BEIJING - As she tours China along with her husband, Laureen Harper has her own wish for the Chinese people.

May they love Anne of Green Gables much as she did.

Harper has written an introduction for a Mandarin translation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic story about an orphan raised on Prince Edward Island.

Harper calls the story as Canadian as the maple leaf, yet enjoyed all over the world because the story and the characters transcend differences.

She says the main character Anne Shirley is someone everyone can recognize and love for her independent spirit and boundless imagination.

And Harper also puts in a plug for Shirley's home province, exhorting readers to come and visit P.E.I. to see the Island for themselves.

Copies of the book were handed out at a tourism event in Beijing on Wednesday.