travel tips

from http://www.chinaculturecenter.org/







Tengchong
Province: Yunnan

Overview

Tengchong is a predominantly Han town located along the old southwestern silk route, sharing a 148km (89-mile) border with Myanmar (Burma) to the northwest. The History of Tengchong can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, around 100 BC. For 2000 years, it was an important station along the old southwestern silk route. Xu Xiake, a great Ming Dynasty traveler, described the place as the "number one furthest city on the border". The area has a stunning volcanic landscape including 97 volcanoes, and plenty of hot springs, volcanic lakes. Besides all these fabulous natural sights, Tengchong also has excellent manmade attractions such as Taoist temples and aged preserved villages.













Best Time to Visit

The climate is most pleasant in April

Average Climate
10°C-28°C











How to Get There?

Beijing to Tengchong: 2921km
Shanghai to Tengchong: 2697km

Plane and Bus information
Beijing-Kunming: CA1403 (07:25-10:50)
Kunming-Mangshi: CA4455 (14:15-15:10)
Mangshi-Tengchong: Bus (about 3 hours)

Shanghai Hongqiao-Kunming: FM9455 (07:35-10:50)
Kunming-Mangshi: CA4455 (14:15-15:10)
Mangshi-Tengchong: Bus (about 3 hours)







What to See?

Volcano park
There is a saying in Tengchong: "Nine out of 10 mountains have no head." to describe the volcanoes there. In the last 500 years the area has registered over 70 earthquakes measuring at least five on the Richter scale. The tallest conical volcano in the area (Daying : Beat Hawk) rises 2,614 meters, surrounded by over 70 volcanoes of different sizes.
Rehai (Hot sea)
The main attraction there is called Dagunguo (Big Boiling Bowl), a large spring that reaches a temperature of 97 degrees centigrade. Locals offer visitors eggs cooked in the spring's heat. Hot water is ejected intermittently into the nearby streams with a thunderous roar. The water in the hot spring contains a wide variety of minerals, and the sulphur in it benefits our skin and body very much. Among the numerous smaller springs and geysers, the park also has cooler springs suitable for a swim, including Frog Mouth, Lion Head, Pearl Spring and Drum-beat Spring.
Beihai Wetland
Tengchong Beihai (North Sea) Wetland Reserve, located in the northwest to the county, 12.5 kilometers from the city, is the only national wetland protection zones in Yunnan Province. It has highly eco-tourism and scientific exploration value. The broad expanse of paddyfields and lakes, bamboo-made bridges and little boats sliding along the river create a quiet and peaceful scene.
Heshun Township
Heshun Township is the most ancient town of the region, 4 KM from Tengchong. This place still holds the tranquility and the simplicity that Lijiang Old Town lost during its development and commercialization in the last decade.
Heshun means peace and harmony, is a very beautiful place with many ornamental structures like pavilions, memorial halls or archways, lotus ponds, marble balustrades, etc. From ancient times on, it has been a place where talented people were brought up. Many of the Heshunxiang people who live abroad are successful businessmen or scholars of great attainments doing their bits for the prosperity of the countries they reside.
Yunfeng Mountain
Mount Yunfeng stands in Ruidian Township and over 50 kilometers away in the northwest of the county seat. Seen from a distance, the mountain looks like a bamboo shoot towering into the sky. The mountain got its name because there are often clouds covering its top. Mount Yunfeng is a holy mountain for the Taoists and enjoys great popularity in the western part of Yunnan and the north of Burma. Pilgrims from home and abroad often go there to make a pilgrimage. "The three flights of steps" is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Tengchong. More than one thousand steps lead to the mountain top. The steepest place consists of 43 steps, which is almost vertical and is less than one meter wide. Climbing up to the top, tourists have to get hold of chains and to walk very close to the precipice.
Volcanic Column Park
The park houses numerous high-rise stone columns made up of condensed magma from volcanoes, which are called “Columnar Joints” by geologists and shaped like hexagonal tubes.








Useful Information

Most of the time of the year Tengchong is very warm, however it can get very cold when it rains. Bringing a sweater with you even in summer is a very good idea.



More Information

People
Most are Han people, making up 90% of the whole population. There are also some minorities living in this area, such as Dai、Lisu、Hui、Bai、Achang and so on.

