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Complete the passage with suitable words.

The Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice is one of the (1)


important festivals celebrated by the Chinese. Today it is (2)as
the second most important festival of China. 'Ihe Winter Solstice is observed on
the longest night of the year (on or around 22 December) - a day when the
nation receives the least amount of sunshine and hence has the
(3)daytime.
Traditionally,

the

Dongzhi

Festival

is

the

time

of

(4)

reunion, when often people get busy stocking food for the
forthcoming winter. 'Ihe Chinese believe that as the day becomes longer after
the

Winter

Solstice,

the

Yang

(positive

things)

will

also

(5).stronger. Therefore this particular day is given special


attention

with

mass

celebrations.

People

wear

new

clothes

and

(6) gifts with their near and dear ones. Family gatherings
take (7) with night long parties. Everything remains closed on
this day, from schools to offices and people are seen in celebratory (8)
everywhere.
One activity that occurs during these get-togethers is the making and eating
of tangyuan (or balls of glutinuous rice), which symbolises reunion. Tangyuan
are made of glutinuous rice flour and are sometimes(9).coloured.
Each family member receives at least one large tangyuan in (10) to
several small ones. The (11) .balls may be
plain or stuffed. 'Ihey are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the
ball and the soup/ broth served in one bowl.
In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to
have (12) .. from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On
one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears.

Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with Iamb


and other ingredients and (13) them among the poor to keep them
warm and to keep their ears from (14) .chilblains. From that
time on, it has been a (15) to eat dumplings on the day of
Dongzhi.
The people of Southern China consume food made of red-bean and
glutinous rice. They also consume tangyuan. Rice dumplings are often offered
to friends and (16) as gifts on this day.
Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the (17)
. clan to gather at their ancestral temples to (18) ..
on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial
ceremony.
The festive food is also a reminder that we are now a year(19) and
should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many (20) .around
the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after
the Hongzhi celebration instead of waiting for the Chinese New Year.

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