by Jesse Hunter

Beijing is not only the capital of China， its also the nations heart and soul. I only spent one night in Beijing， as the song goes， but it made an everlasting impression on me.

I happen to love Beijing street music. It has a rough， acoustic quality to it that really lends itself to the subject matter. Much like in my hometown of New York City， the struggling performing artists all have a common goal： to be heard. Chinas spirit is embodied by the plight of these Beijing dreamers. And I admire their dedication and undying determination.

Aspiring musicians aside， China is brimming with personal stories of self discovery. In A Billion Stories， Evan Osnos ends up being deeply moved by the poetry， and online persona， of a migrant street sweeper in Beijing. And speaking of the storied capital， check out Travel in Beijing to hear Charlotte Kings account of the vivid views， quite a ways from Beijings， so called， great wall of traffic， perched high atop the peaceful peak of old Jingshan Hill.

Later， Debra Bruno tells us in Chinas Great Wall： A Beautiful Barrier that the craggy， wild links along the chain that is the real Great Wall， can， even in the chill of dawn， become a warm， welcoming friend. While in Good Life Easier， Cheaper in China Than the US by Barry Cunningham， you can set sentimentalism aside， as statistics show Chinas climbing happiness quotient.

Is China the happiest place on earth？ Who knows？ I originally planned to leave after just seven months， and look how that turned out. When my family asked why I wanted to stay， I said， with all honesty， it felt like China had more in store for me. Hows that for foreshadowing？

北京不僅僅是中國的首都，它還是這個國家的心臟和靈魂。我只在北京呆過一晚，就像那首歌的歌名一樣，但它卻給我留下了永恒的烙印。

我恰巧喜歡北京的街頭音樂。其粗獷、純粹的音質(zhì)引人入題。就像在我的家鄉(xiāng)紐約市，那些苦苦掙扎的表演藝術(shù)家都有一個共同的目標：被傾聽。中國精神已由那些北京追夢人的重重困境加以生動展現(xiàn)。我欽佩他們的奉獻和不死的決心。

撇開有抱負的音樂家不說，中國到處都有關(guān)于尋找自我的親歷故事。在《十億個故事》一文中，埃文·奧斯諾斯最終為一個北京外來清潔工的詩歌及其線上人格所深深打動。談到這個歷經(jīng)滄桑的名都，你得看看《北京之旅》，來聽一下夏洛特·金在安靜古老的景山峰頂歇息時對于那些生動風(fēng)景的描述，那些風(fēng)景與北京市區(qū)那所謂的長城似的車流交通，相距甚遠。

之后，在《尋找最美的“野長城”》一文中，黛布拉·布魯諾會告訴我們那一路崎嶇、荒涼的真長城，即使是在寒冷的黎明，也會成為一個溫暖、熱情的朋友。而在巴里·卡寧漢的《中美大對比：在哪兒幸福更容易？》一文中，你可以將感傷主義拋開不談，因為數(shù)據(jù)顯示了中國正在不斷攀升的幸福指數(shù)。

中國是地球上最幸福的地方嗎？誰知道呢？我原本打算只呆七個月的，然而你看，結(jié)果怎樣？當(dāng)我的家人問我為什么想要留下來的時候，我回答說，說句掏心窩子的話，我感覺好像中國還有更多的新鮮事在等待著我發(fā)掘似的。以此作為伏筆怎么樣？