改革开放这30多年，我们国家真是“苟日新，日日新，又日新”，分分秒秒都生动活泼。卫兵以其国家通讯社资深记者的厚重积淀，挥洒自如地叙述和描绘了这史诗般的变革。

书中涉及的不少事我们都经历过。我们是新中国成立后才有机会上初级小学的，但做梦也没想到，竟幸福地在天安门城楼观看了国庆60周年阅兵式，含泪目睹青年人在天安门广场用鲜花组成的“人民万岁”四个大字……但作者图文并茂的描述生动有趣，细节丰富，又常让我们感到新鲜。《我们这30年(一个记者眼里的中国改革开放)(英文版)》作者刘卫兵却娓娓记述了他与非洲妇女代表的友好聊天，以及他在京郊怀柔分会场上的意外发现：中国代表太认真，领导台上坐、发言念稿子，许多外国代表则轻松快乐，有话站起来就说……

《我们这30年(一个记者眼里的中国改革开放)(英文版)》的作者是刘卫兵。

《我们这30年(一个记者眼里的中国改革开放)(英文版)》是一部记录中国改革开放历程和变迁的图文著作。在这部作品中，作者用镜头讲述了邓小平逝世、香港回归、98年特大洪水、总理为农民讨工钱、中美世贸谈判、北京奥运会等重大事件，以及北京最早选美夭折、市民告别粮票、农民工进城、正在消失的京城胡同等一系列发生在百姓身边的故事，把这些中国人共同经历过的有意义、有价值的生活场景用笔记录下来、用镜头定格下来，让当代人去回味，给后来者以启迪，给读者呈现出了这个翻天覆地的时代之变，并且折射出35年来中国改革开放的历史进程。

Chapter I Novetties in the Reform Era 

Ration Coupons Gone 

Mother Sends Me Kilos of Cabbages I

Panic Buying of "Reduced-Price Goods" 

"If nly We Won't Lose for Purchase of U.S. Treasury Debt!" 

Giant Panda Shy on Beijing Bus 

The "Magic" Kettle 

The Story of a Shopping Street in Beijing 

Chapter II: Changes in Cities and Countryside 

The Story of "China's Sihcon Valley" 

Disappearance of Hutongs 

Smog and Dead Fish 

On the Road 

"Traveling a Thousand Miles to Return the Same Day" 

Votunteers in a Poverty-Stricken Area 

Nongmingong in Cities 

Premier Presses for Payment of Wages for Peasant Woman 

Chapter III Changes in Peopte's Thinking 

My University 

Beauty Contest Called Off 

First Test Tube Baby on the Chinese Main[and 

PKU Wall Pulled Down, Rebuilt 

Ups and Downs of China's Film Industry 

My Cameras 

"Have You Posted Some Weibo?" 

Chapter IV: China Closer to the World 

Western Fast Food vs. Chinese Fast Food - No Winner, No Loser 

World Conference on Women & Shanghai World Expo 

Hong Kong Welcomed Back 

For Entry of WT: Bilateral Talks with U.S. 

Auctioning of Zodiac Auimal Heads: Eye Witness' Account 

Olympics Bids: Failure and Success 

Chapter V: History in My Eyes 

Deng: "I'm Son of the Chinese People" 

1998 Floods: "Pincer Attack" on China 

National Day Military Parades 

2003: SARS Onslaught 

With KMT Leader on Mainland 

Earthquakes: Wenchuan of 2008 not Tangshan of 1976 

Postscript

Mother Sends Me 50 Kilos of Cabbages

  Young people of today can hardly imagine that for a long time inthe past, cabbages were virtually the only vegetables availabie to Beijingresidents in winter.

  Situated in north China, the Chinese capital is by tradition a cabbagegrowing area. "lhe cabbage is high-yielding, resistant to low temperaturesand easy to preserve and transport. It is the cheapest of all vegetables, andnaturally was popular when people were poor.