Souvenirs famous to the area
Shadow puppet and Paper umbrella made in Gudong county.
Jadeware, traditional Chinese herbal medicines, Xuan paper, and rattan work.

travel to tengchong(3)

Tengchong is located in western Yunnan border in the west and adjoining Myanmar, had been a history of the ancient Silk Road to the southwest to. Tengchong is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, culture and state of well-known emerald distribution center, also at the provincial level historical and cultural city.
Tengchong in the War of Resistance Against Japan played an important role in the War Memorial Cemetery is the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan and the World Anti-Fascist War Battle of Tengchong in Yunnan Campaign, the country's Chinese Expeditionary Force died in the 20th Group Army to capture Tengchong Memorial and the Allied officers and soldiers , The dead people in the cemetery. The size of its spectacular and informative. To reflect the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan and the World Anti-Fascist War in the establishment of the first national cemetery of the martyrs of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Burma is the largest of the existing theater, to preserve the most complete and most representative of the Anti-Japanese War of the martyrs cemetery, at home and abroad have an important impact for State-level key protection units. Chui-covered pines and cypresses in the park, Bicao lush, quiet environment, with a solemn silence. More than half a century, it has to carry forward the Chinese people's patriotism and righteousness, to inherit the heroic resistance of the Chinese nation, the glorious tradition of safeguarding peace, bearing in mind the lessons of history, to strengthen national defense, promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland will play a positive role.






This is my granny and me.
we visited a sand beach which is really terrific.
we walked,chatted,played on the beach till sunset.






my daddy and mummy on the beach!
as happy as children,forgetting all the wordly worries!!
wish them to be happy forever!

travel to tengchong(2)

Tengchong famed with its terrestial heat where dozens of vocalnos have activities there in the early history. Nowdays, they are either extinct or dormant. What we can feel it terrestial heat directly is the thermal spring. The springs breaks out of rocks at a temperature of 95 degree centigrade, or even more. You can take a bath in the famous Rehai(Hot Sea) Park several miles away from the downtown area. It's of reasonable price, 40RMB/Hour for 2 or 3 people, a large marble bathrub in a single room. The spring contains much sulphur which benefits our skin and body very much. One thing you may not familiar is that skin feels a bit slippery with the sulphur. Remember, it's good to yourself. A funny experience.


This is my beautiful mother standing near a hot spring.




























local fruits are cheap and juicy!!
you have to have a taste!!













you can also boil the eggs or peanuts in the hot spring!!
it is really funny,isn't it?

travel to tengchong(1)

this winter vocation,my family and i enjoyed fine sunshine inTENGCHONG, a border
city in YUNNAN province,Here, i would like to share something fun.and sure,
u would like it

















This is one of the antique world, as a result of river and around the village, named "Shun River," after Blair as "Heshun", southwest China's ancient "Silk Road" on the very edge of a unique ancient town . Heshun rich and unique cultural, Heshun culture is a culture of the vault to plant and reduced King, Tengchong is an important part of culture, went into the Heshun like a mysterious maze of culture, thought-provoking, and couplets can be seen everywhere horizontal inscribed board Calligraphy and painting, all full of etiquette Shishu, U.S. customs wind-sun atmosphere of traditional culture. 600 years of precipitation with a long history of culture, generations of Chinese shun them razed to go back to the wealth of traditional knowledge and cultural exchange, integration, forming a unique style of regional culture. Construction on the mountain out of power, Heshun direction together to form a clan, the family name in order to build the wall, magnificent, magnificent classical buildings, is also a rendering, Confucianism has also cultivated the elegant atmosphere of the humanistic spirit.



This is a beautiful traditional village close to Tengchong, apparently for retired people although I did see many young families living here. It is promoted as a tourist site so there is an entry charge of Y80. However, if you get a minibus from Tengchong it drops you off past the town gates. The village is built on a small hillock.

TODAY is my BIRTHDAYexpressions in all languages - THANK YOU...

