What is YOUR Beijing like? Tell us about it in the essay competition, "Beijing Through My Eyes"!

 Sounds cool. What is it all about?
 Who gets to join?
 When do I have to finish?
 Okay, count me in! How do I join?
 I'm not doing this just for the prize. But just in case I win, what will I get?
 Logistical stuff. Rules and low-down.
 What is everyone else saying? Can I check out the competition?

What is it?
The essay competition of "Beijing Through My Eyes" is initiated by eBeijing, the official English website of Beijing Municipality, to promote the Chinese capital in preparation for the international metropolis to welcome the 2008 Olympics.

Participants are welcome to tap their creative skills to express their opinions of Beijing, reflect on the city and its people and offer advice on the city's development.

The competition is sponsored by the Foreign Affairs Office and the Office of Information of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, and organized by the Information Center of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and Beijing Official Portal Management Center, with organization assistance from BenQ Ltd. Co. and C-Trip and media support from China Radio International, BTV Touch Beijing, Wenwei Po, and China Daily.

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Who gets to join?
Entry writers must:
1) Obey the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China;
2) Register and agree to the relevant rules of the competition through eBeijing;
3) If of foreign citizenship, be able to write in Chinese or English;
4) If of Chinese citizenship, be able to write in English.

Essay Requirements
1) Theme:
　Chinese - Wo Yan Zhong De Beijing
　English - Beijing Through My Eyes
2) Language:
　Foreign participants: either in Chinese or English.
　Chinese participants: in English only.
3) Contents:
　(1) Foreign participants should submit electronic copies in Chinese or English.

　(2) Chinese participants should submit electronic copies in English.

　(3) Participants can decide on the titles of their submitted essays, but the content should be relevant to the stated theme.

　(4) Each essay should contain between 300 and 1500 words.

　(5) Essays should be sent in a pure TEXT (.txt) compatible format.

　(6) Essays uploaded by participants should not contain any of the following contents: comments counter to Chinese laws and regulations, sex or religious discrimination, violation of people's privacy or commercial advertisements. Essays containing the above mentioned contents shall be deleted, and the organizing committee of the competition retains the right to further investigate the legal liability of such entrants. Participants are held wholly responsible for the contents of the essays they upload.

　(7) No more than three pictures (each not exceeding 50K) relevant to the theme can be attached to each essay in the forms of JPEG or GIF, with a size not exceeding 320x240; pictures irrelevant to the theme of the essay, photos unauthorized by their original authors and pictures containing violence, pornography, political or religious propaganda should not be uploaded. No pictures containing personal information and ways of contact should be uploaded, and commercial advertising through pictures or photos is forbidden. Pictures in violation of the above mentioned rules shall be deleted. The organizing committee of the competition retains the right to further investigate the legal liability of such entrants. Participants are held wholly responsible for the contents of the photographs they upload.

　(8) Participants must guarantee that their essays are created by themselves without any plagiarism and comply with all relevant rules of the competition. The organizing committee of the competition has set up a special report mechanism. Any essays that are reported to violate the rules of the competition shall be deemed invalid and frozen upon verification. Authors of such reported essays have one week to appeal (through telephone or e-mail), and the case shall be treated on the basis of evidence as submitted. Participants in violation who do not raise any appeal revoke their rights to enter the competition, and their essays shall be deleted, the qualification of participants abolished and their accounts annulled. The organizing committee of the competition retains the right to further investigate legal liabilities of such entrants.

　(9) All the essays shall be examined and reviewed by network administrators when uploaded.

　(10) No alteration can be made to any essay after it has been uploaded. Participants are requested to upload their essays after making sure that they contain no mistakes.

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When do I have to finish?
The competition is held from August 25 to October 25, 2005.

The competition schedule is as follows:
August 23: Press conference
August 25: Start date for valid submissions
October 10: Deadline for valid submissions
October 25: Closing date of network statistics (entry popularity, number of comments received, etc.)
October 28: Announcing name list of winners
November 8: Award Ceremony (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for "Best Essay", "Most Popular", and "Best Organization")
November 9-11: Acceptance of the "Qualification Award" and prizes for "Fine Organization"

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Okay, count me in! How do I join?
Before submitting your essay, you should log in to eBeijing. (New users can find the registration form on the website)
Click here to submit your English essay
Click here to submit your Chinese essay

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If I win, what will I get?
The following prizes will be given to each group:

1st Place "Best Essay" Prize
3 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 1,000 yuan (RMB) (one from each category of foreigners writing in English, foreigners writing in Chinese, and Chinese writing in English).

2nd Place "Best Essay" Prize
6 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 500 yuan (RMB) (two from each category of foreigners writing in English, foreigners writing in Chinese, and Chinese writing in English).

3rd Place "Best Essay" Prize
9 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 300 yuan (RMB) (three from each category of foreigners writing in English, foreigners writing in Chinese, and Chinese writing in English).

"Most Popular" Prize
20 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 100 yuan (RMB) (ten from the essays in English, and ten from the essays in Chinese). Winners shall be determined according to the list of popularity.

"Best Organization" Prize
5 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 500 yuan (RMB). Winners shall be determined in correlation to the number of essays contributed in each language.

"Fine Organization" Prize
30 winners shall each receive prize(s) worth 100 yuan (RMB).

"Qualification Awards"
500 winners, the authors of essays who have passed the preliminary appraisal (including those recommended by institutions), shall each receive a souvenir worth 10 yuan (RMB).


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Logistical stuff. Rules and low-down.

Rules for Evaluation
1) Each participating university or college can recommend 5% of the essays it submits to enter the second round of appraisal without undergoing the preliminary appraisal.

2) Essays by individual participants and those by team participants not recommended shall be placed into one of three categories: English by foreigners, Chinese by foreigners, and English by Chinese. The 100 best essays shall be selected from each category.

3) The 100 selected essay and those recommended by participating institutions shall enter the second round of appraisal (there is one judge for each group) also divided into the three categories, and six essays from each shall be selected as winners of the "Best Essay" prizes.

4) Five institutions with the highest number of essays contributed shall receive prizes of "Best Organization", and all institutions which have organized participants shall receive prizes of "Fine Organization".

5) Winners of the prize of "Most Popular" shall be determined by statistics from relevant networks.

6) 500 "Qualification Awards" shall be given to essays which have passed the preliminary appraisal (those who win in other categories forfeit the qualification award).

Notes
1) Authors who win any of the "Best Essay" prizes and the "Most Popular" Prize shall get certificates as special invited contributors issued by Beijing International Cultural Exchange Service Platform, and those who win "Qualification Awards" can enter their names online to be appointed as special invited contributors;

2) Judges shall be selected from English teachers and those who teach foreigners Chinese from institutions of higher learning in Beijing.

You can report on the following behaviors
* Plagiarism
* False identity used in registration
* Use of improper means to boost the browsing rate of one's own essay
* Reveal to or hint judges that one has entered the competition
I want to report

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Some essays
* Sailing in The Zhuanhe River By princessarahxy, China
* Lively and Lovely, It's the Beijing City By giayan, China
* The Beijing I Believe In By gorila, China
* Heart Dancing with Beijing's Melody By fantasy, China
* I Love Me for My Beijing in Eyes By Daisy, Albania
* The English Signs in Beijing By JayShen, United States
* A Day In the Life of Beijing By Sandor, Hungary
* My Share of Beijing By lisaceleste, Canada

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