Ghosts of a lost city

These photos seem a little eerie at first sight: Apparitions of ancient gray towers that disappeared more than half a century ago rise between Beijing's tower blocks above busy roads.

But these phantoms are the result of technical wizardry used by photographer Li Fei to "revive" the nine long-gone city gates.

The 33-year-old superimposed a printed black-and-white photo of each city gate in all its former glory against a picture of the same place as it appears today, doing the upper and lower parts separately, resulting in the gates looming between real buildings with the busy Second Ring Road below.

Most sites of the city gates today are located on the Second Ring Road surrounding the inner city, which is packed with high buildings and crowded overpasses.

Beijing, the country's capital since the 13th century, once had 20 city gates, which were built as key passages for different social classes - including the royal family, civil and military officials, ordinary people and even criminals - to come and go from the imperial city.

But the city gates were pulled down with the city wall to build new roads and expand the metropolis.

Records show the gates were more complicated than they appeared. A city gate, topped by a two-story tower, usually comprised a gatehouse, an archers' tower and a barbican.

The city planners only left "one and a half" city gates. The one gate is Zhengyangmen, on the south-north axis of Beijing at the south end of Tian'anmen Square. Built in 1419, it is also called Qianmen, or "Front Gate". Bereft of its side walls and barbicans, Qianmen has been restored with a new face. The "half" is the Deshengmen archers' tower, near Li's former home.

But inner Beijing is still encircled with the names of the old fortifications, including the dismantled ones like Chaoyangmen and Xizhimen.

Li named the nine photos after the 2001 article, "Open the City Gate", by Chinese poet Beidao, who returned to Beijing after many years abroad and found that his hometown was unfamiliar after its dramatic changes. He decided to "rebuild" the old city in words, recording the smells, sounds and images that used to exist.

Almost a decade later, fellow Beijing native Li chose to "rebuild" the city in his darkroom. "My camera has been shuttling from the old solemn city gates to the glitzy new buildings along the roads, and I am experiencing the different speeds of two eras. The city is now fast and furious, far removed from the time of simplicity and tranquility, in which the city gates were built," he wrote in a newspaper article when his photos were published in 2012.

Today, his works are widely shared and appreciated online.

"They are excellent records of the old city and a sorrowful reminder for its residents," reads an entry posted on the Chinese micro blog Sina Weibo.

Some scholars have pointed out that the images are not accurately aligned to the original locations and orientations of the gates. But Li says, "I just want to jog people's memories with the strong conflict of images."

At the age of 9, Li lived in one of the traditional courtyard homes in a hutong near Houhai Lake. He played football in the alleyways and caught insects with other boys. They ran across the rooftops and fired slingshots at the streetlights.

"I'll never forget the inconvenience of living in the small alley," Li says, laughing. "The public toilets and bathrooms were usually dirty and cold."

However, that was once the true Beijing, Li says. In recent decades, many old buildings, including the city gates, walls and courtyard houses, have been destroyed. Those that survive are scattered among modern buildings, in shrinking islands of the old city.

Those that are protected have lost their inhabitants and are "like lifeless toys", Li says.

The "Open the City Gate" photos have won many awards and built the young photographer's reputation. Magazines commission photos from him; art collectors seek his works; painters are inspired by them.

"Viewers can see in the nine photos the changes that Beijing has experienced - the clash of past and present - and the photographer's deep respect for the old buildings that no longer exist," he says.

Li fears his camera cannot keep up with the changes to the city. "Most greatness has gone with history. We should cherish what survives and create more greatness to compensate for what has been destroyed," he says.

Contact the writer at features@chinadaily.com.cn.

Beijing's old city gates rise again in the photos of Li Fei, giving viewers a glimpse of what once was and what has been lost in the metropolis'drive toward modernization. Provided to China Daily