<h1> <i>Without full confidence in our culture, without a rich and prosperous culture, the Chinese Nation will not be able to rejuvenate itself. --Chinese President Xi Jinping</i></h1> <p class="ql-block"> Previous Chinese Education Minister Chen Baosheng discussed the importance of reviving Chinese traditional culture. He said the importance of traditional culture in education has been reiterated for many years, and it needs to cover different stages from primary school to college.</p><p class="ql-block"><span style="color:inherit;"> We</span> may learn about traditional Chinese culture at school. But can we introduce them in English? Can we strengthen the awareness and confidence in Chinese culture ? I hope I can make it a goal to further our knowledge of Chinese culture and our English skills alike.</p><p class="ql-block"> In today's class meeting, two gorgeous girls Wang Jinchen and Ma Xinrui brought us the first presentation-Paper-Cutting.</p> <p class="ql-block"> At the beginning, we learn something about Paper-Cutting from a video. </p> <p class="ql-block"> Then Wang Jinchen talked about its development.</p> The art of paper-cut appeared in the Northern Dynasty, and it has a history of 1500 years. At that time, the art of paper-cut was fairly sophisticated.<br><br> After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the art of paper cutting grew in prosperity. There were also poems describing paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty. The paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty, now in the British Museum, shows that the level of paper-cut craft was extremely high at that time, and the picture composition was complete, expressing an ideal realm of heaven and earth.<br><br> In the Song Dynasty, paper-cut began to be popularized. The maturity of the paper making industry created conditions for the popularization of paper-cut, and paper-cut industry and famous paper-cut artists began to emerge.<br><br> During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the art of paper-cutting matured. Paper cutting works are widely used in household ornaments to beautify the home environment.<br><br> The art of paper cutting has never been interrupted in Chinese history since its birth. It is enriched in various folk activities and is one of the most abundant artistic forms of Chinese folk history and culture. <p class="ql-block"> Next Ma Xinrui told us its reional distribution and guided us to appreciate different types of paper cutting.</p> After that, the two girls played a game with us. They asked us to guess the implications of the images. Many of teens could give the correct answers. Bravo! The expression language of folk paper cuttings is mostly the expression of objects, and it borrows from the idealized images that have become popular to express people's aspirations for a better life and for good fortune and happiness. At the end of the class, after learning how to cut paper from two videos, all the students in class held the sissiors and tried to create their own paper-cutting patterns. Li Xingyu,a boy who is not good at cutting papers, is still quite satisfied with his work. He said no matter what the pattern is, it looks beautiful on the red paper. I think it is the magic of the traditional culture. I'm delighted they can sense the charm of the art. After the class,some gentlemen helped me decorate our classroom with the excellent works. They make the classroom(our home) more colorful and bright. <h3><i><font color="#ff8a00">Extract from Xi Jinping's report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 18, 2017</font></i>:Culture is a country and nation's soul. Our country will thrive only if our culture thrives, and our nation will be strong only if our culture is strong. Without full confidence in our culture, without a rich and prosperous culture, the Chinese nation will not be able to rejuvenate itself. We must develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, inspire the cultural creativity of our whole nation, and develop a great socialist culture in China.</h3> <p class="ql-block"> In the second session we will talk about Hanfu. Stay tuned!</p>