Modern graffiti (涂鸦) began in big cities in the United States in the 1970s. In New York, young people wrote their names, or "tags"（标签）, in pen on walls around the city.

One of the first "taggers" was a teenager called Demetrius. His tag was TAKI 183. He wrote his tag on walls and in stations in New York. He did it just for fun and he had never considered his behavior would have launched an amazing art campaign. Other teenagers saw Demetrius's tag and started writing their tags too. Soon, there were tags on walls, buses and trains all over New York.

Then, some teenagers started writing their tags with paint. Their tags were bigger and more colourful. Paint graffiti became very popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the 1990s and 2000s, a lot of graffiti artists started painting pictures. Some artists' pictures were about politics(政治). Other artists wanted to make cities beautiful and painted big, colorful pictures on city walls.

In some countries, writing or painting on walls is a crime. Sometimes, graffiti artists have problems with the police. In other countries, artists can draw and paint in certain places. For example, in Taiwan, there are 'graffiti zones' where artists can paint on walls. In Sao Paulo in Brazil, street artists can paint pictures on walls and houses. Their pictures are colorful and beautiful. Some tourists visit Sao Paulo just to see the street art!

In Bristol in the UK, there is a street art festival in August every year. Artists paint all the buildings in a street. Lots of people come to watch the artists and take photos. You can see exhibitions of street art in some galleries too. There have been exhibitions of street art in galleries in Paris, London and Los Angeles.

It’s not amazing to see paintings on paper, on the walls and even on people’s faces. But have you ever thought of creating art in the fields? In Japan, every year farmers plant different kinds and colors of rice to “grow” pictures in the fields. This is called Tanbo art. It started in 1993. At that time the village of Inakadate was trying to do something to help the villagers make more money. They needed a way to attract（吸引）tourists and then the rice field art came into being. During the first few years, the famers created simple pictures. Later they were able to make more complex ones.

Every April, the villagers meet and decide what to plant for the year. Before planting, farmers design（设计）the pictures on computers to work out where and how to plant the rice. After that, farmers plant different kinds of rice in different areas of fields. When rice grows tall, different colors will appear in the fields.

Now, Inakadate has become one of the most popular places of interest for both the young and old. So what are you waiting for? Just bring your camera, go and enjoy the beauty of nature for yourself this summer!

Paper cutting is a traditional art in China. It has a long history. The kind of art went after the invention of paper in the Han Dynasty. It became one of the main forms of arts, and was popular with the people of the time.

Most of the paper cutting artists are women. The themes (主题) of their works usually include everything in people’s everyday life. The main tool for paper cutting is scissors. Once they are owned by a master of paper cutting, they will do so well that they become so supernatural and their paper cuttings are beyond imagination of a common pair of scissors.

Arts come from life and serve life. Paper cutting is very popular in the countryside. They are often found in wedding ceremonies (结婚典礼) or festivals in China. And people like to decorate their windows and doors with colorful paper cuttings of different shapes and sizes whether they are birds, animals or flowers.