Gray: a dominating color in Beijing

时间：2007-08-27 06:32:15

（单词翻译:单击）

Chinanews, Beijing, Aug 27 – Every city has its main color. In Paris, for example, the main color is grayish white and in London, yellowish gray becomes the dominating color of buildings in the city. What is the major color in Beijing, then? Not long ago, an authority in Beijing said that gray is the main color in the capital.

 

Why did he say so? Because during its 800 years of history as the national capital, gray had always appeared as the most suitable color for Beijing. It conforms to the city's local culture and its climate features.

 

When one strolls about the city, one can see that most of the buildings in the city are painted in gray. The quadrangles are made with gray bricks and the city wall, the walls surrounding the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace are all painted in gray color. Such gray is not the common "mud gray" color as we often think. It is a color mixed with a bit of blue, making it seem very clean and with an air of solemnity.

 

In movies, a typical scene about Beijing city is that under the blue sky and white clouds, a group of pigeons are flying over a large area of bungalows1 built with bluish gray roofs. This shows that gray suits well the city's general structure.

 

However, this doesn't mean that all buildings in Beijing are gray in color. There is always an exception. In Beijing, the walls that surround the Tian'anmen Square, the Meridian2 Gate of the Forbidden City, the Zhongshan Park, and the Cultural Palace of Ethnic3 Minorities are painted a red color. The red walls, plus the yellow glazed4 tiles and green trees, fully5 display the grandeur6 of royal buildings.

 

It does make sense for people to select gray as the main color for Beijing. According to Feng Jicai, a renowned7 writer and cultural heritage expert, countries that have a superficial taste for culture like to use bright colors, while countries that are rich in culture often prefer neutral colors or some compound colors. As a cultural city that has survived for thousands of years, the bluish gray might become the most suitable color for Beijing.

 
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1 bungalows e83ad642746e993c3b19386a64028d0b     
n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋
参考例句：
  • It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。 来自互联网
2 meridian f2xyT     
adj.子午线的；全盛期的
参考例句：
  • All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
  • He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。
3 ethnic jiAz3     
adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的
参考例句：
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
4 glazed 3sLzT8     
adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神
参考例句：
  • eyes glazed with boredom 厌倦无神的眼睛
  • His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她时，他的目光就变得呆滞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
6 grandeur hejz9     
n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华
参考例句：
  • The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
  • These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。
7 renowned okSzVe     
adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的
参考例句：
  • He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
  • She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

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