Beijing is the capital of China, it is more than a economical center compared with Shanghai, but also a political center.
I was born in Beijing and had lived there for almost twenty years. In my mind, the characteristics of Beijing can be included into three words: traditional, modern, more sensitive to politics.

Beijing is an old city. It became to be the capital since Yuan. So if you go to Beijing, you can see a lot of different styles of buildings. Most of the old buildings were built in Qing. To remember and carry on the traditional style, some modern buildings now are with some of the old style, most common way is with a Qing style’s roof. Even including Tiananmen, which is also similar with the Qing’s building style.
Behind the Tiananmen, it is the Forbidden City, which used to be the home of kings. From Yuan to Ming to Qing, all the kings lived and worked there. The Forbidden City is so huge. It included a lot of different palaces for different use; the most famous one is called QIAN QING GONG, which was, like the white house today in America, a place to decide all the big events happened in the country. In that time, every morning ambassadors must come to report all the big events happened in the country to the king and discuss how to deal with them. And it was also home of king, because they had to deal with so many things everyday, he always worked until midnight and woke up when the sun rising. So most of his time, he slept at QIAN QING GONG.
And then, KUN NING GONG, which was the home for queen. In the past, queen and king were not always lived together, only when the king wanted to meet his wife, they could meet. CI NING GONG was built for king’s mom, in the past, people were very respected to their parents. So no matter how busy the king was, he had to go to CI NING GONG every morning to wish good health and happy mood to his mother. And there were also hundreds of buildings, some of them were for the king’s mistress, some were for slaves, some were for ambassadors. If you wonder to know the building of the king’s father, I am afraid you might be disappointed. In that time, only when the old king died, their son can heritage his father’s crown. So there was no place for the father.

Spring Break En.. I have to say it's not a long vacation but very enjoyable. I had a wonderful time with my friends. First , please forgive me absent from this blog for a long time. It's not a easy job to go sight-seeing....haha..
Now, let me write something about my break. Because this is my first year to be in NY, I haven't been to a lot of famous places before, like the Status of Liberty, the Emperor Tower and so on. So in the first few days, my friends took me to go to visit these famous buildings.
That was the first time I could really feel that why people call New York the capital of the world. The city is amazing. Each building in Manhattan is such high that I have to stand far away to see the top of buildings from ground. We went to a lot of places within about 3 days, the Broadway, Time Square, Emperor tower, St. Patrick Church, Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Washington Square, New York University, Status of Liberty and the most important thing, shopping!
I can only describe a few places because there were too much thoughts. First place I want to write is Status of Liberty. I think this is the most famous building in New York even in the whole US. When I was on the ship to go to the Liberty Island, I kept thinking the scene in Titanic whick Jack stood at the front of the ship try to image that he could see the Status of Liberty. I could even feel his excited. I try to do the same thing but the weather was too bad so that I have to give up.
Under the Status of Liberty, there is a museum which record every step during the building of the Status. It was really a hard job but good news was they finally did it! Through the museum, we can go up to the Status of Liberty. There are two elevator, but because of too many people waiting there, we chose to use the stairs. At that time I could feel how high the status really is, when I got the top, I was kind of sweating. On the Status of Liberty, we can see the inside of this famous building through a window on the ceiling. I am not very familiar on architecture but I have to say it is really a great work. Then we went out, standing on the Status of liberty, We can see the whole New York, the feel is not similar with the feeling standing on the emperor Tower, the sight is more broad, and the feeling is more stronger. The only bad thing was the weather. It was so cold and the wind was so so strong, almost 80% pictures I took from there with my eyes closed.
The second place I want to write is the St. Patrick Church. I heard it was one of the most beautiful church in New York and most important is that the movie “Spider Man” used to take scenes from there. I am not a Christian or Catholics. But I am really interested in the western religious. Maybe it was because of the book Davinci code. The Building is so pretty. It was the Gothic style and if you see from higher place, you will find that the church is like a cross. I never know a church can attract such a lot visitors like I saw in St. Patrick. There were a lot of polices who busy with checking each visitors bag.
I saw a lot of religious figures there, like St.Johns, St. Louis, Mary….. Each of them seemed have a story but I don’t know. That time I decided to read some books about western religious, I am really very attracted by this. I also saw a lot of people praying there. No matter poor or rich, they sat together. At that time, they have no differences. This is the power of a religious. People are all very generous in church. I saw a lot of people donate money to the church. Most of the money is a hundred dollars.
These are only a part of my break. I also went to Washington D.C later. But I think I’d better remain something for next poster. Hehe…
By the way, Professor Gail, Can you help me to correct my mistakes in this passage?Thank you very much!!

Do you know what year 2007 is in Lunar calendar? It’s the pig year! According to the lunar calendar, this pig year is the best one in 60 years. How great it is!!

