中华世纪坛序
大风泱泱，大潮滂滂。洪水图腾蛟龙，烈火涅槃凤凰。文明圣火，千古未绝者，惟我无双；和天地并存，与日月同光。
中华文化，源远流长；博大精深，卓越辉煌。信步三百米甬道，阅历五千年沧桑。社稷千秋，祖宗百世，几多荣辱沉浮，几度盛衰兴亡。圣贤典籍，浩如烟海；四大发明，寰球共享。缅怀漫漫岁月，凝聚缕缕遐想。
回首近代，百年三万六千日，饱尝民族苦难，历尽变革风霜。烽火硝烟，江山激昂。挽狂澜于既倒，撑大厦于断梁。春风又绿神州，华夏再沐朝阳。
登坛远望：前有古人，星光灿烂；后有来者，群英堂堂。看乾坤旋转：乾恒动，自强不息之精神；坤包容，厚德载物之气量。继往开来，浩浩荡荡。立民主，兴文明，求统一，图富强。中华民族伟大复兴，定将舒天朝晖，磅礴东方。
世纪交汇，万众景仰；共襄盛举，建坛流芳；昭示后代，永世莫忘。
一九九九年十月
英文
All over the world, celebrations and festivities to usher in Year 2000 make up one of the grandest spectacles at the end of the century, as mankind strides towards the new century and millennium.
New opportunities, challenges, and hopes are emerging over the horizon of China of the 21st century. The Chinese nation, with its splendid civilization of 5000 years, is on the threshold of an epoch of great renewal, as a future of yet greater splendour is arising in the East of the world.
At the turn of the century and millennium, the China Millennium Monument. with its oriental cultural overtones and contemporary architectural art, will promote the national spirit by embodying an original style, displaying a modern aestheticism, and expressing hopes of the future.
The China Millennium Monument, as China' s symbolic and commemorative building to welcome the Year 2000, is a gift for the world of the 21st century from the Chinese people, forever standing in China' s capital Beijing.
The China Millennium Monument stands along a north-south axis between the Military Museum and the Central Television Complex, with the scenic Yuyuantan Park to the north and the West Beijing Railway Terminus to the south, occupying an area of 4.5 hectares and a total floor space of about 42,000 square metres.
The Monument is a grand structure ingeniously combining the spirit of traditional Chinese culture with modern architectural art, and integrating architecture, landscaping, sculpture, mural painting, and various other art forms. It will not only be an eternal memory of the turn of the millennium, but also serve as a centre for cultural, artistic, and scientific exhibitions both at home and abroad, as well as an inspiration in patriotism.
Inside the southern entrance to the Monument is the Plaza of Holy Fire, one metre below ground and 960 square metres in area, standing for China' s vast territory of 9,600,000 square kilometres. With the gentle centripetal rise of the ground suggesting the rise of the Chinese nation, the Holy Fire of China is located right in the middle of the Plaza. The fire originated at the site of Peking man at Zhoukoudian, Beijing, and is fed on natural gas. The everburning flames, rising some 45 centimetres high, are a token of the unceasing creativity of the Chinese civilization.
Along both the eastern and western side of the plaza, there is a steady current of water cascading down the steps, reminding the visitor of the mother rivers of the Chinese nation: the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
Written in 1999.10
