Jingxi Taiping Drum is a traditional form of dancing. With its display of profound cultural elements, it 【小题1】 (include) in the first batch (批次) of China’s national intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) items in 2006.

The 【小题2】 (early) historical references of this art date back to the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Qing Dynasty, it started to gain 【小题3】 (popular) in and around the capital. In ancient times, the drums were played 【小题4】 New Year’s Eve at the imperial palace to bring peace. As a result, the performance also became known as the “New Year Drum” by Beijingers. This type of drum dance is 【小题5】 (common) seen performed during the last and first month of the lunar year in many local festive activities, thus expressing 【小题6】 (people) hope of a peaceful and rich year to come. During a given performance, drummers perform various dance moves while 【小题7】 (hold) the drum in their left hands and a mallet (大头锤) in their right hands. Traditional Chinese aesthetic (美学的) concepts are reflected in the drum playing, all of 【小题8】 represent distinctive local features.

In the past decades, Beijing has made considerable efforts 【小题9】 (protect) this signature folk dance culture. Today, the time-honored folk art of the Jingxi Taiping Drum is being taken up by the young people 【小题10】 is presenting its lively artistic charm (魅力) on a global stage.

A gallery displaying printing woodblocks (木版) opened at the Palace Museum in Beijing on Monday. The Palace Museum, which was China’s imperial pa lace from 1420 to 1911, 【小题1】 (house)1.86 million cultural relics, and about one third of these are ancient books, documents and related printing woodblocks, 【小题2】 (make) the museum a key venue on the development of Chinese literature. However, these precious relics for academic studies 【小题3】 (previous) lacked a venue in which they could be publicly showcased.

【小题4】 opening exhibition of the new gallery, near the Gate of Supreme Harmony(太和门), feature s 32 woodblocks. “These exhibits are 【小题5】 great value for people to understand the politics, culture and printing techniques of that era,” Wang, director of the museum, said. “Putting them in the context of the history of Chinese classic books and the Qing inner court, we can get more information through in depth studies, which is an 【小题6】 (inspire) to us in terms of developing modern culture.”

For example, an exhibited woodblock 【小题7】 (carve) with dragon patterns was made in 1644 shortly after Qing troops seized Beijing. It demonstrates a Qing imperial warning demanding that princes and high official strictly stick to their duties and avoid corruption.

Some woodblocks were also made to record aspects of the royal lifestyle, with a group used to print landscape pictures of the Cheng de Mountain Resort and Emperor Kangxi’s poems describing its quite 【小题8】 (fantasy) scenes.

To give visitors an immersive experience, a storeroom, 【小题9】 over 15,000 printing blocks are on the shelves, has been set up in the gallery.

Ji Zhangwei, a researcher at the Palace Museum Library, said that woodblock printing reached its peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The royal courts of the two dynasties made a great effort to sponsor printing as an important way to demonstrate national 【小题10】 (strong) and promote cultural development.