July 2024. After Shanghai, I took the train to Beijing for two tightly packed days. The photographs that remain come from the end of each day: one across dark water inside a constructed world, the other from behind a crowd facing a much larger public space.
Universal Beijing Resort
July 9 moved through the Wizarding World, Jurassic Park, and Kung Fu Panda. By night, illuminated facades, an arched bridge, and a line of globe lamps gathered along the water. Their reflections break into gold and blue strokes, making the park look less like a single attraction than a compact city assembled for the evening.
Tiananmen Square
The following evening, the camera stood behind a dense crowd waiting at barriers. Beyond them, repeating lamps recede toward the square while a flagpole cuts through a blue-grey sky. The open ground is visible only in bands between people, railings, and distant buildings; that layering is what makes the scale apparent.
One evening was designed to compress many worlds into a few streets; the next made distance impossible to ignore. Two days could only be an introduction. 下次再来吧。