Beijing, situated on the northern edge of the North China plain, is my hometown and the place where I was born and have been living for twenty-two years. I love Beijing not only for I am leading a happy life in it but also for I am interested in this charming and great city.

 

As a citizen of Beijing, I am glad to have a chance to introduce this great and old city to everybody, as well as, I hold the believe strongly that everyone will be crazy for this city, on the grounds that classic architectures, delicious foods, wonderful tourist attractions, the enthusiasm of habitants and so on.

 

As a child, I thought that it was a beautiful garden, which could bring me with the happiness, and then, I realized the other face of it from the essay, "The Autumn of Hometown", written by YuDafu who is a famous writer in Chinese literature. With the growth and studies, I know about more and more history on Beijing, in the meantime, I find that it is a fairyland for persons to live in.

 

In my eyes, Beijing is a book. Thousands of history and splendid Chinese cultures make it a famous city around the world. Form the ancient times, it was one of the most important city in north of China, so it had been the capital of several dynasties in the past, such as Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties in ancient and contemporary Chinese history, which let it have royal style and be full of appeals all the time. With the rise and fall of cultures one by one and the interchange of civilizations, Beijing has gone through numerous warm springs and cold winters. There were drastic wars and deeply bitter days for people, however, certainly, also has occurred flourish and prosperities.

 

All the things happened during the process of the long history has been recorded in this book using diligence and intelligence by generations. So I want to say that we are reading the history of developments of Chinese civilization when we have a touch with the history of Beijing.

 

In my opinions, Beijing is a wonderful and vivid painting, which demonstrate the beauties and splendors. After thousands years, it owns a great deal of historical attractions, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Ming Tombs and the like. Everyone coming from other cities and countries to Beijing will visit these historical sites and relic places in order to have memorable experiences.

 

All the persons living in this city has the same impression that the sky of it become much bluer and the city are cleaner and more beautiful than before. Of course, it is true that under the common efforts Beijing is very suitable for people to live in, as a result, more and more people around the world start to coming here for a visit even decide to become a habitant of it. The same feel to mine, the feeling that "Traveling in the painting" is so fascinating that make them do not return to. So it is the very city that Beijing has attracted us.

 

As far as I am concerned, Beijing is also a fair-sounding song, which ever sung from generations to generations. Nowadays, it absorbs the high enthusiasm of people and plays the most powerful sounds.

 

For my part, Beijing is the pulsatile flame. As we know, all the people went through the exciting minute: In Moscow, July 13th of 2001, when Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former chairman of International Olympic Committee, announced that eventually Beijing obtained the right to hold the Summer Olympic Games in 2008, all the people around the world paid their attentions to this old city and looked forward to seeing the larruping sport event. I remembered clearly that the Tiananmen Square and Chang'an Avenue were crowded with many excited Chinese people and Beijing was the ocean of jubilation with cheers, as were the main streets in other cities in China. Since that time, Beijing has been developing at a remarkable speed and the gymnasiums and facilities for the Olympic Games are under construction.

 

"Traveling the world, the very same flame had been carried across every continent to cities of every cultural, ethnic, religions, social, and political heritage." In 2008, it, standing for the spirit of Olympic Games, will be burning at the old and beautiful city, which shall be a chance for Beijing to show its attractiveness and also for foreigners to know about the history, culture and now of Beijing.

 

Nowadays, all the people living in Beijing, no matter the Chinese or the foreigners, are contributing their energies to the constructions and developments of it with the whole enthusiasm and anticipations. So I think that Beijing is a huge wheel strolling toward at a faster and unparalleled speed.

 

Now I am a student in university and I hope that I could take advantage of all the things that I have learned in school to contribute myself to the development of Beijing when I graduate from campus. I also wish that it would have a wonderful tomorrow and more people coming from other countries will come here and have unforgotten experiences, which making them understand Beijing better and understand our nation better.

 

Beijing is my hometown and I love it forever!

(The passage from my best friend Dr.Li in 2005)