The creative concept of jinhuidui (literally “a pile of beautiful things from ash”), a Chinese art form which is said【小题1】(start) in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and have boomed in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), shares similarities to pop art.

【小题2】(create) traditional jinhuidui artwork is much more difficult compared to pop art, as all the images are painted as if they were copied and pasted (粘贴). It requires【小题3】 good command of calligraphy as well as excellent skill in painting flowers, birds, fish, insects, landscapes and【小题4】(figure), and a mastery of techniques such as seal carving.

Geng Xuezhi, 50, from Zibo city, Shandong Province, is one of the masters of jinhuidui. Geng has been learning Chinese painting and calligraphy 【小题5】 he was 16. He came into contact 【小题6】 jinhuidui painting skills through his father in 2006.

The artist says the distinctive feature of jinhuidui can be summed up as “broken”, 【小题7】     means that it has to present fragments in forms such as broken, rolled, overlapped,【小题8】(tear), burned or smoked. He adds it will take at least 10 years to master the skill.

The creation of jinhuidui is complex and lengthy, and【小题9】(it) dyeing process is laborious (费力的) and time-consuming. Sometimes a fragment needs to be dyed a dozen times. “A simpler work of jinhuidui takes about 20 days to complete, while a 【小题10】(hard) one will take several months, and sometimes some extra effort has to be made,” Geng says.

Despite the passage of time, honesty has always been a traditional virtue in China and embodied in countless tales throughout China’s history.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, a general 【小题1】 (name) Ji Bu was known for being courageous and honest. Legend has 【小题2】that whenever Ji made a promise, he would spare no effort to fulfill it. Such a virtue of honesty earned him a good reputation, and there was a saying 【小题3】 (wide) spread: It is better to have a promise from Ji Bu than to get hundreds of ounces of gold.

In ancient China, the currency (货币) consisted mainly of precious 【小题4】 (metal), such as gold, silver and copper, so carrying a large quantity of cash was not only a heavy burden but could also put the owner in danger as robberies quite often happened along the way. So a story 【小题5】(tell) about the start of the Chinese banking industry.

A successful merchant during the Qing Dynasty, Li Daquan, was visited by a friend who came up 【小题6】 a novel idea. His friend proposed that a draft 【小题7】(issue) to replace the real cash. This draft (汇票) was not only a promise, but a declaration that 【小题8】 same amount of currency had been deposited and could be withdrawn elsewhere.

Li readily agreed and kept his word. The story soon got around, 【小题9】 Li’s honesty brought him a flood of customers. He later set up China’s first draft bank, Rishengchang, 【小题10】later had 35 branches across the country.

The most popular martial arts today originated(起源)in Asia, 【小题1】(especial) in China. Some Chinese fighting styles 【小题2】(invent) more than 3,000 years ago. Many martial arts were invented because people needed to defend themselves or protect 【小题3】. Nowadays, people learn martial arts as a way of keeping ft or as a competitive sport, but they are still very useful for self - defence.

Martial arts are often referred to as either soft or hard. Soft martial arts, such as tai chi, teach you to use your opponent’s (对手) own force to defend yourself, whose movements 【小题4】(be) soft for the defender but not for the attacker! On the other hand, hard styles, such as Kung Fu, teach you 【小题5】(defend) yourself using force. Hard martial arts techniques are more effective if you are more skillful, more powerful and faster 【小题6】 your opponent.

Perhaps one of the best known Japanese martial arts today is karate. In the 14th century, a community of Chinese migrants (移民) from Fujian settled in 【小题7】was then the kingdom of Okinawa. The Chinese migrants used to gather in a park to enjoy cultural 【小题8】(activity) —one of which was kung fu. This soon caught the attention of local youths, who started learning kung fu from their Chinese neighbors. And 【小题9】 very first Korean military training manual (手册) was also based on a Chinese version (版本) called Ji Xiao Xin Shu 【小题10】(write) by the famed Chines general, Qi Jiguang, who had himself defeated Japanese pirates.