Xu Xiake lived in the Ming Dynasty who travelled huge mountains and deep valleys in China. He was one of the greatest explorers in Chinese history.

Xu’s travels were totally up to him and done on his own. He travelled so that his feet could feel strong winds beat his body; he travelled so that his feet could kiss the soil of the mountains.

After his death, Xu left behind his famous book, Xu Xiake’s Travels, which provides meaningful materials to the Chinese geological research. It included a record of what he saw, heard and thought about during his travels and was a personal diary that was not published during his lifetime. Xu was filial and the beginning purpose (目的) of his travel diary was to allow his mother to travel the world through his eyes at home. He followed the ancient teaching that says, “When one’s parents are alive, one must not travel to far places.” For this reason,when his mother was still alive, he mainly travelled the southeast half of the country and would not leave home for too long.

The most important part of his travels was his ten-thousand-mile journey to the southwest. He travelled from Zhejiang to Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, then Guizhou, and Yunnan. This journey took him four years. In the morning, he would be climbing the mountains and crossing rivers. At night, he would lay out a piece of paper and record his daily experiences beside an oil lamp.

Xu lived his life travelling mountains and rivers all day long. He was an outstanding person in history. In fact, Xu was more like today’s backpackers—very cool!

Hello, my name is Jenny. I live in Canada Water in London. The neighborhood is really nice. I like to go around on weekends.

There is a big library next to the Canada Water Underground Station. It is very busy sometimes. But inside the library, it is another world. There are quite a lot of books in it. I like reading the books on languages. I think it’s helpful for me to go on a trip to another country.

Across from the library, there is a big supermarket called TESCO. It is only two kilometers away from my home. It takes me only ten minutes to go there. You can buy things there for 24 hours.

Southwark Park is about three kilometers away from the supermarket. It is lovely. I always play football in the playground. In the middle of the park, there is a lake. I can see birds flying up and down in the trees. I really enjoy the clean air and sunshine there.

The best thing in life is to relax on weekends. Let’s enjoy ourselves!

I’m Jack, a seven-grader from Zijing Middle School.

Look! This is my room. A map of China is on the wall. I like reading and there are about 300 books on the bookcase. Some of them are about cars, planes and sports. A white clock is on my desk. It tells me the time and I get up at seven with the help of it every morning. My J-10 model planes are on the desk too.

They’re from Zhuhai Air Show（珠海航展）. They are blue and I love them best. I want to be a pilot（飞行员）one day.

My mom says my room is tidy after the military training（军训）and I don’t want to put my things everywhere any more!