Luo Shaoyang's photostream

The Hong Cun Village evolved in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is located in a beautiful surrounding, with green hills around and clear streams winding through. The village, covering the territory of 30 hectares, has a great fame for her water-supplying system. The bird view of village's shape is like a resting water-buffalo. The running water flows in the winding ditches to every household, and is finally gathered in a little lake at the entrance of the village. The peaceful environment and beautiful surroundings present outsiders a piece of pleasing and tranquil picture of a typical country life in South China.

Everyday hundreds of visitors are attracted to the village by its beautiful views and more than 140 well-preserved ancient houses, among which several magnificent clan halls and the celebrities' former residences are most attracting. Inside these ancient houses you can appreciate the splendid wood carvings on the beams and columns. After your visit, you will conclude that Hong Cun's major difference from other villages is that the well-preserved ancient houses get along harmoniously well with her beautiful surroundings. It was inscribed into the list of the World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.

Chinese imperial dynasties appeared, prospered and died out through history. The Great Wall bears witness to our vicissitudes, and demonstrates the Chinese people's hard working spirit, and the splendid culture and history of the Chinese civilization. Photo by Mr.Zhou Wanping

On the first day of 2008, I met Mr. Zhou Wanping（周万萍）on The Great Wall. Mr. Zhou Wanping is a photographer who lives at the foot of the Jinshanling Great Wall. In the preface to his published photograph album, My Home Town, he says: "At the time I graduated from high school and went home, the Jinshanling Great Wall was being repaired. Although sick, I participated in the renovation process along with other villagers. This experience fully brought home to me the hardship involved in the original construction of the Great Wall. All the bricks, lime and water needed for construction had to be carried to the site on the backs of laborers." However, he is now a member of the China Photographers Association has been a long-time photographer of China’s Great Wall. His works have won many prizes at exhibitions both in China and abroad.

元旦节前一天，我和几个flickr网友去了长城。这次去金山岭长城，最有意思的是在长城上结识了海内外著名的“长城摄影专家”周万萍先生。记得他当时是一行三人，在长城上问我“要不要三脚架”时，我被这突如其来的话语感到有点不知所措，觉得这位陌生的中年农民男子有点怪。我的直觉告诉我，此人肯定是当地的“导游”。经过一番交流后，才知道他就是大名鼎鼎的周万萍先生。说来也很巧，我们几个北京flickr的网友在刚到金山岭找过夜的客栈时，绕了一圈，最后我才到最高的那家农家院里找到了一家比较满意的落脚点，而这家客栈也就正好是他的家。

晚饭后，我们有了一次愉快的交流。此间，我们一行人问了他许多有关拍摄长城的问题，他都一一作了答复，但是，当我问及他为什么不在家里安宽带时，他的脸一下就沉寂了下来。原来，当地政府为了节省“不必要的开支”，屡次拒绝了他及其他村民的要求。这样的做法，显然不符合“为人民服务”的精神及理念。虽然周先生在国内外已经有名气，也可以算是“中华文明的栋梁之材”，可当地的父母大官人们硬是不予安装，其官僚主义作风和意识形态就宛如金山岭长城上绊脚的废砖烂瓦，只应该被践踏在脚下。

我很高兴收到了周万萍先生赠送给我的摄影作品集——《我的家乡》。就在他给我签名留念时，我发现他的签名方式是典型的“台湾风格”。这使我情不自禁地想到了长城的功能及其作用，如果说当年的长城是用来抵御外族入侵的话，那么在今天，蜿蜒的长城显然成了中华各族儿女、乃至世界各地人士相互交流、沟通和借鉴的纽带，除了少数像陈水扁先生那样高雅的江湖人士还不会认同中华文明外，长城内外的绝大多数炎黄子孙，都懂得一个道理：我们是中国人，我们有五千年的文明。我想，这也是长城“活到”今天最大的作用之一！至于官僚与制度，它与我们的文明是平行的，但它绝不是不会改变的、更不可能是中国人民最终的选择。（此页照片系周万萍摄）

On the first day of 2008, several flickr members from Beijing went to The Great Wall to watch sunrise and sunset. On the wall we were fortunately meeting with Mr. Zhou Wanping（周万萍）, a member of the China Photographers Association, has been a long-time photographer of China’s Great Wall. He has published an album of photos, My Hometown Jinshanling 《我的家乡》section of the Great Wall. As a peasant photographer living near the Great Wall, his works have won many prizes at exhibitions both in China and abroad.

JinShanLing Great Wall, about 125km from Beijing, lies in the mountainous area in RuanPing county, Hebei province. It was a key military stronghold. JinShanLing Great Wall was mainly built from 1570 during China's Ming dynasty

The 20 km long JinShanLing Great Wall, although a bit smaller and narrower than BaDaLing and MuTianYu, features complicated and well preserved fortification systems. JinShanLing Great Wall meanders through fantastic natural scenery and connects to SiMaTai Great Wall to the east.

JinShanLing Great Wall is slightly in ruins and thereby has a special beauty. The wall is 7.8 m high and 5 - 6 m thick at the bottom. On the top, the wall is about 4 meters wide with 2 meters high parapets on each side. On the side facing the enemy were 2 m high crenels called DuoKou. On the upper part of the DuoKou were large openings used to watch and shoot at attackers. On the lower part were small openings ('loopholes') through which defenders could also shoot while in greater safety from incoming fire.

In addition, there are 'obstacle-walls' built perpendicular to the parapets - a feature quite unique to JinShanLing Great Wall. These 'walls-within-walls' were used for defense against enemies who might have succeeded in scaling the wall.

----------------------------

Melinda: 你觉得黑的部分太黑，那是因为长城内外本来就比较黑暗的原因：-）在一个具有两千多年专制历史的儒家社会，黑暗已经融入了光辉与灿烂，并使人们难以辨认其真实色彩。这也是我为什么把前面的那张照片“拍的如此黑”的原因，它表现的不是摄影所需要的光线，而是对文化和历史的喻指！这也是我喜爱摄影的一个原因，不是因为摄影而摄影，而是要用摄影来表达自己的所思所识 :-)