Sharing a capital idea

Chinese students, who study overseas or plan to, are eager to learn as much as they can when they visit Beijing's museums so they can present historical anecdotes to friends abroad, Xing Wen reports.

Zhu Zuxi, an 80-year-old scholar of historical geography, asked several teenagers, "What do you think about Beijing?" at the opening ceremony of a summer program initiated by the Capital Museum and the China Children and Teenagers' Fund. Their responses varied.

From July 16 to Aug 3, the summer program helped 50 Beijing students, who are studying or plan to study abroad, to develop a deeper insight into their hometown by offering them diverse courses in Beijing's history and culture.

"Beijing, as well as the whole nation, is like a big book that should be read and understood. The more you know about it, the more you'll love it," Zhu says.

On the first day, Zhu led the teenagers to the top of the hill in Jingshan Park to get a panoramic view of the Forbidden City. There, he recounted stories about the formation of the city's axis.