Jia Yuanhua: With the rise of modern cities, our traditional culture has been quietly forgotten and abandoned. Tens of thousands of hist oric buildings are destroyed or irreparabl y damaged, while open land is appropriated and replaced by high-rise buildings and illegal constructions. Without the aid of a ruler or a projec tor, I cannot draf t. I use an oil painting knife to "car ve" on the surface of wet pigment on canvas, and I paint the plum blossoms by hand. As architecture is the precipitation of histor y, so to is

the plum blossom a symbol of China's traditional culture. Yet both historic architecture and traditional culture are quickly being eroded by the relentless winds of modernization. As Chinese descendants, we have no reason not to tr y our best to protect them. Only when we preserve the roots of our nation can China grow to become truly strong.