Double Ninth Festival in China is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）every year. And it is also known as Chongyang Festival.

Traditionally, it’s a time when the family get together to climb hills, drink chrysanthemum wines（菊花酒）, eat Chongyang cakes, and wear cornels（茱萸）. However, those activities are only one part of the story. The day is also seen as a chance to care for the elderly.

Once upon a time, on a river bank lived a farmer called Aniu with his blind mother. Aniu wanted to cure（治愈）his mother’s eyes. One night, he dreamed of a beautiful girl, who told him to find white chrysanthemum in the west. She said the flower would come out on the ninth day of the ninth month and could cure his mother’s eyes. He followed his dream, found the flower and planted it in his yard. On the ninth day of the ninth month, the flowers came out. His mother could see things again.

The story is very beautiful and now the festival is still popular among Chinese. The old traditions are meaningful to people’s health. Mountain climbing encourages people to exercise, while chrysanthemum wines are good for the eyes, liver（肝脏）and brain. Cornel, with its special smell, can stop people from catching a cold. The day also reminds all people to take care of the elderly.

Nowadays, the festival has also developed some new meanings. It’s the time for young adults to have a family outing with their elder parents on this day.

Houkeng village in Huangshan, a region (区域) in the south of Anhui Province, is home to the tea Taiping Kowkui. 【小题1】 It is grown at the foot of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui. The tea has been produced since the beginning of the 20th century.

Huangshan region, known as Huizhou, has been a center for tea production for centuries. 【小题2】

For Huizhou people, they like tea very much. Tea is an emotional bond (感情纽带) to connect people. When you visit relatives and friends, tea is the best gift. 【小题3】

People will first exchange their praise for a good cup of tea before talking about business and other events. Sharing love for certain types of tea may show shared values towards life. So, in Chinese culture, tea has to do with social etiquette (礼仪).

【小题4】 It is far more than just a drink. The tea culture not only reflects a taste in life, but also shows people’s creativity.

Foxes with nine tails, animals with human faces and fish bodies, turtles with bird heads and snake tails...these magical animals are from Shan Hai Jing (The Classic of Mountains and Seas). This old book played an important role in the world and inspired (给予灵感) today’s works. Let’s learn more about it!

Shan Hai Jing took shape before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). Like an encyclopedia, it writes about the world in the eyes of people at that time. The 30, 000-word book records about 40 states, 550 mountains, 300 rivers, more than 100 people in history and 400 interesting animals.

Shan Hai Jing had a deep influence on the culture of mythology (神话学) in the world. It was taken to Japan during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, or much earlier. In Japan, it was popular. People there once saw it as a guidebook for traveling in China. The book’s monsters were also popular.

Shan Hai Jing has inspired many works. Liu Siliang is a teacher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He said the book inspired the writing of Journey to the West and Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Pop culture works also borrow ideas from the book. Some of animals in the book even go into movies, such as Zouwu, the star monster in Shan Hai Jing. It has a tiger-body with stripes of five colors. Its tail is longer than its body. It can travel 1, 600 kilometers in a day. We can see it in the popular movie Fantastic Beasts II in 2021.