BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Tommaso Basilico, 12, is helping his mother Claudia make traditional spaghetti in the kitchen of an average family in Rome. For him, a meal without Spaghetti is like a Chinese meal without rice.
"This is my favorite spaghetti, which is mixed with egg juice and bacon," Tommaso said with a smile. "Spaghetti is always the most delicious food for me."
He goes to McDonald's occasionally, but he loves the toys offered there rather than food.
Claudia said traditional Italian food like spaghetti, pizza and Italian braised rice accounts for some 70 percent of her family's overall food, although the family sometimes go out to try some Chinese or Japanese dishes.
There are more than 500 kinds of spaghetti in Italy and are combined with different sauces to form more than 1,200 different dishes.
The home-made Spaghetti transfers not only Italy's traditional food culture, but its ethics of cherishing family, generation after generation.
National DNA, or national characteristics, for children varies from country to country and gives more color to the world. It may be spaghetti in Italy, dancing in Kenya, rugby in New Zealand, Beijing Opera in China, and ballet in Russia.
Joseph Oginga, 15, is learning dancing in a training hall of a poor neighborhood in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
When the drums sound in the hall, barefooted Oginga, together with other children, swiftly twists his body with wild and compact rhythms. Sometimes he skips trippingly, and sometimes claps with eyes closed. The dancing seemingly electrifies the air.
Oginga is learning the dance of the Luo ethnic group of Kenya.
In Kenya, dancing is very popular entertainment, and every tribe has its own unique form.
David Kavashia, African Tumbas' assistant director, said, "We saw some children were really interested in our dancing, so we decided to train them, so that as we get older, they will carry on our cultural practices." He said, "The dances promote culture like no other means can."
In spite of tiring practice which involves muscle stretching and strained rehearsals, Oginga says he would like to go on dancing and become a professional dancer in the future.
"I really love the dancing. I also want to teach children to dance when I grow up," says Oginga.
On the outskirts of the New Zealand capital of Wellington, a Maori boy, Robin, is playing rugby with his friends.
Robin said, "Playing rugby is my happiest time every week. On the playground, I feel I am as cool as a Maori warrior."
New Zealanders uphold the spirit of bravery, struggling and cooperation, and rugby is a very good symbol of the national spirit and cultural characteristics.
Out of the 4.31 million population of New Zealand, some 160,000people participate in rugby, which is New Zealanders' favorite sport.
In Tianjin city of northern China, Liu Xiaoyuan, 12, is singing a famous Beijing Opera, "Fairy Scatters Flowers."
Her performance and appearance, including her pink costumes, light steps, shaking sleeves and slim fingers are really impressive and win floods of applause.
Liu won the first National Beijing Opera Fans Grand Prix in October, 2001, when she was just four years old.
A hearty fondness for national culture is the prime mover to pass on national DNA. Liu's delicate and fantastic performance displays this kind of fondness.
In Moscow, sunshine slants into a dancing classroom, in which Balina, 12, is practicing ballet.
She is doing exercises involving kicking and squatting, with graceful gestures and a detached expression, as if there is only ballet for her at the moment in the world.
She has mustered 10 pairs of ballet shoes during the past five years. The shoes are a record of her assiduous and long training.
As a symbol of Russia, ballet has been integrated into Russians' blood.So many Russian children have dedicated themselvesto ballet, apparently due to the Russian people's heartfelt understanding and worship for the ballet art.
Special report: Global News Day for Children
