《黄土高原百年回望》2012年5月
由五洲传播出版社出版发行点此购买

百年·瞬间

图/文: 李炬

More than a decade ago, I started to pay attention to old photographs, particularly images of the Great Wall. Working with a few friends who shared the same interest from the TheGreatWall.com.cn, we collected old images from auctions and websites, analyzed their locations, and then retook new images. By comparing them, we observed the changes time had wrought on these ancient walls.

In April 2008, during online research on the historical images of the Great Wall, I luckily discovered a group of old photographs taken at Yulin in the Northern Losses Plateau. Later I learned that these were taken by the Clark expedition in 1908–1909. Browsing through them, I saw that they not only consisted of images of the wall itself, but also scenes related to it, such as cities and towns, fortresses, gates, mountain beacon towers, and animals. These images are vivid and intriguing; a portfolio of the landscapes of northwest China and a record of humanity, geology, biology, sociology, and other related disciplines.

Despite my enthusiasm for researching, locating, and re-photographing older images, it remained a difficult and challenging process. Fortunately a photo exhibition tour, displaying a selection of the original images taken by the Clark Expedition was being held by the Clark in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces just at that moment I became aware of the images. The Clark also presented the 1912 edition of Through Shên-Kan to libraries in those provinces. Unfortunately by the time I became aware of them, the exhibitions had already finished — but I now knew about the book. I started to search on the websites in an attempt to find a copy and found a German bookseller who wanted $180 dollars; the others I discovered were all selling for $2,000 dollars. Eager to read, I immediately commissioned my schoolmate in the United States to buy a copy for me. It was a newly printed, pirated copy without the original cover design; it had no collector’s value, but the content was sufficient for me. The book’s images, particularly the map drawn by the Clark expedition, were very detailed and clear. Looking at the familiar place names I had visited and those that I had always longed to see sent my heart flying there. After eagerly reading through the main sections of the English version, I also acquired, from the Clark a Chinese version translated by the Shanghai Chuanshun Industrial Co. Ltd. After reading it more than five times, the book led me on this extraordinary path.>>
　　