The birth of the Blues was on the Mississippi River in the early 1900s. In those days, the slaves (奴隶) were free but life was still not easy. They had to find new work. In the south, black people worked on farms and on building up the Mississippi River. During the week the people worked long and hard. They often lived alone, without their families, far from home. On the weekends, the workers got together at picnics or drinking places. The musicians sang songs about the difficult life of the workers. These songs were called the Blues.

If you have the blues, it usually means you feel very sad. You can have the blues because you have no money, no job, no lover, no home, or no friend. You can have the St. Louis blues, the Memphis blues, or the Monday morning blues. Maybe you have had the homework blues or the examination blues. But blues songs were not always sad. Some of them were happy and many of them were funny.

In blues songs some musical notes were flattened (降半音). These notes were called “blue notes.” They made the music sound sad and different. Early blues singers often had very interesting names, like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Howlin’s Wolf.

Blues began in the countryside in the south. As blacks moved into the big cities to work, the Blues went with them. There, they sang about life in the cities. W. C. Handy, a black from Memphis made the blues popular all over America. In 1914, he wrote the most famous blues song of all, “The St. Louis Blues.”

Wang Xiangjun is the first blind student to take gaokao in Anhui. She went to a music college in Tianjin in 2015. It’s never an easy thing for blind people to do that.

Wang was blind when she was born. At the age of eight, she started to learn to play the piano. The first problem for Wang was to find the keys. She had to listen to the melody （旋律）again and again, keep it in mind and then practice playing it over and over again. She worked very hard and played better and better. Music made her confident and happy.

“Many kind people helped me over the past years. I wish to pass on the love and kindness to more blind children by working as a teacher. ” said Wang after she graduated from college in 2019.

Her dream came true soon. She became a piano teacher in the Hefei Special Education Center that year. Now Wang lives a busy but happy life. “All of my students are so lovely. I know their difficulties in learning. I can teach them with my experience and let them know there is hope and a bright future ahead, ” said Wang.

A special popular dance has attracted attention widely. There are two stories about the origin (起源) of “Subject Three”. One story connects the dance to a wedding in Wuzhou, where guests danced as part of the celebrations. The other story suggests Guangxi local people go through three tests in their life: singing folk songs (“Subject One”) , slurping rice noodles (“Subject Two”) , and dancing (“Subject Three”) . ①

Why has “Subject Three” dance become so popular around the world? Some experts said the key to the success of “Subject Three” lies in its simplicity, which allows people to copy and take part. Its lasting joy is the secret to its popularity, satisfying people’s needs. While some others think openness leads to its popularity.    ②

What’s more, “Subject Three” has gone beyond cultural differences and language barriers (障碍) to become an unusual form of expression in the digital age. From Psy’s “Gangnam Style” (South Korea) in 2013 to “Subject Three” in 2023, over the past ten years, some dance styles, songs and other performances have broken boundaries between different cultures.    ③

“Subject Three” does not only belong to Guangxi alone; but it belongs to the world as well.China’s stories can be spread to the world even through simple, short videos of a dance . “Subject Three” provides the living conditions of the Chinese people for the international community. The works that are loved by the common Chinese are always attractive to the people around the world.   ④

We often pay more attention to the word “good” to show high-brow (高雅的) Chinese culture to the world when it comes to telling China’s stories. But in 2023, the breakout success of “Subject Three” became a classic example of how to tell a good Chinese story. Hopefully, in the future, more stories like “Subject Three” will be heard by the world.