China, February 2025
With Zhi, my childhood friend: Shanghai with the New Year lanterns still lit, Nanjing and the Usnisha Palace, then the train to Putian, his hometown, in Fujian.
6 February 2025 · 1 min read
A week in China in February with Zhi, my childhood friend. The Lunar New Year had just begun, and in Shanghai the streets were still full of lanterns: the Bund at night with the Oriental Pearl lit up across the river, Yu Garden decorated and packed with people, 2025 written in red above the canals.
Then Nanjing. Early in the morning, from above, the city disappears into the haze. On the Niushou hills stand the pagoda and the Usnisha Palace, built to hold a relic of the Buddha: a white dome outside, gold and light inside, like a kaleidoscope.
Then the train south, leaving at dawn, all the way to Putian, in Fujian, Zhi's hometown.
