PREFACE

Danxia, right ahead

Liu Tiesheng

The author is a war correspondent and photography critic, former vice president of PLA Pictorial and se-nior journalist of PLA Daily.

The numerous unsolved misteries on earth has intrigued people to explore. Danxia Landform, with all its beauty and majesty is the right destination.

Mr. Yang Zhi is one of them and he's really indulged. Intoxicated by Danxia is mainly about filming Danxia Landform, whose fomation, according to geologists, dates back to 100 million years ago around Lower Contaceous. So the album is all about pictures of 100-million-years-old natural ge-ography.

The 34th session of the UN World Heritage Convention listed China Danxia as well as Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi into the list. This album now is playing a role of cultural ambassador and pushing the promotion of its participation in the world stage.

The album Intoxicated by Danxia is a brief history of Danxia Landform in Jiangxi.

It brings you into the world of Danxia and displays to you the shape and history of the landform as well as its glamor in different time and period. It's like Danxia, with its own life, is standing in front of you. A poem of Bai Juyi the famous poet of Tang Dynasty reads,

What if we both have wings,

Fly back and forth, both intoxicated.

Yang climbed to the top and took pictures of gorgeous Danxia, mixing the scenery of the planet.The enjoyment expressed in the poem can easily be found in his album.

The investigation and dialogue between him and Danxia is one between two beings.

The raw yet fabulous pictures in the album with all their life win glory for the photographer.

Like John Burger the British artist said, pictures are scenes remade and duplicated to preserve the time and space once happened and witnessed. The author is the first-hand witness and origin of the work, making the album real and enduring. The album itself is a proof of the logical relationship between the moment and eternity.

There're much worth mentioning in the album.

The filming of Danxia Landform and surrounding scenery are closely interlinked and the author is a masterhand in this field. The album boasts not only the exquisiteness and reality but also, more importantly, displays the cultural and historical meaning of the landform, thus confirming the life and existence of the pictures. He has a vivid observation and pro-found perception of history, reality, life and nature and takes the resposibility of expressing them in his pictures, which boast integri-ty and harmony of content and form.

I'm impressed by his unique photographing skills and thoughts which accomplished a number of pictures displaying the light and shadow, cloud and fog in various seasons.

Feature photography, what Yang focuses on, is about telling stories, complete, interesting and everlasting. Intoxicated by Danxia is a great feature and a brilliant story of Danxia, about the uniqueness of Longhu Mountain, the grotesque of Yiyang, the plainess of Tongbo Mountain and the versatility of Gannan Gallery…the refreshing dew and glow of South China are to be found in this album.

Yang is determined and attached to this subject and think over the content and form time and time again. After a number of revisions, the album came into its present concrete and logical being. In this album, the Danxia Landform owns its own soul and spirit.

A lot of long rolls can be found in the album, which is another technique of revealing Danxia's beauty. The various filming angles is not only the consequence of the author's hard work but also his deep insight and rigorous operation. His works make the readers feeling like being put on the pictures and on the summit, make the album a even more lasting masterpiece.

It reminds of his another album Glamor of Longyuan Gorge. The water, like art will flow on, unfettered and at ease. Once I quote a line of Lu Xun “a road can be built by walkers” to describe his innovation.

And now the walker has stepped higher on the summit of Danxia. For a creative photographer, this is but his another innova-tion and the iron-willed walker always have a long journey ahead.

Liu Tiesheng

By Liu Tiesheng in winter of 2013 under the Parasol tree around Yuyuan Stream in Beijing