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The willow branch (柳树枝) is a part of the willow tree. In _______ China, willow branches were often used as a parting gift between friends and family members. Even today, willow branches are _______ in many cases as a symbol of saying goodbye. Do you know _______?

One reason is that willow trees are strong. They can live _______ in any place, wet or dry, north or south. Because of this, giving a willow branch to say goodbye to loved ones is a way to tell them you hope they will _______ their new living environment.

For another reason, the pronunciation for the willow tree “liu (柳)” is _______ to the character “liu (留)” in Chinese, which means inviting someone to stay—only the tones are different. So _______ a willow branch means asking the other party to live for a longer time, _______ we know that they must leave.

It’s said that this _______ became popular during the Han Dynasty. At that time, Baqiao (灞桥), a bridge in Chang’an, today’s Xi’an, was a common place to say goodbye. People often stopped there and handed willow branches to people who were _______.