Storks in the Clouds: A Poetry Tower's Dream of Time and Space

[Rose] In southern Shanxi, the winding Yellow River is like a flexible ribbon, winding and turning into the most gentle arc. In the gentle embrace of the Yellow River, a pavilion stands steadily, as if it had floated out of a poem or painting. When the steel jungle of modern society spreads like a tide and gradually swallows up the end of the horizon, this Tang-style building, proudly named after the stork, still stands firm on the loess plateau, maintaining its persistent gaze, like a watcher spanning thousands of years, turning the myriad emotions of the ancients who came here thousands of years ago into a touch of bright moonlight that never dissipates, sprinkling it in the hearts of everyone who comes to explore it. [Rose] Epic Scroll of Wood Structure [Rose] Each upright pillar is like a thick history book written vertically, quietly telling the story of the years. The rebuilt Stork Tower, with its majestic height of 73.9 meters, resolutely pierces the clouds, as if it wants to have a dialogue with the sky. The seven-layered eaves, stacked like wrinkles of time, hide the iron-blooded genes of the Northern Zhou Dynasty's guard towers, which are traces left by the turbulent years of war; they also hide the beautiful soul of the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, which was a romantic time when the talents of literati and poets burst out and poetry flowed. When you gently touch the dark brown mortise and tenon structure, your fingertips seem to be able to truly touch the exciting power of the trembling swords when Yuwen Hu built the city, and feel the rustling wind brought up by Wang Zhihuan's sleeves when he wrote. At the corner of the pavilion, a copper bell is hanging, swaying gently in the breeze. The clear sound of the bell seems to have traveled through the tunnel of time and space, and the majestic and powerful calls of the boatmen at the Yellow River ferry during the Kaiyuan period can still be heard today. The sounds are so pleasant to the ears that one feels as if they are at that bustling ancient ferry. [Rose] The Poetic Grammar of Mountains and Rivers [Rose] The undulating wrinkles of Zhongtiao Mountain are like rice paper that the earth has never had time to smooth out, carrying the vicissitudes and stories of the years. The surging Yellow River is freely writing its own cursive poems on the west side of the Stork Tower. Every day, many photographers bring their tripods and line up neatly on the four-story platform, waiting for the sunset with great anticipation. When the afterglow of the setting sun shines on the river, the entire river surface seems to be melted into liquid bronze, shining with golden light, which is magnificent. Five kilometers to the southeast, the Puzhindu Iron Ox stands quietly, and its mottled rust seems to hide countless unknown secrets. Once upon a time, they used their strong bodies to hold tight the floating bridge across the Yellow River, and witnessed countless Western merchant caravans with jingling camel bells passing by here in a hurry, embarking on the Silk Road full of unknowns and hopes. Today, they and the Guanjue Tower face each other from a distance, as if two old friends across time and space, together forming an important anchor point of the longitude and latitude of time and space, connecting the past and the present. [Rose] Poetic Dream Development [Rose] In the special exhibition of "Romance of the West Chamber" on the third floor, there seems to be a mysterious code of time and space hidden. The courtyard of Puji Temple, full of pear blossoms, is only seven miles away from here. The lingering love narrative in Yuan Zhen's works and the profound philosophical gaze in Wang Zhihuan's poems are wonderfully intertwined here, forming a strange and charming montage effect that makes people intoxicated. It is recommended to climb to the top of the Stork Tower at the time of Shen. At this time, dusk is slowly falling, and it is like a magical painter, outlining the ancient city wall of Puzhou, Kaiyuan Iron Ox, and Wulao Peak into an amber time capsule one by one. At this moment, all photographic equipment seems redundant, because only our pupils can truly contain this flowing epic beauty and let that gorgeous scene be engraved forever in the depths of our hearts. [Rose] A thoughtful guide to pilgrimage [Rose] If you also want to have an encounter with the Guanque Tower, you might as well take the high-speed rail to Yongji North Station and then transfer to the "Poetry Road Special Line" bus. In the scenery along the way, you can also appreciate the vast expanse of wheat waves and feel the vitality of nature. The afternoon of the Autumnal Equinox is a special moment, when the shadow of the building forms a perfect diagonal with the Puzhindu Ruins, creating a unique and wonderful picture. When you climb to the top observation deck, you can also see the "poetic telescope" there. Just scan the code, and the poems of literati and poets of all ages will float between the rivers and mountains, as if traveling through time and space to have a spiritual dialogue with the ancients. On the way back home, you may want to detour around the ancient city of Puzhou, and beside the collapsed city gate, listen quietly to the evening breeze and recite "He Yue Yingling Ji". Let the melodious wind and ancient poems draw a perfect end to your journey. [Rose] While modern elevators have gradually replaced the old wooden stairs, the obsession of "seeing from a thousand miles away" still runs hotly in our blood. This pavilion, which has been carefully resurrected in the 21st century, is by no means a simple concrete antique decoration. The sound of each climber's footsteps climbing the stairs seems like a beating note, completing a rhythmic antithesis that spans a thousand years, continuing the never-ending legendary poem of the Stork Tower.