Traditional food draws crowds at Intangible cultural heritage expo in southwest China's Chongqing
Over 100 selected traditional food items have grabbed the spotlight at an ongoing intangible cultural heritage expo underway in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.
The 9th China Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, running from last Friday to Tuesday, has brought together more than 890 representative intangible cultural heritage (ICH) projects from across the country.
The expo's food-themed section, which spreads over about 6,000 square meters, is presenting 118 culinary ICH items, allowing visitors to appreciate fine craftsmanship and taste traditional foods while learning about the culture behind them.
The exhibition features iconic foods from regions north to south, such as Chongqing hotpot, Luoyang Water Banquet from central China's Henan Province and bobo (pottery) chicken from neighboring Sichuan Province. It also highlights the traditional wisdom of "eating with the seasons" and "cherishing and making good use of food" in Chinese culture.
A highlight of this year's expo is that visitors can interact face-to-face with ICH inheritors through on-site demonstrations and hands-on experiences. One such inheritor is a young practitioner of traditional Taoyuan ground tea making from central China's Hunan Province, who promotes the tea — blending sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty flavors — to young people through new products and social media videos, while sharing stories of rural culture and revitalization with netizens from across the country.
"Taoyuan ground tea in Hunan is not just a craft, but a way of life and a way of welcoming guests. When I promote it through videos, I incorporate local rural elements so that more people can understand the roots of rural culture, and I try to pass on this heritage in innovative ways," said Xie Yuan, municipal-level representative inheritor of the Lei Cha (ground tea) custom, a Hunan provincial intangible cultural heritage item.
Traditional food wows visitors at Chongqing heritage expo
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday formally tasked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming a government, giving the former military chief a chance to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu's right-wing coalition lost its parliamentary majority in October's election.
Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar party, received recommendations from 67 lawmakers in the 120-seat parliament, compared with 46 for Netanyahu.
At the ceremony, Herzog called for unity and a "stable government that can last."
Eisenkot warned that Israel was facing a "critical moment," saying the objectives of its multi-front conflicts "remained unfulfilled," its international relations were in a "devastating crisis," and its democracy was facing one of its gravest challenges.
"If we continue on the current path, we risk reaching a point of no return," he said, calling for new leadership "that people can look in the eye and trust."
He said he was convinced it was possible to form a new government with a substantial majority in the Knesset, and that he was open to Netanyahu's Likud party and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party joining a government under his leadership.
He said they were invited to "support the government under my leadership and the principles I've outlined."
"I intend to be the prime minister of all citizens of Israel, those who voted for me and those who haven't," Eisenkot said.
Eisenkot has 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu will remain caretaker prime minister until a new government is sworn in.
Eisenkot's four-party alliance holds only 48 seats and would need support from Arab lawmakers or other parties to form a government.
Netanyahu on Saturday called for a national unity government, while Eisenkot's party said Likud could join a government led by Eisenkot if it abandoned its far-right allies.
Under Israeli law, if Eisenkot fails to form a government within the allotted time, Herzog may assign the task to another candidate, or at least 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset can ask the president to entrust the mandate to a candidate of their choice. If these efforts also fail, the Knesset will be dissolved and new elections will be held.
Israeli opposition leader Eisenkot officially receives mandate to form gov't
Israeli opposition leader Eisenkot officially receives mandate to form gov't
