A blind box keeps what’s inside a secret (秘密). Usually, there are toys in blind boxes, but now stores are putting leftover (过剩的) food in them.

The food inside is near its expiration date (保质期) and will be thrown away if no one buys it. Each box costs little money but has a lot of food inside. They are more and more popular in China’s cities, such as Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu.

Back in 2021 when I was studying in the UK, I bought leftover blind boxes from an app called Too Good To Go. Each box cost about 3 to 5 pounds （27 to 45 yuan）, and there were usually three to four things inside. For example, a box I bought from the coffee shop Costa had three kinds of bread and one cake. The box cost 3 pounds but the original price (原价) was around 10 pounds.

Every time I bought a blind box, the excitement of opening it hit me first. That helped me save a lot of money. Wasting less food is also good for the environment.

But the boxes also brought me problems. Since I can’t choose what’s in the box, sometimes I got the same kind of food. Also, the food may not be healthy enough. I had to make other dishes, such as a salad, to make the meal healthier.

A Chinese knot is woven (编织) with a single rope. It has different shapes. (A) 每个形状有着它自己的含义。 People can use ropes of different colours to weave a Chinese knot, but they usually use (B) ________ because it means good luck.

The Chinese knot, a folk art, has a long history. People first made them to record information and send messages before they started to use words. The knots were used for decoration (装饰) and to express thoughts and feelings in the Tang Dynasty. They were later popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. (C) ________ this art wasn’t really accepted by common people until the Qing Dynasty.

Even today, Chinese knots still hold the value of feelings when they are sent as (D) gifts. For example, lovers may give a knot to show their love. The “double happiness knot” is given and used at weddings to express each other’s love and wishes for growing old together.

Many (E) tourists including foreigners like to buy Chinese knots as gifts during their trips. (F) There are many shopping streets for people to buy Chinese knots.

How much do you know about Chinese oil-paper umbrellas (中国油纸伞)? They are not just tools (工具) to keep people away from rain or sunlight, but also works of art (艺术品) with rich cultural meaning in China.

Chinese oil-paper umbrellas are one of the world’s oldest umbrellas. According to historical records, the first oil-paper umbrella came out during the Eastern Han Dynasty. They soon became very popular, especially among the literati (文人). 他们喜欢在伞上写字或画画来展示他们的绘画技能。

Oil-paper umbrellas are a necessary part of traditional Chinese weddings (婚礼). A red oil-paper umbrella is needed when the bride (新娘) goes into the groom’s home. That’s because people believe the umbrella can help stop bad luck. Also, the sound of oil-paper in Chinese sounds like “youzi”, which means having more children.

It takes quite a lot of time and effort to make a Chinese oil-paper umbrella by hand. Luzhou in southwest China’s Sichuan Province is now the only main production place for handmade oil-paper umbrellas in China. There, craftsmen (手艺人) must complete more than 90 steps and use over 100 different tools to make a single umbrella. With all their efforts, a traditional oil-paper umbrella made in Luzhou can stand strong winds and 3,000 openings and closings.