  In Beijing, storing cabbages for winter used to be a tradition. In lateautumn, before winter set in, trucks and tractors loaded with cabbageswere seen everywhere, along avenues and streets and in hutongs (narrowbackstreet lanes and alleys). Long, winding queues were formed shortlyafter a truckload of cabbages arrived - indeed a sight not seen anywhereelse in the world. Families would each buy a huge quantity of cabbages,at least several dozen kilos for the coming winter. Back at home, theywould put their purchase in neat piles under the eaves and on windowboards. "Ihose living in siheyuan - traditional walled courtyards with one-story buildings on all sides - would store the cabbages in a cellar dug inthe courtyard. When snow fell, people would use straw mats to cover thecabbages kept in the open.

Like all others in the Chinese capital, our family would buy severaldozen cabbages for winter every year. When I joined grandma for thewinter vocation every year, I always saw people storing cabbages in acommunal cellar along with some potatoes, turnips and celery. I oftenwent down into the cellar along a ladder for our cabbages. It was freezinginsider and the air was filled with the smell of vegetables.

During those years, cabbages were almost the only thing people hadto go with rice and steamed buns in winter. People seemed to have gotaccustomed to eating cabbages, and they would feel ill at ease if there wasnot a cabbage dish on the table. And they were clever enough to create arange of cabbage dishes by stewing, boiling and frying, sometimes withbean curd pieces, There were also cold dishes, for example cabbage slicesmixed up in vinegar and soy sauce or with minced bean curd. In the

countryside, cabbage roots were used to feed animals. In both town andcountryside, a mixture of minced cabbage and meat was used as thefilling of Chinese dumplings, the most important item on the SpringFestival table.

Only for guests and during festivals did people buy vegetables otherthan cabbages, "fine vegetables" such as green pepper and hotbed chives.Nowadays people are falling ill for eating too much meats and fish. Inthe past, much fewer people suffered from diabetes and otherfuguibing- "diseases exclusive to the rich." I think cabbages merit our gratitude forhelping people like me keep fit.

Thanks to the opening of the food market, vegetables grown in thesouth are now available in sufficient quantities to people in the north.In winter, farmers in areas in and around Beijing are growing "finevegetables" in hothouses. Dependence almost solely on cabbages forwinter is now history. Beginning the early 1990s, much fewer people were seen selling and buying cabbages. Cabbages are still sold, but most buyers are senior citizens.

The city of Beijing is now ensured of supply of any vegetable produced anywhere in the country all the year round, but some aged people still have the "habit" of storing cabbages for winter. One snowy day in 1993, I was walking on Tonglingelu Road near Xinhua when I saw an old lady stripping rotten leaves off cabbages she was to keep for the winter. "Are you still buying cabbages?" I asked. The old lady replied: "Well, we've got addicted to cabbages. I often feel ill at ease if I do not buy a few and keep them for the winter." "You young people no longer buy cabbages," sheadded.

It was many years since I ceased to buy cabbages for winter, but yearafter year mother would urge me to buy and she would be offended if Ifailed to obey her instruction. This continued until one month before shedied in late 1996. Though dying of cancer, she and father carried 50 kilosof cabbages to my apartment when I was away, gasping as she climbed upthe stairs. And together with father, she piled up those cabbages in thebalcony.

Mother must have been exhausted for what she had done for me. A fewdays afterward, her conditions deteriorated. One severely cold morning Ivisited mother in the ICU at Beijing Hospital. She was in a coma, withliquid transfusion tubes in her bony arms. I fell on her and burst into astorm of tears, knowing that there would be no way to save her life.

Suddenly, and ever suddenly, mother came to. "Don't cry!" she said,mustering the last bit of her strength. I saw tears in her eyes filled withpain and helplessness, with yearning for life. Never shall I forget the last……

P10-12

Preface I

A True-to-Life Account of Chinas Epic Changes

    - Thoughts on Liu Weibing's New Book

    By Li Zhaoxing

Liu Weibing, a senior photographer and a guest professor at the School of Journalism of Renmin University of China (RUC), is an old friend of mine though he is many years my junior. Here is his new book Stories of China's Reform - a Photographer's Personal Experiences, which I read at onesitting. The book is so dear to me - and also so new to me even though Iam familiar with many events cited in it.

