In Changping District, 30 kilometers north of Beijing, there is a tomb area that covers about 120 square kilometers. The tomb of the Ming Emperor Zhu Di 【小题1】 the tombs of the other 12 emperors were built here. It is called the “Thirteen Ming Tombs” and 【小题2】 (list) as a World Heritage Site in 2003.

At present, there are four scenic spots open 【小题3】 the public. Changling Tomb was built in 1409 and is one of the best 【小题4】 (preserve) tombs of the Ming emperors. In particular, the Ling Si Hall, 【小题5】 the rituals(典礼)are held, is a treasure of ancient architecture. At present, there is an exhibition of the 【小题6】 (fine) unearthed cultural relics from the Dingling Tomb in the hall.

Dingling Tomb, the joint tomb of Zhu Yijun and his two empresses, 【小题7】 (be) the first imperial tomb in China to be excavated (发掘) according to the archaeological plan. The architecture of the underground palace of Dingling Tomb is deep and unique. A total of about 3,000 pieces of precious cultural relics, such as the emperor’s and empress’ crowns and gold and silver 【小题8】 (article), have been unearthed, 【小题9】 (provide) rare physical materials for the study of the history of the Ming Dynasty. Zhaoling Tomb is a 【小题10】 (full) restored tomb according to the old site of the Ming Dynasty, which is magnificent with high pines and glorious halls.

The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls(死海古卷), 【小题1】(consider)to be the【小题2】(significance)archaeological event of the twentieth century, occurred in 1947 in Qumran, bordering on the Dead Sea. 【小题3】(search)for a goat that had got lost, a shepherd named Muhammed walked along the sea cliffs and 【小题4】(accident)came across a clay jar containing ancient scrolls. Then they were sold to Professor Eliezer Sukennik. He was sure that the scrolls were genuine(真的), which was the first time that a biblical(圣经的) scholar 【小题5】(examine)the scrolls.

Ten years later, eleven more caves around the Dead Sea were found to contain tens of thousands of scroll fragments(碎片), among 【小题6】are the oldest known versions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Some scrolls were carefully placed, while others appeared to be thrown in a hurry. 【小题7】is remarkable about the ancient scrolls is their age. 【小题8】(date) from the 3rd century BC to AD 68, the scrolls are mostly written in Hebrew and include the oldest biblical texts ever found, consisting 【小题9】passages from every book of the Hebrew Bible, with the 【小题10】(except)of the Book of Esther.

Making velvet flowers (绒花) was an endangered folk craft, but it’s now kept alive with more young craftsmen devoting themselves 【小题1】 the art. Murong Yi, 21, a senior studying at a university in Beijing, is one of them.

Recently, she was trending on Sina Weibo for her video about how to make velvet flower headwear shaped like a golden phoenix. 【小题2】 (inspire) by Wang Xifeng, a character in A Dream of Red Mansions, the artwork was made of 4,000 pieces of cocoon fibre in 12 days. Generally, it only takes two to three days to make a velvet flower. The video 【小题3】 (receive) over 2.4 million views on Bilibili so far.

Velvet flowers are called “ronghua” in Chinese, homophonic (谐音) of wealth and glory. It was a popular 【小题4】 (decorate) in festivals and weddings. Despite 【小题5】 (include) in the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Jiangsu Province in 2006, velvet flowers were 【小题6】 (previous) less known to the public. Therefore, Murong faced challenges in learning this handicraft. “I started to learn about it five or six years ago from some ancient Chinese costume and historical dramas,” she said. She tried to learn from others but couldn’t find many online tutorial 【小题7】 (video). Finally, she watched a one-hour TV program, 【小题8】 an inheritor (继承人) showed how to make velvet flowers in detail. As 【小题9】 lover of traditional Chinese culture, she said, “I’ll learn more about different handicrafts and promote 【小题10】 (they) among young people on social media platforms.”