I received a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley.

This book is very informative and dense. I agree with the comments that say that the language is a bit repetitive, sometimes clumsy, but I guess this is because the book is aimed at kids and teens. The density of the topic combined with the volume of information plus the fact that most children and teenagers in English-speaking countries know little of China explains why the language is sometimes a bit repetitive. It's to make things clearer and really hammer in the info presented.

The book gives a great historical overview of Beijing, focusing mainly on the Qing Dynasty. We follow the axis from South to North, each double page showcasing a large and beautiful illustration with an informative text in the lower part of the pages. I really liked the illustrations as they really look like a slightly modernized version of Chinese illustrations. Something I can appreciate as an art historian for East Asian art.
There are some simplifications where I, as an adult, just raised my brows a little. I know that texts for kids and teens tend to simplify concepts and go the "traditional" route that verges on stereotypical. All the talk of harmony and other things just seem kinda...weird. Culture is inherently political and the unspoken things lay heavy on the material, in my opinion.

However, despite a few moments of hesitation from my part, the book remains an interesting and densely packed source of information with beautiful illustrations. In the latter pages they even summarize the content with small-scale images of the double-spread illustrations, coloring in the architectural structures and summarizing them. Really a great tool to learn and also to give a presentation.

Don't let my adult perspective deter you from reading this. All books on culture and history for children and teens (and adults) have to be simplified and edited to some degree and I don't hold it against the authors. The tone was sometimes a bit weird, bordering on amusing, but other than that, it's a solid source made with love and great artistic skill.

I was immediately drawn to this picture book because of the beautiful illustrations and my curiosity about Beijing and China as a whole. Yu accompanies the beautiful illustrations of the architectural parts of Beijing with interesting facts. and how it has evolved over time. This is an easy read and will be a great way to introduce young readers to Chinese culture and history.

A really neat book detailing the architecture and history of Beijing. This book contains gorgeous drawings and is extremely informative without being too dense. The physical book is probably best as I wanted to look more closely at all the details! I would recommend this for children age 8 and older, specifically ones who are interested in architecture.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this ARC.

An absolutely beautifully drawn book.

I suspect that something might have been lost in translation as the writing feels very stilted and repetitive. I found this a very difficult book to get through and I suspect a younger reader, who the book is aimed at, would have even more trouble.

This book is very much something that I could see being used as a reference book but a school project but not as something to read for fun.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about how Beijing was designed and built. It would be helpful to young person doing research on urban design.

Thank you to 1 Plus Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautifully illustrated book with excellent descriptions of China history. We recently went to China with our teenagers school and learned about Beijing culture and architecture. I wish I would have had this book prior to our travels! It was so clear and concise in describing the history of China including how and why they built their cities the way they did.
I would definitely recommend this book to children and adults alike!

Un'insolita maniera di esplorare una città, soprattutto se complessa e affascinante come Pechino: tavole dettagliatissime e suggestive, brevi testi di approfondimento che, con l'amore evidente di chi ci abita da sempre, aiutano a scoprirla.
Un bel testo, una vera scoperta.

I had the chance to read this book with my daughters 8 and 10. The girls were very interested in this nonfiction book. Is a great book to learn geography, since we started pointing out where China is located. Some words were new to them but that is great opportunity to check the dictionary and learn new vocabulary. We learned about dynasties and the way of life in that era in China.
The illustrations are beautiful. My girls loved it!

What a cool book! Before reading this I knew absolutely nothing about Beijing's architecture, and this was such a great primer on its past and current structures. I would recommend this for students 5th grade and above, and also for adults looking for a quick, illustrative book on architecture in Beijing.

Thank you to Netgalley and 1 Plus Books for a chance to read this complimentary advanced reader’s copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Very informative and geared towards upper grades. The writing was a bit small and could seem overwhelming but that may have been the Ereader format.

It’s not often I select a non-fiction book to read, but this one sounded so interesting I had to try it. First, I am not as familiar with Beijing as I would like to be. Second, I had no idea the city was symmetrical and it made me very curious to learn a little about that why it was made that way. Beijing: A Symmetrical City focuses on the city during the Qing Dynasty.

One of the main features of the book are the illustrations, which are in a familiar Chinese style and one that helps draw you into the culture and city being presented. Depending on what is being described within the narrative the drawings may be of a map, or a particular part of the city, such as what the city may look like once you pass through the Noon Gate. The pages show many colors, but red and gold – the colors of the emperor – are very prominent.

The information on the pages describe what you may see when you walk through a certain gate or go along a certain path. Descriptions include what type of buildings are in certain sections as well as their purpose, such as how the gate tower stores ceremonial supplies.

After the story moves from how the city was designed, it also goes on to show how it now influences the modern city of Beijing, which is not symmetrical and how parts of the city nearby are laid out.

