北京建城已有3000多年的历史，作为都城已逾800年之久。在公元前11世纪时称为“蓟”，公元938年，蓟城成为辽的陪都，改称南京，又称为燕京。一个多世纪以后，金朝建立，建都于燕京，改名中都。1267年，元朝也建都于此．称为元大都，从此，北京取代了长安、洛阳、汴梁等古都的地位，成为中国政治文化的中心，并一直延续到明、清时期。北京在历史上曾是辽、金、元、明、清五朝的帝都。从各朝在京建都的历史中，古城北京遗留下了大量的文物古迹。北京是一座天子之城，一座举世闻名的文化古城。

With the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic on October 1, 2009, China has presented a new face to the world. Over the past 60 years, Chinese society has undergone significant changes that are clearly reflected in literature, painting, film, drama and other literary and artistic works. In China, both the rich and the poor, the elite and the working class all celebrate the Spring Festival. Paintings depicting Spring Festival entertainments are one of the most popular and inexpensive consumables of the season. Before TV sets and inter became as popular as today, Chinese New Year paintings (including publicity paintings) were one of the most direct and biggest media for observations of China, which were able to reach millions of households throughout the country. This book is posed of 200 carefully chosen Chinese New Year paintings from 1949 on, and is divided into threetime periods: 1949-1965. 1966-1978, and 1979-2009. These paintings tell of the major events in China from di