The craftswoman Ji Yulan, an inheritor of the intangible heritage of paper-cutting from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 【小题1】 (engage) herself in the art for over 40 years.

She made paper-cuts of people from all 【小题2】 (walk) of life. “The paper-cutting art comes from the folk and it should return to the people,” Ji said. One of her pieces described a nurse with long, beautiful hair, 【小题3】 (wear) a mask and a white gown (罩衣). Ji was deeply impressed by female medical workers 【小题4】 cut their long hair to better themselves for their jobs. “Women are charming in long hair and it takes a lot of courage to cut it,” Ji said. She created a paper-cutting work to show the image, in which a nurse has her long hair back.

Ji has 12 students, aged from 3 【小题5】 23. “They discovered their interest in paper-cutting and came to me to learn it, “she said. She devotes 【小题6】 (she) to her career and often encourages her students 【小题7】 (create) works based on a younger mindset. Ji said, “I am 【小题8】 (extreme) optimistic about the future of the craft. Younger generation have a real sense of 【小题9】 (culture) heritage.”

Ji keeps practicing paper-cutting every day. Her works hang in her studio 【小题10】appear in every corner of her home. She also learned to share her works on video-sharing platforms to increase her audience.

What inspires you?

Every artist’s wish is to create something that expresses an idea. But where do artists get their ideas from? Who or what inspires them? Here we find out more about the influences behind the successes of three very different artists.

Florentijn Hofman, visual artist

Florentijn Hofman is a Dutch 【小题1】 (art), whose large sculptures are on display all over the world. One way for him to find inspiration is turning to his children’s toys. These objects have given him 【小题2】 (idea) for his animal sculptures, such as the famous Rubber Duck. A more recent work of his is the huge Floating Fish, 【小题3】 was set among the beautiful landscape of Wuzhen West Scenic Zone.

Hofman’s inspiration for Floating Fish came from Chinese folk tales passed down through the generations. He was particularly 【小题4】 (interesting) in the old story about a fish jumping through the “Dragon Gate”. This story came to life for Hofman when he visited Wuzhen and saw how people lived there.

“During the walk and my stay here in the town, I saw the fish being fed by people. You see also some fish sculpted on the wall.” These sights set Hofman’s idea for Floating Fish 【小题5】 motion.

Tan Dun, composer

“There is no territory in the world of music.” These are the words of Chinese composer Tan Dun. He is most widely known for 【小题6】 (compose) music for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

To listen to Tan’s music is to experience a mix of Chinese musical traditions and Western influences. Since his first opera, Nine Songs, Tan Dun has been using 【小题7】 combination of Chinese music and sounds from all over the world to tell stories.As Tan once said, Chinese music should carry “universal expression” of the human spirit so as to be recognized by the whole world.

Yang Liping, dancer

Yang Liping’s passion is dancing. After winning a national competition in 1986 with her Spirit of the Peacock dance, she has been known as the “Peacock Princess”. The inspiration for her famous dances has come from the time she spent in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province.

“I feel very grateful for the years in Xishuangbanna,” says Yang. “It 【小题8】 (give) me a chance to go deeper into the lives of various ethnic groups... Our ethnic groups, 【小题9】 (especial) the Dai people, admire the peacock. They think the peacock represents the beauty of nature. I especially like the dance style of the Dai people and it gives me lots of inspiration. My dance comes 【小题10】 their traditional belief and aims to bring out the Dai women’s beauty.”

About the year 1898, a small, dark-haired hot boy named Charlie Chaplin was often seen 【小题1】(wait) outside the back entrance of London Theatre. He looked thin and hungry. He was hoping to get work in show business. He could sing and dance. Above all, he knew how 【小题2】(make) people laugh. But he couldn’t get work and so he 【小题3】(wander) about the city streets. Sometimes he 【小题4】(send) away to a home for children who had no parents.

But twenty years later this name Chaplin became the 【小题5】(great), best-known, and best-loved comedian in the world. Any visitor to the cinema must have seen some of Chaplin’s films. People everywhere have sat and laughed at them until the 【小题6】(tear) ran down their faces. Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy Chaplin’s films though most of them are 【小题7】(silence). It isn’t 【小题8】 he says that makes us laugh. His comedy doesn’t depend upon words and languages. It depends upon little actions which mean 【小题9】 same thing to people all over the world. It’s a kind of world language.

Chaplin lived most of his life in America and died in Switzerland on Christmas Day, 1977, at the age of eighty-eight. The world was shocked 【小题10】 the news of the death and lost in sadness.