At six o'clock in the morning at the corner tower of the Forbidden City, the protective veil of the moat has just been untied. I always think of the morning light in Jiang Shi's camera at such moments - when the first ray of golden light climbs onto the glazed tiles, those city bricks rubbed by time will open their eyes and gently shake off the sound of horse hooves and morning bells from six hundred years ago on the shoulders of tourists. This is Beijing, a city that has built history into its bones, where every turn reveals the folds of time.

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1. Great Wall: Civilization Scale Line on the Ridge

Dialogue between Spring Cherry and Arrow Tower (Badaling Water Pass+Juyong Pass)

The Great Wall at Shuiguan in the early morning is still shrouded in mist, and the eaves of the Arrow Tower carry a few remnants of stars. As the peach blossoms in the mountains spread along the "V" - shaped city wall into a pink waterfall, a "train bound for spring" was passing by the flower sea of Juyong Pass - the windows reflected the overlapping shadows of ancient enemy buildings and blooming flower trees. Under the shadow of the flowers, they stepped up to the "Diecui Academy" to copy the inscriptions, with the ink fragrance mixed with the sweetness of apricot blossoms. The distant roar of the train became the most special background sound.

Monologue of the Great Wall under the Starry Sky on a Summer Night (Mutianyu+Gubei Water Town)

The dusk at Mutianyu always carries an epic feeling, as the setting sun dyes the enemy tower golden, like the last ray of light left by a general when he unloads his armor. As night fell, the lights of the Simatai Great Wall lit up one after another, and the footsteps of carrying lanterns on a night tour woke up the sleeping brick patterns - those arrow windows washed by moonlight seemed to still hide the body temperature of Ming Dynasty soldiers. When the drone show in Gubei Water Town writes the word "Great Wall" on the lake, remember to turn around and look at the Great Wall lantern strip on the mountain. Between reality and illusion, it is a reflection of a thousand year old civilization.

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2. Hutong: The Epic of Life with Green Bricks and Gray Tiles

A slice of time in the morning light of a quadrangle courtyard (Nanluoguxiang+Mao Dun's former residence)

In the morning market of Nanluogu Lane, there is a sweet smell of sugar Youbing (Deep-fried round and flat dough-cake), and the door ring of No. 13 Houyuanensi Hutong still has dew. Pushing open the door, the wicker chair in Mao Dun's study still maintained the same angle as when the owner left. The sunlight passed through the window frame and cast mottled tree shadows on the yellowed paper - this is the "coexistence of stillness and flow" in Jiang Shiyi's lens. Learning to be an old Beijing monkey at the Shijia Hutong Museum, the time in the hutongs becomes a touchable story amidst the bamboo whistle.

When Ancient Temples Meet Modern Coffee (Zhihua Temple+Huaixuan Space)

Under the coffered ceiling of Zhihua Temple, the lingering melody of Beijing music still lingers between the beams, and then turns around and crashes into the glass flower room of Huaixuan. The hanging flower gate of the old Beijing courtyard meets the Nordic style coffee cup, and the sunlight weaves window patterns on the latte through the lattice - Jiang Shi once said, "The meaning of travel is to discover millions of expressions of civilization. In the VR light and shadow exhibition at Longfu Temple, Sanxingdui masks reunited with the glazed tiles of the Forbidden City in the digital world. I remember recording the light in the eyes of children when they touch virtual cultural relics.

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3. Imperial Mausoleum: Time Code in the Deep of Pine and Cypress Trees

The morning and evening of Haitang in the Ming Thirteen Tombs

The crabapple in the western mansion of Changling bloomed perfectly, with petals falling onto the stone statue of Shinto, as if bidding farewell to the civil servant figurine with a Spring Sun Medal. In the morning, I followed the tomb guard on a patrol and listened to his lectures on the philosophy of creating beautiful scenery with the words' Yutang Wealth and Prosperity '; Dusk sat at the flower beach of Qikong Bridge, watching as dusk gilded the thirteen treasure roofs - the "eternity and transience" in Jiang Shiyi's lens took on a concrete appearance at this moment. The spring cakes at the Kangling Spring Cake Banquet are diluted like cicada wings, and the fragrance of the noodles floats, reminiscent of the fireworks of the palace cuisine from six hundred years ago.

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On the day I left Beijing, I picked up a piece of weathered city brick fragment at Juyongguan. When the patterns on the palm of my hand overlapped with the indentations on the brick, I suddenly understood Jiang Shiyi's words: "History is not a frozen monument, but a flowing light" - when a child counts the arrow windows of enemy buildings on the Mutianyu Great Wall, when an old man points out the origin of "Qian Liang Hutong" to tourists at the entrance of the alley, these moments are the most vivid heartbeat of civilization.

Next time we meet, remember to bring an empty notebook. The glazed tiles of the Forbidden City will teach you how to draw dragon patterns, the battlements of the Great Wall will help you preserve the sound of the wind, and the old locust trees in the alleys have long woven millennium stories into the rustling sound of leaves.