Upon receiving a manuscript about cities of China from my young brother, Jie, a quick glance through the list of the cities in the contents page broughtinstant recognition to my mind. It diDnot take long for me toreconstruct the memories of these cities from the back of my mind. They are cities that I haDonce visiteDsometime before in my life, either for work or leisure. As InoticeDthat the cities have each been given Asubtitle that appropriately describes their individual uniqueness, my minDbegan to wander to the mountains, the rivers, andthe lakes—all the beautiful andbreathtaking natural landscapes of these cities that I haDvisited— all that I misseDintensely.
However, from the point of view of a traveler, who haDonly made brief visits to these 30 Chinese cities, the natural landscapes that have brought fame andpopularity to them are but a part of them. Just as important are the history, culture andlifestyle that are unique to each of these cities. The romantic West Lake of Hangzhou; the awe-inspiring Yulong Snow MountaIno f Lijiang; andthe classical ambience of Qinhuai River in Nanjing—all these woulDnot have meant the way they do to the visitors today if not for the history, culture andpeople that are closely relateDto them.
A city, after all, is a dwelling place. To the locals, it is home. To the visitors, a journey into a city can bearomantic love affair. Just think about the times that we have fallen in love with the places that we have visited.
This book- the 30 cities that it touches on-has its root such a love affair. lt originates from a hea rt that has been ucheDby journeys taken into these cities. At the enDof these u rneytshe cities have actually journeyeDinto our hearts rever remaining Ino ur memories.
Yu Dan