I RECEIVE SO MANY GIFTS AND WISHES

THANK U SO MUCH
FOR COMPANYING ME GROW UP!!!
LANGUAGE
TRANSLATION

AFRIKAANS dankie
ALBANIAN faleminderit
ALSATIAN merci
ARABIC chokrane
ARABIC (ALGERIAN) saha
ARABIC (TUNISIAN) Barak Allahu fiik
ARMENIAN chnorakaloutioun
AZERI çox sag olun / tesekkur edirem
BAMBARA a ni kié
BASQUE eskerrik asko (southern basque) / milesker (northern basque)
BELARUSIAN Дзякую (dziakuju)
BENGALI dhanyabaad
BOBO a ni kié
BOSNIAN hvala
BRETON trugéré / trugaré / trugarez
BULGARIAN merci / blagodaria
BURMESE (thint ko) kyay tzu tin pa te
CATALAN gràcies
CEBUANO salamat
CHECHEN Баркал (barkal)
CHICHEWA zikomo
CHINESE xièxie
CORSICAN grazie
CROATIAN hvala
CZECH děkuji / díky
DANISH tak
DARI tashakor
DUTCH dank u wel / dank je wel
ENGLISH thank you
ESPERANTO dankon
ESTONIAN tänan / tänan väga (thank you very much)
EWÉ akpé
FAROESE takk fyri
FIDJIAN vinaka
FINNISH kiitos
FRENCH merci
FRISIAN dankewol
FRIULAN gracie
GALICIAN gracias / graciñas
GEORGIAN დიდი მადლობა (didi madloba)


GERMAN danke
GREEK ευχαριστώ (efharisto)
GUARANÍ aguyjé
GUJARATI aabhar
HAITIAN CREOLE mèsi
HAWAIIAN mahalo
HEBREW toda
HINDI dhanyavad
HUNGARIAN köszönöm
ICELANDIC takk
INDONESIAN terima kasih
INUPIAT taiku
IRISH GAELIC go raibh maith agat
ITALIAN grazie
JAPANESE arigatô
KABYLIAN tanemirt
KANNADA dhanyavadagalu
KHMER akun


KINYARWANDA murakoze
KIRUNDI murakoze
KOREAN kam sah hamnida
KOTOKOLI sobodi
KRIO tenki
KURDISH spas
LAO khob chai (deu)
LATIN gratias ago (from 1 pers.)
gratias agimus (from X pers.)
LATVIAN paldies
LIGURIAN grassie
LITHUANIAN ačiū
LOW SAXON bedankt / dank ju wel
LUXEMBOURGEOIS merci
MACEDONIAN blagodaram
MALAGASY misaotra
MALAY terima kasih
MALAYALAM nanni
MALTESE niżżik ħajr / grazzi / nirringrazzjak
MARATHI aabhari aahe / aabhar / dhanyavaad
MONGOLIAN bayarlalaa (Баярлалаа)
NORWEGIAN takk
OCCITAN mercé / grandmercé
PAPIAMENTO danki
PASCUAN mauruuru
PASHTO manana
PERSIAN motashakkeram, mamnun (formal) / mochchakkeram, mamnun, mersi (informal)
POLISH dziękuję
PORTUGUESE obrigado (M speaking) / obrigada (F speaking)
QUECHUA sulpáy
ROMANI najis tuke
ROMANIAN mulţumesc
RUSSIAN спасибо (spacibo)
SAMOAN faafetai lava
SARDINIAN gratzias
SCOTTISH GAELIC tapadh leat (singular, familiar)
tapadh leibh (plural, respectful)
SERBIAN hvala
SHIMAORE marahaba
SHONA waita (plural: maita)
SINDHI meharbani
SINHALA stuutiyi
SLOVAK dakujem
SLOVENIAN hvala
SOBOTA hvala
SPANISH gracias / muchas gracias
SWAHILI asante / asante sana
SWEDISH tack
TAGALOG salamat (po)
TAHITIAN mauruuru
TAJIK rahmat
TAMIL nandri
TATAR rahmat
TELUGU dhanyavadalu
THAI ขอบคุณค่ะ (kop khun kha) - woman speaking
ขอบคุณครับ (kop khun krap) - man speaking
TIGRINYA yekeniele
TURKISH tesekkur ederim, sagolun
UDMURT tau
UKRAINIAN diakuiu
URDU shukriya
UZBEK rahmat
VIETNAMIEN cám ơn


WALOON ("betchfessîs" spelling) gråces / merci
thank you very much : gråces (merci) traze côps, gråces (merci) beacôp
WELSH diolch
WEST INDIAN CREOLE mèsi
WOLOF djiere dieuf
XHOSA enkosi
YIDDISH a dank
YORUBA o sheun
ZULU ngiyabonga (literally means : I give thanks)
siyabonga (= we give thanks)
ngiyabonga kakhulu (thanks very much)

GOSSIPS

A women complained to a friend,
"She told me that you told her the secret I told you not to tell her."