Within the pages are Fun Facts and Knowledge Tips and then at the end is a more highlighted view of certain points of the city. Because of some of the terminology used, such as ‘central axis’ or occasionally uses of more difficult words like ‘cosmopolitan,’ the age range I recommend is for older middle grade through adult.

Overall, a very informative book for those wanting to learn a little more about one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. I can also see this as a terrific book for libraries to have on hand as well. I did find some of the font size a little small for me, but it is probably how I viewed it.

Rating: 4 stars

It is a book about architecture of Tiansmen square and adjoining structures in Beijing.
It is drawn with meticulous and surprisingly complex illustrations.
Gradually from entering gate to main Altar; it is shown graphically to reveal all peculiar aspects of its architecture.
Alongwith illustrations relevent facts and historical knowledge is shared about Chinese dynasties who built it.
A good book.
A little complex to leaf through, book needs patient reading.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

I loved it. It's short, but beautifully illustrated. It transported me to ancient Beijing and made me wonder. The illustrations are detailed, and there are maps and schematics. Functions of historical buildings are explained, even for ones that aren't there anymore. It was a quick, but very cool read.

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

A unique concept that wasn't executed as well as it could've been. The illustrations are beautiful but the text is overly small and intimidating. This is probably best for high school students, but they may be unlikely to pick it up because it seems like a picture book.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I found this book to be highly dissatisfying. I imagine it was not designed as an ebook, but that's all a reviewer like me ever has to judge it by, and it was less than stellar. It was also quite confusing and left me in the dark much of the time. Some of the text was misleading. For example, at one point when discussing the front entrance to the Forbidden City, the text mentions the "U-shaped Noon Gate" but all of the gates in the illustration are rectangular! The previous illustration had U-shaped gates (or more accurately, n-shaped!), so i couldn't tell if the text was wrong, the illustration was wrong, or if I was simply misunderstanding what was being said, or what. I'd specify a page number, but there were no page numbers in the book, which was another problem, at least for reviewing purposes.

Note that the book was 'adapted' whatever that means (I assume because of the fact that Chinese and English texts flow in different ways, but I may be wrong about that), by Yan Liu, and translated by Crystal Tai, so it's entirely possible that something got lost long the way. The illustrations by the author are meticulous and colorful, but they're very busy and it's often hard to distinguish exactly what's being talked about. Plus I have no idea what gender the author is. It's irrelevant to the review, except in that I can't use 'he' or 'she' to I'll stick with 'they' or something equally neutral.

There was a guide in the back of the book which highlighted greyscale drawings with colors to indicate specific parts of earlier illustrations. If only those had been included along with the text, it would have been a big improvement! It didn't help to have them in the back - and especially not in an ebook because unlike with a print book, it's a nightmare trying to go back and forth in a ebook and keep your place readily.

Some of the illustrations were oddly chopped-up, too. For example, regarding the aforementioned Forbidden City issue, this was also where it looked like one image had become trapped behind another, so maybe the text was right, but the image it referred to had become hidden behind the next image or mangled or something. But there were other issues, and again the transition point seemed to be they Forbidden City page.

Initially (and I was reading this in Adobe Digital Editions on an iPad FYI) there was one page per screen, but in landscape mode, it was possible to slide the image across and see a seamless 'full-page spread' as it were, whereas other images had a vertical white line down the screen marking the page transition. Right after the Forbidden City page though, the layout changed so that double page spreads were included on one screen, making them much too small in portrait mode, and comfortably visible only in landscape.

Again, this is not a problem you would have with a print edition, but publishers insist on sending out only ebook version for review unless you happen to be a top tier reviewer. What this means is that books can get electronically-mangled and publishers all-too-often fail to make sure the book is readable. This clearly happened here, but even ignoring all of that, the book as still confusing and sometimes indecipherable, and frankly I disagreed with the premise that Beijing - even ancient Beijing - is symmetrical. At least if it is, the author failed to convince me! I found the book not acceptable, and I cannot commend it as a worthy read.

I found this book very interesting and it's certainly an original concept that I've never seen before, which is very exciting! I love the illustrations, I think they are fantastic and I really love how they are spread over two pages. I do also like the small map in the corner of each page, I think it's a good addition but I do worry the design might be a little abstract for some younger readers.

I also like how the book tries to be interactive with the "Look!" sections, but I think they might work even better if they were separated from the main block of text and made to stand out more. With a small graphic or a text box, just something to draw the readers' attention to it.

I enjoyed the facts and tips but I was definitely wondering the whole time why? Why is everything symmetrical and what's the significance? I thought maybe I had missed something but it turns out you don't find out why until the end.

Overall, I am just in love with the idea of this book. I can see this being used in schools and for class projects, especially when learning about different cultures throughout the world.