Over 2,200 years ago, Emperor Qin Shihuang, the first Emperor in Chinese history, established the official Chinese writing characters. The new, simplified characters made writing calligraphy less 【小题1】 (complicate). It allowed people to use characters with more straight strokes, thus 【小题2】 (make) it easier to write with brushes. This 【小题3】 (create) the Li genre(体裁). Over time, other variations were also developed, 【小题4】 eventually led to the formation of the five genres in Chinese calligraphy. As 【小题5】 result, calligraphy became 【小题6】 (wide) accepted. Calligraphy also had its practical values because it was a good way to make friends and was more presentable as a gift rather than jewellery or money. Does calligraphy still have these practical functions now? Yes. Many people practise calligraphy as a way 【小题7】 (raise) their cultural accomplishment. Older people use calligraphic writing as a method to keep fit. They believe that when a person concentrates on 【小题8】 (write)calligraphy, his inner well-being is inspired. I had thought computers would lead to the 【小题9】 (disappear)of Chinese calligraphy Now I understand that’s not likely to happen. How can you give your boss computer-printed calligraphy as a gift? You don’t 【小题10】 you want him to fire you!

The Duanwu Festival, also 【小题1】 (name) the Dragon Boat Festival, was established【小题2】 memory of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475—221BC).

Qu Yuan, 【小题3】 died by committing suicide in the Miluo River, was known as a great patriot. Shortly after he died, the local people 【小题4】 (throw) food into the water to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats, known as dragon boats, making sound 【小题5】 (scare) away the fish.

【小题6】 (tradition) celebrations of the Dragon Boat Festival include eating zongzi, drinking realgar (雄黄) wine, and 【小题7】 (race) dragon boats.

You don’t have to live in China long to know that 【小题8】 country’s most popular foods usually have a good story behind them. That’s 【小题9】 (particular) true of festival foods such as zongzi, the pyramid-shaped steamed rice packages in bamboo or reed leaves that have been associated with the Dragon Boat Festival for more than a thousand 【小题10】 (year).

China is widely known for its ancient civilization which has continued all the way through into modern times, 【小题1】 there wore many ups and downs in its history. There exist many reasons 【小题2】 this has been possible, but one of the main factors has been the Chinese writing system.

At the beginning, written Chinese was a picture based language, 【小题3】 (date) back several thousand years to the use of longgu-animal bones and shells on which symbols were carved by ancient Chinese people. Some of the ancient symbols can still be seen in today’s hanzi.

By the Shang Dynasty (around 1600 1046 BCE), these symbols   【小题4】 (become) a well-developed writing system. Over the years, the system developed into different forms, as it was a time when people were divided 【小题5】 (geographic), 【小题6】 (lead) to many varieties of dialects and characters. This, however, changed under Emperor Qinshihuang of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE).

Emperor Qinshihuang united the seven major states into one unified country 【小题7】 the Chinese writing system began to develop in one direction. That writing system was of great importance in uniting the Chinese people and culture. Even today, no matter where Chinese people live or 【小题8】 dialect they speak, they can all still communicate in writing.

Today, the Chinese writing system 【小题9】 (see) in the development of Chinese characters as an art form, known as Chinese calligraphy, and it is also an important part of Chinese culture. As China plays a greater role in global affairs, an increasing number of international students 【小题10】 (start) to appreciate China’s culture and history through this amazing language.