There is 12 animals in lunar calendar, each animal represent a year and turn as a circle.
There is a story about the 12 animals. One day, the god think about to choose 12 animals to protect people. He told the whole animal world about this decision. If anyone want to get the mission, it needs to come to a specific place and the god will choose the first 12 ones for this mission. The first coming animal is rat, and then ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig. So god decided to hire them as the protector of each year. And during their duty year, all the new baby can be named after them. They will all in charge of bringing lucky and happiness to human.

So, each year we have a animal to protect us and the baby who are born in this year is the animal who is on duty. I am a rabbit, do you know what you are??
Let me give you some reference:
Rat:
1960 1972 1984 1996
Ox:
1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger:
1962 1974 1986 1998
Rabbit:
1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon:
1964 1976 1988 2000
Snake:
1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse:
1966 1978 1990 2002
Goat:
1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey:
1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster:
1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog:
1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig:
1971 1983 1995 2007

Spring holiday, we also call it luner new year and which is on this Saturday, is the biggest holiday in China. People in China have seven days off for it. During the new year’s vacation, people, no matter where they work in, will go back home to spend this moment with their families.

At new year’s eve, people will go to their grandparents’ home. This is also the happiest moment for old men, because all their children and grandchildren will come to see them. We will have a big dinner at home. During the dinner, every family member will say a new year’s wish for himself (herself) and give the best wishes to other members. After that, grandparents will give lucky money to their children and grandchildren, this is to bless you a happy and healthy year.

Everyone including young children will keep awake waiting for the new year’s coming, when the new year’s clock beating, people will go outside to shoot off fireworks, it the most cheerful time, the whole country beginning boiling. People say happy new year to everyone even they don’t know each other. Then people make dumplings as night snack, sometimes, we put one coin in a dumpling, if you can get the coin when you eat, you are the luck dog!

On the third day of new year, most of people will go to a place called “Miao Hui”, there you can find all kinds of Chinese traditional snack and watch free show such as Chinese opera, even though it is crowded, people enjoy this very much!

This year I have to spend the new year myself, but no matter where I am. I will send my best wishes to my family. Pray all of my family and friends good luck!!

Happy new year!!!!!

Do you like internet? Since I come to US, my life is full of internet. Every morning, when I wake up, the first thing I do is not to take a bath, but turn on the computer, to check my email, to see if any one leave a message in my space. Internet becomes a part of my life, the most important part! I use internet to communicate with my parents, talk with my friends, to get the latest news all over the world, to watch movie…..

Is it good? Internet make our life easier., shorten the distance of the world, even I am in another side of the world, I can see my parents through the web. I submit my homework through internet everyday.

But, there is also some problems. For example, It’s became very hard to concentrate to study with a laptop beside me. I always want to know who is on line, and if anybody want to talk with me. So even though I spend a lot of time in the library, the time is used inefficiency.

I read a news paper today, almost a half of teenagers in China like to play on-line games, and nearly 25% of them have spend more than 10 hours a day on-line! This is a very serious problem. Psychologists are trying to help these teenagers to get rid of the computer games now. Their parents are also very worried that this may ruin the children’s life.

Maybe no one can tell us what to do, maybe the only solution is from ourselves. Who knows. But to me, I think, I’d better from now on, study without a laptop.

Oh, my god!As a freshman, as a student and as a English learner,I really think that the school has the responsibility to help us to choose a professor at least without too much accent!
I just finished my Statistics class,my roomie said this class is very hard,but my adviser give me it ,no choices....Whatever,I am from China,we learned a lot of math before,it won't be a big deal for me,of course,I hope so.
When the class began,I found that the most difficult thing for me is not the courses anymore,it is the accent of my professor,he is a indian,a very good guy,it must be very interesting in his class because I saw people laugh there,but I can't understand anything he said,I just got some dududududu
My mum said everything will be better,I wish so.Maybe next week...

Hello! Everyone! Welcome to my blog! No matter you come here on purpose or by accident, you are totally welcomed here!
What should I write today?The first day,first time, I think I just write something about me.
I am from China. Actually, I am a transfer student,I studied in chinese university for one year,then I came here. Sometimes people are very puzzled about this,Why you come here?You were in a good university in China, you had more oppotunities in China, you needn't to be independent right now if you were in China, because you have your parents always behind you.
Everything is true,I am the only child in my family,my parents give me everything they can,they protect me much more than they do to themselves,they love me much more than they love themselves.That maybe is ｔｈｅ　ｒｅａｓｏｎ　why I am here now.
I am almost twenty years old ,believe it or not, I even don't know how to do the laundry,how to make a easy dinner.The day I realized this, I feel depressed,so I come here,I hope in this totally new enviornment ,I can be more independent.