Zhongshan Mountain Journey: Ascending the Steps of Time

The early morning plane tree avenue unfolds like a lush green screen. Beneath the canopy woven by the branches and leaves, the morning light filters through, scattered like gold foil. This boulevard, known as the "Emerald Necklace of Jinling," is like a thread of time, leading me to the thousand-year-old stories hidden within the depths of Purple Mountain. The blue tiles and white steps of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum are a solidified march. As I climb the 392 steps, the mountain breeze whispers of the ingenuity of the Republic of China architects—the interplay of light and shadow created by the double-eaved, hip-and-gable roof forms a wonderful contrast with Sun Yat-sen's inscription, "The world is for all." Turning to look down, the entire mausoleum resembles an inverted warning bell, silently tolling amidst the whispering pines. Along the Sacred Way of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, stone statues of civil and military officials have stood silently for six hundred years. Touching the mottled moss on the scales of a qilin, I suddenly notice a scratch mark left by a Ming Dynasty craftsman on the bluestone, a "I was here" etched across time, adding a touch of human warmth to the solemn imperial tomb. In front of Sun Quan's tomb at the foot of Meihua Mountain, the early blooming wintersweet and the red walls of the Xiaoling Mausoleum complement each other in warm and cool hues, understanding the cycle of life and decay better than the stone statues. Taking the Purple Mountain cable car, the cabins are like ink dots blooming on rice paper, appearing and disappearing among the green waves. The silver-white dome of the astronomical observatory floats among the clouds, and I imagine Zhang Yuzhe's pen tracing the trajectory of the "China Star" in his observation book. As dusk paints the Purple Peak, the rotating star chart inside the dome echoes the glazed Buddha's light from Linggu Temple below. The French-style villa of Meiling Palace hides an Eastern code. The peacock blue glazed tiles echo the Qing Dynasty-style paintings inside. The mountain view framed by the begonia window lattices was the result of Soong Mei-ling personally revising the design drafts thirty-eight times. Turning the corner of the corridor, white doves flit through the water mist of the Roman-style fountain between the curved pillars of the music stage. The beating of their wings resonates with the echoes of the dome, creating a solemnity reminiscent of sacred church music. As the setting sun paints Zhongshan Mountain amber, each falling leaf in the golden corridor of the plane tree avenue is like an unfinished poem. This emerald crown of Jinling City is a three-dimensional history book bound by heaven and earth, and everyone who visits becomes a warm footnote within it.