Free and Paid Education in China (part 2 and bibliography) China has made an impressive progress in ensuring the popularity and fairness of education in recent decades. However, many problems have come after the endeavor. On one hand, more and more students are able to attend schools; on the other hand, score-oriented teaching has transformed Chinese education to nothing but cramming. It is expected to see more improvements in .both quality and quantity of education in China. Bibliography: Author unknown. “Education in China.” Visited December 29, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_China Hu Wei, Zhang Jixi. 新观察 中国教育热点透视 2011 (A New Look Through Heat Topics of Chinese Education in 2001). Shanghai: Shanghai People Press, August 2012. Li Zhihong. “全球化背景下小学教育的特质和目标 (Characteristics and Objectives of Primary Education in the era of Globalization)”

Free and Paid Education in China (part 1) A typical high school graduate in China has experienced 12 years of education, excluding pre-school learning. The first nine years of education is free of charge, funded by the government, and the next three years of study has to be paid by students. The free education in China, starting from primary school enrollment and ending after middle school graduation, is commonly called the nine-year compulsory education by the Chinese. The most popular combination for this type of education consists of six years of primary study and then three years of middle school study; however, in some areas, students finish primary schools at fifth grade and attend middle schools for four years. The purpose of primary education is personality formation and culture introduction, so primary school subjects, such as Chinese, Math, Nature, Psychology are based on very basic knowledge. When students enter middle school, they begin to touch on more specific topics like Physics and Geography. Overall, the nine-year compulsory education has benefited children from remote villages to an immense degree. The other three years of education, which is paid, puts a tremendous amount of pressure on high school students in China. In order to attend high school, middle school graduates must take the high school entrance exam, known as ZhongKao in Chinese, meaning the middle-level test, and after high school graduation, all the students have to take GaoKao, which means the advanced-level test, so as to matriculate at a university. Gaokao is a very difficult and stressful annual test that lasts for two days in early June. All high school graduates start to take this test on the same day, trying their best to finish exams on Chinese, Mathematics, English, and Integrated Science (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology for science students) or Integrated Arts (Politics, History, Biology for arts students). The overall score of this test is the only determinant of how good university the score receiver can attend. In an effort to prepare for the test, high school students suffer enormous pressure from family, teachers and their peers. Thus, this phase of secondary education has become the most terrible time for a majority of Chinese students.

China’s Christmas: the Chinese New Year (part 2) During the New Year, Chinese people join in a lot of activities to celebrate the holiday. On the New Year Eve, a family begins to prepare a lavish dinner which includes the symbol food for the New Year, dumplings, which Chinese people call Jiao Zi. When the time hits eight in the evening, people start to watch the annual New Year Eve TV Show while enjoying the dinner at the same time. Children are rather happy on that night because they receive the Red Envelope with money inside from their parents as gifts for the New Year. When the time arrives at around 12, people start to set off fireworks. During the following days, families go around to visit their relatives from whom children receive extra Red Envelopes. The New Year lasts for seven days and eight days after the end of it comes the Rice Ball Festival, another traditional Chinese holiday. The Chinese New Year is not only a time to finish the last year, but it is also the beginning of the next year for which Chinese People plant their new year wishes. As today is the Christmas Day, I wish you Merry Christmas and happy new year. I also wish you success, and all your dreams would come true.

