Between the folds of the city and the smoke of the countryside, the eight merry-go-round are like enchanted time discs, rotating in different postures, weaving memories, dreams and warmth into an everlasting latitude and longitude. Some of them stand in prosperous commercial centers, some are hidden at the corners of old streets, and some even become the soul landmarks of a city. Every Trojan horse hides a story, and every rotation is a gentle annotation of life.
1. Fairy tale island in urban forestThe "Star-Moon Swirling Wood" in Lujiazui, Shanghai is an exception in the steel forest. While the glass curtain walls of skyscrapers reflect cold light, this starry carry-round uses warm yellow lights to outline the outline of the Milky Way. During the day, it is silent like a forgotten sculpture; at night, as "Variations on the Little Star" sounds, the optical fiber on the Trojan horse flies like a meteor. The people riding on it are no longer children, but young people holding their mobile phones to take photos. They searched for a moment of innocence here, and also reunited with the softness deep in their hearts in the hustle and bustle of this city that never sleeps.
2. The Time Post Office at the Corner of Old StreetThe "celadon spiral wood" on Pingjiang Road in Suzhou is hidden at the end of a bluestone alley. The words "Peony Pavilion" are engraved on the carved railings of the wooden horses, and a blue and white porcelain chip is embedded in the saddle of each horse. The boss said that these porcelain slices were fragments left over from the renovation of the ancient house and were pieced together bit by bit into "rotating cultural relics." On weekend afternoons, old people often bring their grandchildren to ride on a wooden horse. The child points to the pattern on the porcelain and asks,"Is this an ancient QR code?" The old man smiled and shook his head, but secretly wiped the corners of his eyes-isn't this the years he walked through with his daughter when he was young?
3. The dream of an oasis on the edge of the desertThe "Camel Bell Spinning Wood" at the foot of Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang is a wonderful dialogue between desert and modern times. The eight wooden horses are designed to look like camels, with copper camel bells hanging on their humps, which make a tinkling sound as they rotate, as if a caravan was traveling thousands of years ago. Tourists ride on the "Desert Boat" with the light of Crescent Moon Spring and the golden color of Mingsha Mountain in the background. "Here, the merry-go-round is no longer a toy in an amusement park, but a ritual that travels through time," said a traveler from France.
4. Tidal memories of coastal townsQingdao Badaguan's "Wave Swirling Wood" faces the sea, and the wooden horse's mane is designed to be in the shape of waves, which are like surging waves when rotating. Every evening, when the setting sun dyes the sea orange-red, the wooden horse will slow down so that the riders on it can clearly hear the sound of the tide. An old couple comes to ride on a wooden horse every Wednesday. They said,"Fifty years ago, when we were dating here, he secretly held my hand; fifty years later, we held hands here, but we secretly sat on the wooden horse."
5. Circus in the Cloud in the Mountain VillageThe "Cloud Swirling Wood" in Shaxi Ancient Town, Yunnan Province is built halfway up the mountain. The base of the Trojan horse is a hand-woven bamboo basket. When rotating, it seems to fly into the sky on clouds and clouds. When the children rode on it, they could reach out and touch the fog in the mountains. An old man in the village said that the wooden horse was left by a painter ten years ago. When he left, he said: "The merry-go-round is the chair closest to the sky. Anyone who sits on it can see their dreams."
6. Steel poems of industrial ruinsThe "gear rotary wood" in Beijing's 798 Art District was transformed from abandoned machine tool parts. The support of the wooden horse is a rusty gear, and the saddle is an old conveyor belt. When it rotates, it makes a mechanical "click" sound, like a poem from the industrial era. Young people come here to take photos, artists come here to find inspiration, and old workers sit on the bench next to them, looking at the wooden horse and muttering: "I screwed these parts back then."
7. Youth Waltz on CampusWuhan University's "cherry tree" hidden in the depths of the cherry garden, Trojan railings engraved with the names of previous graduates. Every year when cherry blossoms bloom, the Trojan horse will be surrounded by pink petals. Graduates line up to sit on it and ask their classmates to take a "last campus photo" for themselves. Some people say that the Trojan horse here turns the fastest, because youth never waits; others say that the Trojan horse here turns the slowest, because memories are always stretched.
VIII. Aurora Covenant in Arctic VillageThe "Aurora Spiral Wood" in Mohe Arctic Village is the northernmost merry-go-round in the world. In winter, when the aurora cuts through the night sky, the LED lights on the Trojan horse turn green, purple and blue, echoing the light bands in the sky. Tourists sat on them wrapped in thick down jackets, and the white air they exhaled while spinning intertwined with the aurora, as if they were in a fairy tale. "Here, the merry-go-round is not a ride, but a spacecraft to space," said one photographer.
Eight merry-go-round, eight life postures. They are either gorgeous or simple; noisy or silent; they carry the laughter of childhood, or they are engraved with the vicissitudes of time. But no matter what, they all convey an eternal truth in their rotation: life may make us tired and confused, but as long as there is still a merry-go-round in our hearts, we can always find the way home.