China has changed with each passing day since it launched the reformsome 30 years ago. And never has life in the country been so lively andfull of vigor like today. Basing himself on a wealth of experiences he hasacquired through work as a photographer at Xinhua, the State newsagency, Weibing has written candidly to provide a true-to-life account ofthose epic changes.

  I experienced numerous events cited in the book. I was able to go toschool only after New Chinas birth in 1949. Never had I dreamed thatI would be able to stand on Tiananmen Rostrum watching the militaryand civilian parades marking New Chinas 60'h founding anniversary onOctober 1, 2009. With tears in my eyes, I saw the characters reading "Longlive the people" formed by students in Tiananmen Square using flowers intheir hands. I was deputy head of the Chinese delegation to the 1995 WorldConference on Women and I was on the Beijing Bidding Committee forthe 2008 Olympic Games. I was involved in the negotiations on HongKong's return to China, in the negotiations on Chinas accession to theWorld Trade Organization and in the rescue and relief operations after the2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

  Despite my personal experiences in those events, I feel Weibing'snarratives and photos new to me. I was at Shatoujiao announcing Chinastakeover of the Kowloon Customs on authorization of the CentralGovernment at zero hour of July 1, 1997, a moment of nationwidejubilation for resumption of Chinas exercise of sovereignty over HongKong. Despite that, I have found things new in Weibing's comparisonbetween Border Street and Silk Alley, a business street in Beijing, which hedoes by transcending time and space and using plain language.

  As deputy head of the Chinese delegation to the 1995 World Conferenceon Women, I was able to listen to speeches delivered by delegates fromvarious countries. Weibing's new book, which I read 18 years after theConference, tells me many things of which I had no idea as a leaderof the Chinese delegation - his amiable encounter with some Africandelegates, those "surprising discoveries" he made at Huairou, venue for theConference's non-governmental forum. Just for one thing: the Chinesedelegates were customarily reserved, busy taking notes while a leader oftheirs was reading from a text in all seriousness on the rostrum, in contrastto foreign delegates who were vivacious and bold, never hesitating to airtheir views.

I was impressed by Weibing's interpretation of those events, Chineseand foreign, bygone and of today, which I found profound in meaning."Ihe book tells about the progress Beijing has made, for example thetransformation of Longxugou, once a notorious slum area, into whatis now Longtan Park. Meanwhile, it provides a vivid account of thesmog that shrouded the Chinese capital for days on end in early 2013,making "environmental protectioff' household words. Here is the author'sconclusion: "Only by being friendly to environment can people enjoy anenvironment friendly to them." It falls in line with the call of the Chinesegovernment for attaching paramount importance to people's livelihoodand to attainment of sustainable development.

Another example is the book's account of migrant workers in Beijing.The author, full of sympathy toward them, uses a host of facts to highlighttheir role in promoting the development of cities and improving lifeof city people. Meanwhile, he is relentlessly scornful of those "swollenwith arrogance" toward migrant workers, those "holding a brief case inhand," "with a conspicuously extruding beer belly." Basing himself on hisown observation, the author notes that city people of today may well bedescendent of peasants or migrant workers. And proceeding from that,he dwells on some ups and downs experienced by foreign countries in thecourse of their development and pinpoints what China can learn fromthem.

I believe the book is of both historic and practical significance. It throwslight on the road we have followed and helps us in our understanding ofthe path we are to follow. It makes us proud of the progress we have madewhile alerting us to the need not to be self-complacent, so that we'll bemore resolved and confident in our march toward the future.

