Why did Chinese people have more than one name in ancient times (古代)? In ancient China, people’s names had three parts, their family name, given name and courtesy name. Take famous poet (诗人) Li Bai for example. His family name, which came from his father’s name was Li. His given name was Bai, and his courtesy name was Taibai.

Family members call people’s given name, But in social life, they call each other by their courtesy names to show respect (尊重). This was mostly called by people of similar age. If you were talking about yourself, or if your parents were talking about you, the given name would be used instead of courtesy name.

Men would get their courtesy name when they turned 20. It was a symbol of adulthood (成人礼). Women would get their courtesy name after getting married (结婚).

One’s courtesy name often had something to do with one’s given name. For example, Zhuge Liang’s given name was Liang, which means “bright”. His courtesy name was Kongming, which means “very bright”.

If you look around your city, you might find girls wearing hanfu in subways or people wearing T-shirts with Chinese characters on the streets. A new trend (潮流) is taking hold in China—guochao, or China-chic. The guochao trend is happening, but what is it?

The term stands for the rise of China’s own fashion trends. It adds new meaning to the term “Made in China”, which has been considered as the representation(代表) of Chinese culture and aesthetics offered by Chinese brands (品牌).

The guochao trend attracted people’s attention in 2018. Before that, big-name foreign companies ruled the world market. To win market share, many Chinese brands followed in the footsteps of those western brands. But that year, Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning changed things up. Li Ning was born in Liuzhou. He is a very famous Chinese sportsman. After 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, he entered into the business circle.

During the 2018 New York Fashion Week, Li-Ning introduced its Wu Dao collection(系列时装). The collection not only had a trendy look, but also had something to do with traditional Chinese culture. It immediately attracted attention at home and abroad. As a result, the company recorded 20 percent revenue (收益) growth in   2018.

The tread has since spread rapidly to other areas and products, from food and drinks to clothing, mobile phones and electric vehicles. For example, White Rabbit, whose candies bring back childhood memories for many, has brought its new products out.

Now the guochao trend is moving to the next stage. But no matter how the guochao trend develops, there is one thing that won’t change: Behind the craze (疯狂) is people’s confidence in the country’s development and national culture.

Yang Luoshu, a 92-year-old man from Shandong Province, is among those who shows a great love for woodblock（木板）painting. Yang has worked as a craftsman （工匠）for 77 years, always practising his carving （雕刻）skills.

“When I was young, I often saw my father carving, and I was curious about it,” Yang said. “One day my father went out for a while. I quickly took up his knife and carved on a woodblock. That was the first carving experience. Since then, Yang has carved different kinds, including flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, and traditional Chinese gods. “Though carving is hard in general, carving gods is especially difficult, for their lively facial expressions. Still, I can manage it,” Yang said confidently, and he also got a prize as a master in 2010.

Being the 19th generation （一代）painter in the family, Yang runs a century-old family workshop, and he is now working with a group of experienced craftsmen, they make around 150, 000 New Year paintings every year, which are not only sold in China, but also in other countries such as the USA, Singapore and Japan.

Yang Luoshu loves Yangjiabu New Year woodblock painting very much. It appeared during the Ming Dynasty around 600 years ago. It is now one of China’s three important of traditional paintings for the New Year, together with Tianjin’s Yangliuqing and Suzhou’s Taohuawu.

“I want to keep this alive”, for Yang, the next thing to do is to find good successors to make sure the skills are passed down to younger generations.