Sunset Boulevard: Nanjing 2021

On July 1, 2021, In Beijing, the clouds were low, across the sea of people on Chang'an Avenue, the bright red flag broke out of the clouds, and tens of millions of people witnessed this moment, and this moment in the stark contrast was real and disillusioned. The crowd cheered and the changes poured in.

From this back a hundred years, in 1921, the moment when the clouds broke out began at the end of the millimeter, whispering on the right bank of the Yangtze River. Ten years further back, in 1911, the road back is from Beijing to Nanjing, and this real and disillusioned moment reminds people of Nanjing during the Qingming Dynasty, where the drizzle is breathing and the capital is floating on the water.

Jinling Imperial State, many temples and many tombs.

Bell Mountain, tall trees and sad winds, sycamores planted all over the city walls can enter the clouds, and the strong wind blows, firmly pressing people into the dark green tide. The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum was immersed in the sunset, and the sunlight flowed down the long steps like honey, gradually graying and cold, submerging into the long winding road, falling into a shadow, breaking tens of millions of points of meager cold light. The wall book of the Beamless Hall reads:

"At present, the revolution has not yet succeeded, and all my comrades must continue to work hard in accordance with Yu's "Strategy for The Founding of the People's Republic," "Outline for The Founding of the People's Republic," and "Declaration of the First National Congress, and strive to implement it." Recent advocacy of national conventions and the abolition of unequal treaties must be achieved, especially in the shortest possible period. Yes, it is the order. ”

The deep blue italics are written in large letters on the wall, and the commemoration and exhortation are here, like a pair of sad and eager eyes, looking forward to a distant dream. It's just a pity that the birth was not timely, and the dream was shattered the night before. The soldiers of Linggu Temple sacrificed themselves before dawn and devoted their lives to the sad eagerness of the wall book.

We walked past wooden hydrangeas that were higher than people's heads, with cats dying in the cypress, and the museum's black walls and white tiles, containing broken bodies and souls. The gods are difficult to ensure the peace of one side, the ruins of the former dynasty have become monuments, the failed revolutionaries rest in peace here, the blood and light of 100,000 people form a wall, and the city seems to be buried on the eve of the previous day, and the heavens and people are eternally separated.

However, around the corner, we took the first step out of the mountain forest, and looking into the distance, the avenue was spacious and dusty, and the long Zhongshanmen Avenue could be seen at a glance, where the orange sunset was overwhelming. In the sunset, the bus is coming, the long street is silent, and the evening wind is gentle.

This is the shock that broke through the clouds in the cold of history. When I see disillusionment and death, I am convinced that what I am touching at this moment is the vivid heartbeat of an era. Life and death coexist, like the decadent trees after lightning strikes, full of branches in the other half of spring, which is the north and south sides of Zhongshanmen Avenue. Opposite the temple and the tomb, schools are in class, classrooms are lit one by one, residential railings are dilapidated and clean, hidden in the shade of the leafy sycamores in May, and small shops selling large cheesecakes are dimly lit.

This is a hard-won human world.

Both the temple and the tomb seem to have an answer. Most of the dynasties with Jinling as the capital were short-lived, Qin Shi Huang opened the ancient Qin Huai, destroyed the imperial qi, more turmoil, more bloody sacrifices, Nanjing bloody rain to the present, begging gods, fighting with their bodies, in exchange for this, life and death are mixed, dead wood in spring.

This is a city that cherishes the world, but also a city that cherishes history. The relics of the past are carefully preserved in urban planning, the Nanjing food stalls on the Qinhuai River are facing the leisurely flowing water, the sound of bullets is broken, a kite hangs on the wall east of the Zhonghua Gate, the mother-in-law under the wall leans on the glass cabinet, and the cabinet sells osmanthus horseshoe cakes, but the other half of Nanjing, the long lanterns of the Yuhuatai are burning endlessly, the photos of the revolutionaries converge into a river of stars, and the monument of the Holocaust Memorial Hall is gray and huge, pointing straight to the sky. The north and south of Zhongshanmen Avenue are images of the division of the times.

On the way back, the Chang'an Avenue flag was raised. The red light of Tiananmen Square illuminated the hyosung, just as the Sunset Avenue rested on the cold bone marrow of Zhongshan, which was the same as breaking out of the clouds, opening up the world, and having a long time.