First of all, thank you so much for your interest in our book! The book only has print edition with a dimension of 8.5"X11" (magazine size) and 2 folded pages inside, and in most cases, the left and right pages connect together to be a whole painting. To have a better idea of how the book looks like when you open it and, more importantly, to better understand the architecture and city layout the book talks about,  we strongly suggest you read on your PC instead of iPad or laptop. Enjoy!

About the illustrator/author:

Dawu Yu was born in 1948 and grew up in the city. Almost all his childhood time was spent alongside the walls of the Forbidden City, the inner city in the center of Beijing, which preserves hundreds of years of history. When the Earth Tranquility Gate was torn down in 1954, his grandfather put him in a cart and brought him there to look at this north gate of the ancient inner city of Beijing one last time.

Mr. Yu created the beautiful book after years of meticulous research. "Decades later, I feel fortunate now about painting the old Beijing,” says Yu. “I am overwhelmed with emotions and memories, perhaps because I have deep feelings for the historic city."

With a career dedicated to comics and book illustrations, Mr. Dawu Yu has won numerous illustration awards including the Original Picture Book Award from the Asian/Pacific Culture Center for UNESCO in 1988. He was also invited to The Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators' Exhibition in 2000. Today, he lives with his family in his beloved city.

About the publisher:

1 Plus Books is an independent publisher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. One Kite project was founded in 2018 partnering with Erya Foundation and Shan Fu Studio, our mission is to bring the best Chinese original picture books to young readers in the US. We believe that every new book is a new horizon for children to explore. Beijing: A Symmetrical City is One Kite's first book.