China’s Christmas: the Chinese New Year (part1) There are many holidays and festivals through a year in China. Chinese people celebrate a few holidays, such as the Labor’s Day, the Valentine’s Day, and Children’s Day, etc., with the rest of the world. However, we also have some traditional festivals that bare unique Chinese culture. For example, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival, and the Tomb Sweeping Day all have historical meanings. Nevertheless, none of them except the Chinese New Year can win the title of “China’s Christmas”. Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for the Chinese. We have a huge population, and hundreds of millions of people work away from their families during most time of a year. The New Year is the only opportunity for many to meet with their parents, relatives, lovely sons and daughters. This situation is more critical to workers who receive a minimum wage by performing less respected jobs. As train tickets sell extremely quickly each year in the run-up to the New Year, many of them are left unable to reunite with their families. Therefore, we highly value this time when family members should get together no matter what. What seems interesting and strange about the Chinese New Year is that the date is varying every year. The New Year, more commonly called the Spring Festival by Chinese people, is the very first day of each year on lunar calendar, a method of recording time mainly used by Chinese farmers to calculate the time to plant and harvest crops, and also employed by the Chinese to figure out the dates of some traditional Chinese festivals. The New Year is very similar to Christmas – both are the grandest holiday, although the latter has a fixed date.

A Common Hobby at Harbin Institute of Technology (the Weihai Campus) At HIT (Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai), students share many interests. One of the common hobbies is going picnic in summers. During the other seasons, students enjoy staying at dorm as it is chilly outside. Two of the most popular picnic destinations for students there are the beach and the mountains adjacent to the campus. Usually, a picnic team consists of both boys and girls, but with boys a little more. The picnickers going to mountains typically bring bags of snacks and drinks, while the team visiting the beach mostly hold a barbecue. During the joy time, they would like to play little games such as riddles or tell stories and jokes when enjoying the food in the meantime. If they are a group of freshmen, they will introduce themselves to each other, and that is an excellent opportunity to make new friends and learn about different local cultures.

Changes That Have Taken Place on My University Campus I have studied on my university campus for over three years and witnessed its gradual changes through these years. When I first came into this school, I thought I was entering a high school again – what a small campus! I toured around and it only took me less than an hour to visit every corner of the campus. During the first year, students went to a small house for shower and we had to leave our student card in exchange for a padlock used to lock our possessions. The charge was just 1.5 yuan and we could shower as long as we pleased. The dining halls then always served the same food and our choices were limited. However, now things are far different than before. More buildings have risen, including the Student Service Center and Student Activity Center. Moreover, An untapped area has been reclaimed into a beautiful place. Now we don’t leave our student card for shower, and the shower house is much bigger, but the charge is dependent on time. Besides, a western restaurant has joined our campus with affordable prices. A new library is under construction and my university is still growing, which will benefit its students even more, but it is a pity that I will not see these changes because I am graduating soon.

Task: do you agree or disagree on the statement that old friends are more important than new friends Friends are a treasure of our lives, the hand when we are in need, the ones who share our happiness and sadness. Both old and new friends can act as our life companions therefore neither of them are more important than the other in general, but they can be, in different respects. Old friends are the ones we know for a long time and are those who are more likely and willing to help us when we need help than new friends. In addition, old friends are more trustworthy since one has more knowledge about them. In a situation where one's kids needs to be taken care of because he may go on a work travel, for example, he may turn to his old friends instead of the new ones if there is no other family member left at home, because the old friends are believed by him to try their best to look after the kids, while he can not guarantee the new ones will do the same. Likewise, when we feel sad, we may also confide to our old friends as they can completely feel the sadness we do based on the long-time friendship. However, in some cases, our needs can only be satisfied by our new friends. For instance, one has removed to another place and obviously he is exposed to a new community. In this case he has to make new friends in order to settle down. Some problems can't be helped by instant old friends such as a small malfunction of a home appliance. On the other hand, more friends contribute more convenience to one's life. These friends can come from all walk of life and will show up when we are in need. What is more, making new friends does not have to affect old friendships since we can keep in touch with both sides. In conclusion, we should not value old friends over our new friends or vice versa because they are equally important.

A joke One day, a son as well as his father and grandfather goes fishing by a river. The son observes his grandfather for a long time and finds that no fish has risen to the bait of his grandfather. He goes up to his father and says: look at your father. He hasn't got any fish up to now. How stupid he is! The father gets very much angry and replies: how dare you insult my father? The stupid person should be your father.