"Well," replied her friend in a hurt tone, "I told her not to tell you I told her."

"Oh dear!" sighed the first women. "Well, don't tell her I told you that she told me."

50 INTERESTING FACTS

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

3. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5. The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” meaning “the best or nothing”.


6. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

7. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

8. The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

9. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

10. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

11. Dalmatians are born without spots.

12. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

13. The ‘v’ in the name of a court case does not stand for ‘versus’, but for ‘and’ (in civil proceedings) or ‘against’ (in criminal proceedings).

14. Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

15. The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.

16. The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

17. Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.

18. The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

19. Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.

20. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

21. The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.


22. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.

23. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

24. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.

25. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.

26. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.

27. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.

28. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

29. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.

30. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

31. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

32. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

33. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

34. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

35. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.

36. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

37. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.

38. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it
is smiling).

39. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

40. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

41. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

42. The average person laughs 13 times a day.

43. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil)

44. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

45. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

46. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

47. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

48. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

49. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!

HOW TO GROW OLD

how to grow old?
it may be not the proper question to think about in my age.
however,i read an essay from new concept textbook about this issue.
and,you know what ,i think it really interesting.
here is the essay,posted by windwhisper
How to Grow Old By Bertrand Russe


How to Grow Old


Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One's thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy; one's own past is a gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one's emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one's mind more keen. If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.

The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigour from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one's interest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.

I thing that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use telling grownup children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with your children and grandchildren. In that case you must realise that while you can still render them material services, such as making them an allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it——so at least it seems to me——is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river——small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should with to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

Transcript of Hillary Clinton's Speech
Hillary Clinton delivered the following remarks in Washington, D.C., on Saturday:

Thank you so much. Thank you all.

Well, this isn't exactly the party I'd planned, but I sure like the company.

I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you – to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked and sometimes argued with your friends and neighbors, who emailed and contributed online, who invested so much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be."

To the young people like 13 year-old Ann Riddle from Mayfield, Ohio who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World, and decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her Mom and volunteer there as well. To the veterans and the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans who traveled across the country and telling anyone who would listen why you supported me.

To all those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women could vote who cast their votes for our campaign. I've told you before about Florence Steen of South Dakota, who was 88 years old, and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot. She passed away soon after, and under state law, her ballot didn't count. But her daughter later told a reporter, "My dad's an ornery old cowboy, and he didn't like it when he heard mom's vote wouldn't be counted. I don't think he had voted in 20 years. But he voted in place of my mom."

To all those who voted for me, and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives and you have humbled me with your commitment to our country.

18 million of you from all walks of life – women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African-American and Caucasian, rich, poor and middle class, gay and straight – you have stood strong with me. And I will continue to stand strong with you, every time, every place, and every way that I can. The dreams we share are worth fighting for.

Remember - we fought for the single mom with a young daughter, juggling work and school, who told me, "I'm doing it all to better myself for her." We fought for the woman who grabbed my hand, and asked me, "What are you going to do to make sure I have health care?" and began to cry because even though she works three jobs, she can't afford insurance. We fought for the young man in the Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, "Take care of my buddies over there and then, will you please help take care of me?" We fought for all those who've lost jobs and health care, who can't afford gas or groceries or college, who have felt invisible to their president these last seven years.

I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction: that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their dreams. I've had every opportunity and blessing in my own life – and I want the same for all Americans. Until that day comes, you will always find me on the front lines of democracy – fighting for the future.

The way to continue our fight now – to accomplish the goals for which we stand – is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him, and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.

I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I have had a front row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit.

In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. As a community organizer, in the state senate, as a United States Senator - he has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future.

Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House, and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity, and progress. And that's exactly what we're going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight. The Democratic Party is a family, and it's now time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love.

We may have started on separate journeys – but today, our paths have merged. And we are all heading toward the same destination, united and more ready than ever to win in November and to turn our country around because so much is at stake.

We all want an economy that sustains the American Dream, the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford that gas and those groceries and still have a little left over at the end of the month. An economy that lifts all of our people and ensures that our prosperity is broadly distributed and shared.

