Watching the Sunset at Jingming Tower

As twilight first descends, I lean alone against the railing of Jingming Tower. Distant mountains appear like painted eyebrows, while Kunming Lake turns amber-colored, the dying sun sinking into the lake's heart and shattering into countless golden scales. The wind sweeps across the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, stirring ripples that crumple the sunset clouds into flowing brocade. The tower's upturned eaves lift half a crimson sun, its afterglow filtering through carved window lattices to cast mottled verses upon the blue-brick floor. Suddenly, a returning boat parts the evening mist—the creak of oars startling sparrows perched on the corners of the Tower of Buddhist Incense. At this moment, the Summer Palace resembles a realm forgotten by time, where only evening bells whisper with the lake waters, brewing dusk into a cup of mildly intoxicating wine.