               -June 25, 2013, in my office at China Public

     Diplomacy Association

This new book of mine is a true account of the epic changes that have taken place in China over the most recent three decades.

One evening in early 2013, Mr. Xu Bu, director-general of the Beijing- based Foreign Languages Press, called me from Hong Kong. He proposed that I produce a new book to mark the 35th year of China's reform on the basis of a book of mine published a few years ago, which is entitled A Retrospect of the Most Recent Two Decades -A Xinhua Photographer's Notes (Retrospect for short). "Ihe new book based on it, Xu said, would be published in two languages, Chinese and English.

Mr. Xu's proposal rekindled a long-cherished hope of mine. Years ago, Mr. He Ping, editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, had proposed that I have an English translation of Retrospect published. But I was too busy with work, for a time unable to make a decision. Having published a few books, I knew it wouldn't be easy to produce a new one.

Picturing the rapidly changing world in my mind, however, words of Liang Heng, a contemporary Chinese essayist, resounded in my ears: "Ifyou are unable to be a hero of history, then try to build up a record ofhistory." For journalists, to build up a record of history is an honor. With a sense of mission, I eventually became resolved to work on a new book.

Changes in three years can be great, let alone those that have takenplace in some 30 years. What China would have become without thereform? What would we ourselves have become? Indeed I have so muchto say about Chinas reform and opening to the world, having grown upin this extraordinary period of history. I have always been keen to history,filled with awe and gratitude for it. I don't think I am in a position toplay a big role in the country and society. Meanwhile, I always think as ajournalist, I should be painstaking with my work and contribute to historywith my writings and photos.

Peach flowers were blossoming toward the end of March 2013, theprime time of spring in Beijing which is usually short. Pollen hypersensitive,I was unable to appreciate the beauty of those flowers - in fact I had notime for that even if I was. I shut myself up in my study, working day inand day out on this new project. I felt I was traveling through a "timetunnel," trying to dig out history from archives, from my diary that runs tonearly halfa million words, and from the tens of thousands of old photos,and from notes I had taken in thousands of beats, and also from my blogarticles. "Ihe elaborate, exhausting research culminated in this new bookentitled Stories of China's Rearm - a Photographer's Personal Experiences(Stories for short). Though inadequate in English, I did my best to help inchecking the translation together with many friends.

  "The book is new though based on Retrospect. It contains many eventsnot found in Retrospect, and the period it covers spans more than 30 yearsfrom the late 1970s to now. There are comparisons between China andforeign countries. While giving an account of the changes in China inthe most recent 30 years, I want to share with the reader my thoughts onthem. Most photos in Stories are not found in Retrospect. I have tons ofphotos in my private collection, from which I have chosen the best for thisbook. I have always had a camera with me, ready to take photos wheneversomething I think is newsworthy happens.

Mo Yah, a Chinese Nobel Prize laureate in literature, worked for 43days to finish his novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, which runsto 430,000 characters, The fantastic speed was attributed to his life-long endeavor to accumulate experiences and interpret them. I spent allmy spare time in six months working on the new book with more than100,000 characters, planning its plot and writing it, and selecting andediting old photos and taking new photos when necessary - over 200, alltold. So my speed was not too slow.

Stories is an account of nay personal experiences in news reportingbeats and photo-taking, along with my interpretation of their significance.Following the same trend of thought and in the same style as my bookspreviously published, the new book is based on events in which I wasinvolved and on photos that bring those events back to life.

Yet Stories is far from adequate as an account of Chinas reform overthe past 30 years - a topic so elaborate on an extraordinary part of theChinese history over so great a time span with ups and downs that cannotbe more kaleidoscopic. It is impossible for a book to cover everything thathas happened in China over those decades, and I will continue workingso that this regret of mine can be alleviated in the future, "There could beerrors in the book, which I hope readers won't hesitate to point them out.

