(Written by John, a 16-year-old high school student in Beijing)
I'm a young man who lives in Beijing now, but I wasn't born here. This is the third place I've lived in China. My life began in 1989 in the city named Urumchi. It's in the northwestern part of China in a province called Xinjiang, and unluckily, I lived there for just three years. Then I was taken to my grandparent's home in the province of Jiangsu because myi parents left China to study in Belgium. I have many pleasant memories of the five years I spent with them.
We lived in Changzhou, a relatively small city of 500,000. The Grand Canal passes through it, and our home was located at the side of it. When I was a little boy, I liked to go with my grandfather to the riverbank and look at the passing ships. I was always delighted when I saw a fleet of them approach.
As they passed one day, I remember shouting, "Grandpa! Look at them! How big they are!"
Grandfather smiled and said, "Yes, Yes; they are big. They come from Hangzhou, and they will go to Beijing."
"What is Beijing?" I asked.
"Beijing is the capital, my chilod."
"I'll bet it's really big!" I shouted out with excitement. "One day I will go there and make a lot of money for you and grandma."
Yes, yes: I'm sure you will." Grandpa knew it was the dream of a boy who had never been to a big city.
My grandparents had lived there for more than ten years when I arrived. They're both very kind people, and I was very happy living with them. China's economy was suffering at that time - especially in the small cities - but they made certain that I went to primary school every day and had everything I needed. My grandma took me to school and was always there to meet me again after school for the walk home.
When my parents finished studying in Belgium, we were told that they would be living in Beijing when they returned. My grandparents knew that they had to prepare me for the trip to the Capital, and when that day came, I boarded the train sadly. I saw my grandparents standinig on the platform and had such mixed feelings that I started to cry.
I hadn't lost my composure like that before, and grandpa looked at me kindly and said, "Don't cry, my child; we all knew that one day you would have to leave us, and now the time has come. Try to remember the day you told me that you wanted to go to Beijing. You're going to realize that dream now. We're going to think about you every day no matter where you are."
The train began to move and I didn't stop waving goodbye until they disappeared in the distance.
The years have passed for me in Beijing, but I always like to go back to Changzhou to see my grandparents. They are older each time we go there, but I'll never forget them or the place where I was brought up.