It's a land where winter darkness is long, and summers bring continuous sunlight.

However, people are very happy in Finland, despite the country's natural challenges. Once the nation was tamed the happiest on earth.

The Finns certainly have a high range of happiness, Eric Weiner wrote in his 2008 book The Geography of Bliss.

There's a stereotype that Finns are introverted（内向的）and shy, because they often stay silent. But in fact, "for Finns, it is extremely rude to interrupt someone. This leads to us making pauses or taking our time to talk", Krista Huhtala-jenks, a senior officer at Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications, explained to CNN.

Perhaps Finland's love for heavy metal music and tango reveals the country's true personality, however. Indeed, young Finns love heavy metal, while tango remains a huge part of Finnish culture for the older generation. The passionate dance started in Argentina, but it's Finland that became the tango capital of the world. Every July, the Finnish town of Seinajoki draws thousands of people from all over the world to a four-day tango festival. During the festival, a tango king and queen are chosen.

Another trademark（特征）of Finnish culture is the sauna（桑拿）, According to CNN, the nation has about 3.5 million saunas-roughly one for every 1.6 people. And 99 percent of Finns take at least one sauna a week, BBC News reported.

In Finns' eyes, saunas are closely related to well-being. For example, if a person gets sick, he or she will take a sauna. Many women also prefer to give birth in a sauna, because "the walls of traditional smoke saunas were lined with naturally bacteria-resistant soot（抑菌的煤烟灰）, making them the cleanest room in the house", BBC News noted.

Medical benefits aside, the sauna is also seen as a place to collect your thoughts. "Sauna is for your mind. It really helps you to calm down in a modern society where it is never quiet," Jarmo Lehtola from the Finnish Sauna Society, told BBC News.

The cheerful smiles and legendary strength of the Sherpas(夏尔巴人) have been an essential part of Mount Everest climbing expeditions(探险) from the very beginning. Indeed, very few significant successes have been achieved without them.

When Western mountaineers first set their sights on the world’s highest peak, they found in the Sherpas a people ideally suited to the hardship of high-altitude climbing, unfailingly positive, stout at altitude, and seemingly resistant to cold.

Sherpas did not venture into the high peaks until European mountaineers began arriving to climb in the world’s greatest mountain range. Mount Everest, known as Chomolungma or “Goddess Mother of the Land” to the Sherpas, was long considered as a living place of the gods where humans were not allowed to go.

Although Everest now sees many a human footprint, the Sherpas still regard the mountain as a holy place. All modern expeditions begin with a Puja ceremony in which Sherpas and other team members leave offerings and pay respect to the gods of the mountain, hoping to remain in their good graces throughout the climb.

Sherpas were first employed as porters, tasked with carrying large amounts of equipment to supply the military-style expeditions of the day. The early climbers were amazed at the strength of these people, from the fittest of mature men to the young and elderly. In addition to their heavy loads, some of the women even carried along their babies. The whole troop of Sherpas slept outside, using only rocks for shelter, as temperatures dropped well below freezing.

Stronger Sherpas soon graduated from porter status and began to undertake challenging climbing. Those who distinguished themselves were awarded the Tiger Medal, and many desired this honor and the higher pay rate it afforded. Despite the potential dangers, the Sherpa people remained enthusiastic about taking part in Everest expeditions, which even then were becoming an important source of income for a poor mountain folk.

New Zealand is an island country in the southwest of Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main lands—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Maui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu, and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometers east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometers south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. The country’s varied topography(地形) and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to volcanic eruptions. New Zealand’s capital city is Wellington, while the city that has the largest population is Auckland.

Polynesians settled in the islands that were to become New Zealand somewhere between 1250 and 1300 AD, and developed a unique Maori culture. In 1642, Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer became the first European to sight New Zealand in 1840. Representatives of the British Crown(王室) and Maori Chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, making New Zealand a British colony. Today, the majority of New Zealand’s population of 4.5 million is of European descent(血统), and the indigenous(土著的) Maori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand’s culture is mainly originated from Maori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Maori and New Zealand Sign Language, with English predominant(主要的).

New Zealand is a developed country with a market economy that mainly consists of the exports of dairy products, meat and wine, along with tourism. New Zealand is a high-income economy and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life.