taking too much time. He realized that he had to make the drawings easier. 

All the shapes on the stone walls flashed through his mind. Cang kept making all kinds of shapes on the ground easier. To show the sun, for example, he used a circle with a dot(小点)in the middle. A half-circle and a vertical line(竖线)made up the moon. And three curves(曲线) were used to show water. Later, the sun appeared. These simple marks shone brightly in the snow. 

In the end Cang created a whole set of symbols to record things. People could easily understand these symbols. Since then, they have been able to record their own history.