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!!