To celebrate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Hangzhou Municipal Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau (the Urban Management Bureau), Hangzhou Airport Economic Demonstration Zone (Qianjiang New City Management Committee), and Hangzhou Daily Press Group have joined forces to present a National Day-themed light show for residents and visitors on September 30 and throughout the holiday. This year’s show weaves the number “77” into four chapters—“Echoes of History,” “Voice of a Great Nation,” “New Sounds of the City,” and “Harmony of Ten Thousand Homes”—vividly portraying the great journey of the People’s Republic from its hard-won early years to its soaring prosperity. Screenings will take place at 19:30 and 20:30 on September 30, and at 18:30 and 19:30 daily from October 1 to 7.

Chapter One, “Echoes of History,” opens with the turn of a retro radio dial as the sound of a charge horn rings through the night sky, and a group portrait of revolutionaries etched upon a monument slowly unfurls—depicting the arduous struggles of the Chinese people. Chapter Two, “Voice of a Great Nation,” rolls out the nation’s heavy hitters one after another: the Long March 10B rocket achieving net-based recovery, robots racing in a relay, the cutter head of Jiaoping No. 1 spinning at speed. Chapter Three, “New Sounds of the City,” showcases how concerts and sporting events have opened a new track for the city’s economic development, with a standing manned aerial vehicle symbolizing the city lifting its enterprises to new heights, and a scroll of Jiangnan’s waterways illustrating Hangzhou’s “embroidery-needle” approach to ecological governance. Chapter Four, “Harmony of Ten Thousand Homes,” sees Chinese knot ribbons spreading outward to link countless households and weave together blessings from all directions, as a birthday cake slowly rises on the building facade and candles shaped as the number “77” light up the city night.

Light and sound weave a dream; countless voices become one song. On the giant screen, we look back on the arduous years behind us, hear the soaring rise of a great nation, feel the surging tide of digital intelligence in Hangzhou, and together witness a brilliant chapter of our times.