We all want a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance. This isn't just an issue for me – it is a passion and a cause – and it is a fight I will continue until every single American is insured – no exceptions, no excuses.

We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality – from civil rights to labor rights, from women's rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families.

We all want to restore America's standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq and once again lead by the power of our values, and to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

You know, I've been involved in politics and public life in one way or another for four decades. During those forty years, our country has voted ten times for President. Democrats won only three of those times. And the man who won two of those elections is with us today.

We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world. Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years – on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could've come, how much we could've achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.

We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much.

Now the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can't do it. That it's too hard. That we're just not up to the task. But for as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to reject "can't do" claims, and to choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a pioneering spirit.

It is this belief, this optimism, that Senator Obama and I share, and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their voices heard.

So today, I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes we can.

Together we will work. We'll have to work hard to get universal health care. But on the day we live in an America where no child, no man, and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a stronger America. That's why we need to help elect Barack Obama our President.

We'll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn a decent living, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must elect Barack Obama our President.

We'll have to work hard to foster the innovation that makes us energy independent and lift the threat of global warming from our children's future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by renewable energy, we will live in a stronger America. That's why we have to help elect Barack Obama our President.

We'll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq, and get them the support they've earned by their service. But on the day we live in an America that's as loyal to our troops as they have been to us, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our President.

This election is a turning point election and it is critical that we all understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward together or will we stall and slip backwards. Think how much progress we have already made. When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions:

Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we answered that one.

And could an African American really be our President? Senator Obama has answered that one.

Together Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union.

Now, on a personal note – when I was asked what it means to be a woman running for President, I always gave the same answer: that I was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I thought I'd be the best President. But I am a woman, and like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious.

I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us.

I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter's future and a mother who wants to lead all children to brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect. Let us resolve and work toward achieving some very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits and there are no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century.

You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.

To those who are disappointed that we couldn't go all the way – especially the young people who put so much into this campaign – it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you're knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on.

As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.

Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.

Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who marched, protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to segregation and Jim Crow.

Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote. Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together. Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can yes, become President of the United States.

When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation, proud that every little girl can dream and that her dreams can come true in America. And all of you will know that because of your passion and hard work you helped pave the way for that day.

So I want to say to my supporters, when you hear people saying – or think to yourself – "if only" or "what if," I say, "please don't go there." Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward.

Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been. We have to work together for what still can be. And that is why I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next President and I hope and pray that all of you will join me in that effort.

To my supporters and colleagues in Congress, to the governors and mayors, elected officials who stood with me, in good times and in bad, thank you for your strength and leadership. To my friends in our labor unions who stood strong every step of the way – I thank you and pledge my support to you. To my friends, from every stage of my life – your love and ongoing commitments sustain me every single day. To my family – especially Bill and Chelsea and my mother, you mean the world to me and I thank you for all you have done. And to my extraordinary staff, volunteers and supporters, thank you for working those long, hard hours. Thank you for dropping everything – leaving work or school – traveling to places you'd never been, sometimes for months on end. And thanks to your families as well because your sacrifice was theirs too.

All of you were there for me every step of the way. Being human, we are imperfect. That's why we need each other. To catch each other when we falter. To encourage each other when we lose heart. Some may lead; others may follow; but none of us can go it alone. The changes we're working for are changes that we can only accomplish together. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are rights that belong to each of us as individuals. But our lives, our freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed, best protected, and best advanced when we do work together.

That is what we will do now as we join forces with Senator Obama and his campaign. We will make history together as we write the next chapter in America's story. We will stand united for the values we hold dear, for the vision of progress we share, and for the country we love. There is nothing more American than that.

And looking out at you today, I have never felt so blessed. The challenges that I have faced in this campaign are nothing compared to those that millions of Americans face every day in their own lives. So today, I'm going to count my blessings and keep on going. I'm going to keep doing what I was doing long before the cameras ever showed up and what I'll be doing long after they're gone: Working to give every American the same opportunities I had, and working to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up and achieve his or her God-given potential.

I will do it with a heart filled with gratitude, with a deep and abiding love for our country– and with nothing but optimism and confidence for the days ahead. This is now our time to do all that we can to make sure that in this election we add another Democratic president to that very small list of the last 40 years and that we take back our country and once again move with progress and commitment to the future.

Thank you all and God bless you and God bless America.