Pingxi Mini Trip / People Looking Up at the Sky with Smiles of Happiness

Photos & Text by Matcha Tuna Egg

With clear skies, fresh air, trains coming and going, and bustling crowds — what is it that makes visitors here look up at the sky with hopeful, happy smiles on their faces?

As the sky lanterns rise slowly into the air, it’s as if all the wishes written on them carry every bit of happiness people hope for up to the heavens, and the smiles on the travelers’ faces become the most beautiful sight here.

Walking through this tranquil mountain town, all you pass by are innocent and beautiful floating lanterns; on the railway tracks, in front of small stalls, inside stations, under the sunlight — quietly experience the footprints you’ve made while embracing what you once missed, then understand what you truly desire from those missed opportunities, and finally turn those desires into words and write them on the sky lanterns. It’s not just about letting them float up into the sky, but also about placing them in your heart; releasing sky lanterns becomes more than a wish-making ritual, but a symbol of striving toward your future goals.

Here there is no noise, no worry, no clamor, no anxiety; the ancient mountains and silent earth silently witness this town that once flourished because of coal mining, declined with it, and then found another boom with the sky lanterns. The hopes and footsteps of travelers throughout history begin to unfold here. Pingxi is beautiful, beautifully so — because it carries infinite hope and possibility.

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