I would like to thank Mr. Li Zhaoxing and Mr. He Ping forcontributing the prefaces to Stories. I owed the book to Mr. Xu Bu,director-general of Foreign Languages Press, and Mr. Hu Kaimin,deputy editor-in-chief of the FLP, who have made publication of thisbook possible. My thanks go to Mrs. Yang Lu, executive editor of thebook, and copy editor Mr. Xiao Shiling. I would like to thank Mr.Li Zhutun, a senior editor of Xinhua News Agency, for translatingthis book into English. "Thirty friends from various walks of life addweight to the book by contributing their own stories in the reform era.I would like to thank all of them for their support. To name some ofthem: Shen Jianguo, Liang Xiaosheng, Wu Yanze, Xu Guoxing, WangWenlan, Hu Zijing, Zhang Weitai, Pei Chunliang, Li Chenggang, RenJiefeng, Li Xiuping and Liiqiu Luwei.

My thanks go to leaders and colleagues at Xinhua for support andencouragement they have given me over the years. Many friends, Chineseand foreign, offered me help. To name a few of them: Ma Wei, Lii Yuping,Zhu Jun, Liu Baoming, Jia Fenyong, Shen Wen, Wang Ye, Chen Andi, LiuYaxuan and Liu Xuekui, as well as Jonathan Dotson, J.D., guest professorat the University of International Business and Economics, and otherforeign friends. In particularly, I must thank Mr. Ma Wei and Mrs. LiiYuping, the first readers of the book, who worked painstakingly to ensurethat the book is error-free.

I also thank my wife He Xiaocong and my son Liu Liyuan for theirunderstanding and support. Like all other books of mine, this one isdedicated to my mother who sleeps her long sleep in the embrace ofthe Western Hills of Beijing. "Be honest in conducting yourself; bepainstaking in your work" - Bearing in mind this behest of hers, I havealways been on guard against slacking off in work and life.

Spring is now gone, followed by summer and then by autumn when Iwas finishing the book. How time flies! So many changes are taking placein society, and so rapidly, impossible for us to pinpoint all of them ingood time. On a second thought, however, I realized this is not necessarilybad. The four seasons of the year are bound to come in succession, eachfeaturing a unique beauty. The new book of mine is to come off the pressin autumn, the season when people in their tens of thousands are attractedto Beijing's Western Hills for red maple leaves there. The snow-clad hillsin winter are equally beautiful. Please spare some time on the book after atrip from those hills.

 Liu Weibing, September 2013;

       Xuanwumen, Beijing

China has changed with each passing day since it launched thereform some 30 years ago. And never has life in the country been solively and full of vigor like today. I was able to go to school only afterNew China's birth in 1949. Never had I dreamed that I would be able tostand on Tiananmen Rostrum watching the military and civilian paradesmarking New China's 60th founding anniversary on October 1, 2009. Withtears in my eyes, I saw the characters reading "Long live the people"formed by students in Tiananmen Square using flowers in their hands.

I believe the book is of both historic and practical significance.It throws light on the road we have followed and helps us in ourunderstanding of the path we are to follow. It makes us proud of theprogress we have made white alerting us to the need not to be self-conceited, so that we'll be more resolved and confident in our marchtoward the future.

       - Li Zhaoxing, China's foreign minister 2003-2007;

        president of China Public Diplomacy Association

"Great changes" is the key word for description of our times,particularly the 30 years of China's reform and opening to the outsideworld. In China, the most profound change is that the Chinese nowfind themselves in an era that features a possibility for their dream tocome true. Once shattered, the Chinese dream is being pursued again,highlighting a historic leap of the Chinese nation from independenceto prosperity and then to an endeavor to become truly strong. In thewake of arduous struggle for what it is today, the Chinese people havecome to realize that changes are the essence of history and that theyare following a historic course leading to an eventual rejuvenation ofthe Chinese nation. In the current historic torrent, the destiny of allChinese is bound to change in this era of reform, through sharing abeautiful dream with their country and nation.

        - He Ping, editor-in-chlef of Xinhua News Agency