Valentine's Day is one of those rare holidays that are enjoyed by almost everyone in the world But how did it begin?While there are many stories,the most popular one dales back to 270 AD.According to the story, Emperor Claudius II, the ruler of the Roman EImpire did not allow young men to get married before heading to war.He believed that single men made better soldiers because they were less distracted.

But a Roman clergyman named Valentine did not agree and helped many couples get married secretly.When the Emperor found out，he sentenced him to death.While in prison，Valentine fell in love with a Rirl and just before he was executed on February he sent her a note signed—"From Your Valentinew.In 496 AD Pope Gclasius set aside the day to honor St.Valentine and a fun tradition was born!

Pope, of course，was not the one who changed it into a business holiday.That credit goes to Richard Cadbury a memter of the famous British chocolate company, and Massachusetts businesswoman Esther Howland. The former came up with the brilliant idea of selling bite-sized chocolates packaged in heart-shapcd boxes.

Candy and cards remain the biggest Valentine's Day gifts till this day.Americans spend over $1 billion USD on chocolate.Also popular are sweethearts.According to the manufacturers a total of the 8 billion candy hearts made annually are sold between January 1 and February 14.

With over 145 million cards exchanged in the US and over a billion worldwide.Valentine's Day is one of the biggest moneymakers for greeting card companies.It is the second only to Christmas when 2.6 billion cards are sold. Flowers are also very popular.About 51% of people，primarily men buy red roses for their loved ones.

In some snow-covered villages in Altay district of Xinjiang, it’s common in winter to see local herdsmen (牧民) with planks attached to their feet, climb the snowy slopes without any other form of assistance. The pair of planks are wrapped with horsehide (马皮), which serves a double purpose. Remarkably, the horsehide not only can provide friction to prevent skiers from slipping while going up the hills, but also helps them slide more smoothly down the hills.

According to rock carvings uncovered in the area by archaeologists, such skis have served for around 12, 000 years as a means of transportation for the snowfield people of Altay, especially those who had to travel a long way in the snow to herd animals or hunt. The fur skis gradually lost their popularity in recent decades after paved roads linked houses to the outside world. However, in response to the nation’s goal of brightening up grassroots enthusiasm for ice and snow sports, Altay plans to protect and promote its skiing culture and better pass along its skiing tradition to future generations.

Silambek Sakish, 67, a herdsman in the village of Altay, began to learn the craft at the age of 15 from his father. He would cut high-quality pine into a plank and then bend the plank’s front end after the wood was heated in a fire. Wrapping the plank with horsehide was the last step.

Sakish was honored as an heritor of the craft of making fur skis in 2010, which had been assigned as an intangible (非物质) cultural heritage of Xinjiang. His works are exhibited in ski places, airports and train stations across Altay and also at the display center for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to promote the district's deep historical connection to skiing. More young people have come to him to learn the craft, and his youngest son, who is 31, has followed in his footsteps to carry on the tradition.

What comes to mind when you think of kung fu? If your mind is filled with images of Shaolin monks, Bruce Lee, or Kung Fu Panda, you wouldn't be wrong. But for Laurence J. Brahm, an American documentary filmmaker, the first thing that springs to mind is the concept of non-violence.

As Brahm explained, if you break down the character "wu" it consists of two characters: one is "ge" meaning dagger-axe; the other is"zhi" meaning to stop. So, the meaning of martial arts in Chinese is not the art of fighting, a concept that many people take for granted. On the contrary, he said, kung fu is the art of stopping fighting.

Brahm's relationship with kung fu dates back to the 1970s when he was a karate student in Hawaii. "My master always told me that if you want to fully understand karate, you have to go to Shaolin in China. That's where the origin is, "Brahm said. In 1981,he managed to visit the Shaolin Temple, situated at the foot of the Songshan Mountain in Central China, for the very first time. He left the mountain, a little disappointed at not finding the martial-arts spirit he expected. But his passion for kung fu and his desire to find out more were stronger than ever before.

Over the years he trained in many different styles, such as tai chi, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do to understand all of them. "Martial arts can help us connect our body, connect our neural system, connect our blood flow, and also help connect us into our environment to increase our awareness. Martial arts is moving meditation (冥想)," Brahm said, his eyes bright and intense.

But to him, kung fu's charm and values are far more than that. He combined the knowledge from many masters and scholars with his own experience as a practitioner and tutor to extract 12 key principles and values of the martial arts: perseverance, roots, loyalty, respect, harmony, change, balance, centering, emptiness, flow, pragmatism, non-violence.

"Kung fu, in my eves, is a mirror of Chinese culture.” Brahm said “The traditional values of kung fu, actually, are in the minds of all Chinese people.”