Long before copying machines were invented, ancient Chinese had come up with a way to retrieve patterns, calligraphy, or characters engraved on oracle bones, bronze ware, and stone tablets. What they used were pretty simple items: a piece of rice paper, ink, and a cloth ball. They first covered the inscriptions with a piece of rice paper, and then tamped down on the paper into the inscriptions with a cloth filled with light ink. When the paper was peeled off, rubbings would come out.

The geographer and traveler of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Xu Xiake, once penned the following lines while trying to describe a beautiful region in southern China, “The world is full of mountain peaks, but only this place can boast of having a peak forest.” The unique natural scenic spot described was Wanfenglin, literally meaning a forest of tens of thousands of peaks, located in the Wanfenglin Scenic Area in Xingyi City, Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province.

The documentary A Long Cherished Dream, directed by British two-time Oscar-winning director Malcolm Clarke, premiered globally in mid July. In the four-episode documentary, Clarke shines a spotlight on China’s road to Xiaokang society, also known as a moderately prosperous society, by telling the stories of ordinary people.

In addition to being a student of Peking University, Lang Jiaziyu, now 26 years old, is also the third generation inheritor of the Chinese naitonal intangible culture heritage Dough Figurine Lang craft. At 15 years old, he surprised many people with the ingenious Fuwa dough figurines he made in memory of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Erhu is a traditional Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments played in China. “Among Chinese bowed stringed instruments, erhu is the most widely used in a variety of folk arts,” said professor Li Ying of Minzu University of China.

Located in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is an administrative area with superior natural conditions called Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture or just Ili. It is situated next to the Tianshan Mountains and surrounded by high mountain ranges on the north, east, and south. The warm air that flows in from the Atlantic Ocean and Caspian Sea enters the region through the Ili valley, then when stopped by the high mountains, it is transformed into atmospheric water, creating a rich moist atmosphere for the whole area. As a result of this natural phenomenon, Ili has been called “wet island in Central Asia.”

On June 1, 2021, a documentary titled Kite·Kite was released in China in commemoration of The Magic of the Kite, the first children’s feature film co-produced by China and France in 1958. The documentary brought alive a story of Sino-French friendship 60 years ago revolving around kites.

The Taihang Mountain range is the dividing line of the North China Plain and the Loess Plateau, extending 400 kilometers from north to south, crisscrossing through the hinterlands of China’s central plains. The mountain range passes through the areas of Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan provinces and Beijing. It has also been called the largest and most spectacular mountain range in China, and the backbone of China in ancient times.

“It is widely recognized that the piano is a variant instrument of China’s yangqin, one major difference being that the hammers and strings of the piano are placed inside the instrument body instead of outside like the yangqin,” said the Minzu University professor Xu Xuedong, a yangqin virtuoso and composer. “Consequently, the yangqin is also known as the ‘Chinese piano.’”

In recent months, patriotic TV dramas that feature elements of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) history have been a big hit with young audiences. The Awakening Age is among the most popular revolution-themed TV series, rated 9.3 out of 10 on China’s social media review platform Douban.

Bottle gourds, or calabash, have long been taken as auspicious objects in China. With a small mouth and a big stomach, they were used as containers in times past. In ancient times, doctors would often hang a bottle gourd in front of their stall, which was originally used to hold medicine. Gradually, bottle gourds evolved into a symbol that represented doctors of traditional Chinese medicine. Meanwhile, the Chinese idiom Xuanhu Jishi (hanging a calabash to help people) came into being, praising the benevolence of medical practitioners who save patients in times of pain.

Located in Liping County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China’s Guizhou Province is the Zhao-xing Town, one of the largest ethnic Dong villages in China. The Dong people have resided in this region for centuries and have preserved their native language in both its oral and written form. Their culture has three unique treasures: drum towers, wind and rain bridges, and their own brand of polyphonic music. The region home to the Dong people has been hailed as the “home of poetry and sea of music.”

On March 20, 2021, the latest archaeological discovery at the Sanxingdui ruins site gripped the public’s attention: more than 500 ancient artifacts were unearthed in the six newly discovered sacrificial pits, including a bronze portrait with painted eyes, a gold mask, and a bronze holy tree sculpture. After 34 years since the last finds, these new items become part of the Sanxingdui collection.