I'm so relieved as Beihai Park comes of age

A thousand years of history didn't matter to a two-year-old, especially one with an overactive bladder. There is a photo of me as a toddler in Beihai Park, arguably one of the oldest and best-preserved imperial gardens in the country, with a suspicious puddle next to my feet.

Going back even further in time, there is a picture of my mother holding me under one of the weeping willows that swooned toward the edge of the lake.

Beihai Park may have been built for emperors but it was my playground. Seeing the colossal white tower in the middle of the lake was as much of a daily routine as eating and napping. While other children were hauled off to preschool on the backs of their parents' bicycles, my grandfather gave me piggyback rides to the park's west gate and taught me my first English words: hello and thank you.