Quyi refers to folk vocal art forms such as balladsinging, story-telling and crosstalk. As an ancientperforming art in China, quyi is a general term thatcovers several different types of performances inwhich speech, singing or both are used. As anindependent art, it was formed in the middle Tang Dynasty and flourished in the SongDynasty. Deeply taking root in China, the art is divided into three styles and subdivided into400 parts. The three major styles are story-telling, story-singing, and joke-telling. Story-tellingcan be either words only, or words with music. One of the most representative non-musicstyles in the North is called Pingshu. The most important form of joke-telling is crosstalk. Story-singing seems to have the largest audience. Each style has a strong local flavor in either itsaccent or music.

　　宮保雞丁(Kung Pao Chicken)由雞丁、花生和紅辣椒做成，是著名的傳統川菜。這道菜以晚清時期的官員丁寶楨的名字命名。據說，丁寶楨很喜歡吃，尤其是 “爆炒雞丁”。丁寶楨在四川做巡撫(governor)時，他常常以爆炒雞丁宴請賓客。為了迎合四川賓客的口味，丁寶楨改良了他最愛的“爆炒雞丁”，加入了紅辣椒。結果， 辣的雞丁比以前更美味。丁寶楨后來被授予“太子少保(Palace Guardian)”的官銜， 也就是“宮保”。為了紀念丁寶楨，人們把他最愛的這道菜命名為“宮保雞丁”。

　　Kung Pao Chicken, made with diced chicken, peanutsand chili pepper, is a famous traditional Sichuandish. It was named after Ding Baozhen, a courtofficial in the late Qing Dynasty. It is said thatMr.Ding was fond of food, especially “stir-fried dicedchicken”. While he was governor in Sichuan Province, he often entertained his guests with thisdish. In order to cater to his Sichuan guests' taste, Ding improved his favorite “stir-fried dicedchicken” by putting chili pepper into the ingredients. As a result, the dish with its spicy flavorwas more delicious than ever. Since Ding was later granted the title “Palace Guardian”，alsocalled Kung Pao, people named his favorite dish “Kung Pao Chicken” in order to commemoratehim.

　　漢字(Chinese characters)是世界上最古老的文字之一，也是使用者最多的文 字。漢字多達6萬個，但常用的基本漢字只有6000個左右。據權威專家估計，漢字有5000多年的歷史，最初源于記錄事情的圖片。從古至今，從甲骨文(Jiaguwen) 到我們今天書寫用的楷體(Kaiti)，漢字的形式和結構發生了很大改變。歷史上， 漢字被朝鮮、日本、越南等國借鑒，因此也促進了國際交流。在現代，中國人民用 各種方法將漢字輸人電腦，進行信息處理。事實證明，漢字充滿了生機與活力。

　　The Chinese characters are one of the oldest characters in the world, and are used by the most users. Chinese characters are up to 60,000, but only about 6,000 basic ones are often used. As authorities estimate, Chinese characters have a history of over 5,000 years, and they originate from pictures for keeping records. From ancient to modern times, the forms and structures of Chinese characters have changed much, evolving from Jiaguwen (oracle bone script), to Kaiti(regular script) we use now. In history, Chinese characters were borrowed by Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, thereby improving international communication. In modern times, Chinese people have by many means solved the problem of inputting Chinese characters into computers to serve information processing. It has been borne out that Chinese characters are full of vigor and vitality.