Beijing

My walls are painted a happy red color, and my special roofs shine like gold in the sun. If you look up, you can see colorful kites dancing in my sky. You can walk down my little streets, called ‘hutongs,’ and smell yummy dumplings cooking for dinner. I am a very big and very old city with lots of stories to tell. I am Beijing.

I have been here for a long, long time. A great ruler named Kublai Khan thought I was a wonderful place. In the year 1271, he made me his capital city, the most important city of all. Many years later, another kind ruler, the Yongle Emperor, built a giant, beautiful home right in my heart. It was called the Forbidden City. It was a secret place just for emperors and their families, with pretty gardens to play in and shiny dragons on the walls. He also built a round Temple of Heaven, where he would go to wish for a good harvest so everyone would have plenty of yummy food to eat.

But my gates are not a secret anymore. Today, everyone can come and visit me. I love to see families laughing and flying kites in my big, green parks. In the year 2008, I had a big party for the whole world called the Olympics. It was so much fun. Now I have tall, shiny buildings that reach for the sky and super-fast trains that zip all around. But my old palaces are still here, telling their stories. I am a place where old memories and new adventures live together. Come visit me, and we can make new stories of our own.