Chinese people started to build gardens more than 2,000 years ago. Chinese gardens are a special form of t    6     Chinese culture and art.

At the age of a Chinese garden, there is usually a h    7     stone or wall to screen (挡住) your view in order to later produce unexpected happiness w    8     you turn around the hall to see the amazing rock formations (假山) and a big lake. The best e    9     is the Summer Palace.

Rock formations are very i    10     in a Chinese-style garden. Without them, a garden could not be considered a Chinese-style garden. Ge Garden in Yangzhou is famous for i    11     Four Seasons Rockeries (四季假山).

G    12     in the south are mostly small in size. So people hang a mirror opposite a window to take in the outside sights. A fine example of this is Pian Shi Shan Fang, a rockery in He Garden, Yangzhou. A big mirror is built into the wall of its west corridor. Then wherever the visitors are, they can s    13     the garden in the mirror. A pool or a lake in a garden w    14     the same way. A pool runs from south to north t    15     the garden of Pian Shi Shan Fang. East of the rockery, a man-made moon is reflected (倒映) in the pool.

The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea（地中海）. It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been a bridge between East and West for over 2, 000 years.

The ancient road started from Chang’an (now Xi’an)and ended in Eastern Europe, near today’s Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. It was about 6, 500kilometers long and went across one-fourth of the planet.

The Silk Road got its name in the 19th century because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. And from the West came glass, gems and food like carrots.

The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. It was more than an ancient international trade route. Besides trade, knowledge about arts, science and literature, as well crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other.

Today, China is trying to build the “21st Century Marine（海洋的）Silk Road”. With the help of APEC held in Beijing in November 2014, the dream of the One Belt One Road（the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Marine Silk Road”）（一带一路）is coming true.