On the night of January 14, Tongliang Chinese Dragon Dance & Lantern Art Festival started at Tongliang Qicai Dream Garden. Every year, as a part of traditional Chinese culture, the dragon dance is used to pray for peace and good luck for the new year. Tongliang Dragon Dance appeared in the Ming Dynasty and became extremely popular in the Qing Dynasty.

Among all the dragon dances in Tongliang, Fire Dragon Dance is the best-known.

According to local beliefs, the Tongliang Fire Dragon Dance has the power of driving away disasters, and offering wishes for the local community.

The iron is heated to l, 600℃ in eight ovens which are placed in a circle. Sixteen shirtless men spray (喷洒) the liquid (液体) iron into the air, creating flower-like flames (火焰). Fireworks hidden in the bodies of two gold dragons are lighted. Then you can see fireworks fly from the bodies of two golden dragons held by 20 shirtless men as the dragons fly up and down and back and forth through seas of fire. Along with the iron fireworks and music, the two fire dragons dance around to offer New Year wishes.

The Fire Dragon Dance in Tongliang was listed in the national intangible cultural heritages in 2006 and one of the city’s cultural symbols. It is known as China’s No.1 Dragon Dance.

Tongliang Fire Dragon Dance has shone both at home and abroad. It has taken part in major national events such as 1984, 1999 and 2009 National Day celebrations, as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Moreover, Tongliang Fire Dragon Dance has visited Britain, France, and Japan, South Korea and more than 20 countries to spread Chinese culture.

Nowadays, both dragon-making and dragon dances have changed in recent years. They have created income for local people. There are 35 dance teams, 10 dragon-making teams and tourism, which make about 1 billion yuan ($154.6 million) a year.

And this ancient tradition, Tongliang Fire Dragon Dance, seems set to continue to fly into the future!

Yesterday was Lydia’s birthday, and in the morning Audrey decided to make a cake and take it to the birthday party. Audrey searched the kitchen for everything she needed, but she couldn’t find baking powder(发酵粉) or sugar. She looked at her watch and there was still enough time for some quick shopping. So she got her shopping bag, jumped onto her bike and headed for the supermarket. Since she didn’t have much time left, she asked a supermarket worker to lead her directly(直接地)to where the baking powder and sugar were placed. She quickly got the things she needed and rode back home.

Upon arriving home, she took out two jars (罐子) and poured the baking powder and sugar into them. Then she took out eggs, flour (面粉), and butter. Later she added three spoons of sugar and one spoon of baking powder. After everything was mixed, she put it in the oven (烤箱). Twenty minutes later, the cake was ready. “I didn’t burn (烧焦) it. It looks perfect,” said Audrey. When the cake cooled down, she put it onto a big plate and carried it to Lydia’s home.

In Lydia’s place, all the friends sang the birthday song and looked forward to eating a piece of cake. Lydia cut the cake into small pieces and everyone got a piece. Audrey had a bite (咬) of her piece and realized something was wrong. The cake tasted terrible and she had to ask everyone else to put the cake down. She thought hard and realized that she must have put sugar into the baking powder jar and the baking powder into the sugar jar. She explained what had happened, and everyone started laughing. Audrey said sorry and promised that she would be more careful with cooking in future.