I'm on the spot, recording moments, becoming history.
Since 2019, we have launched the "I'm on the Spot" column, which uses the precious interview experience of Xinhua News Agency reporters to "sink their hearts, bend down, and integrate into love" as the content, and tell them what they saw, heard, and thought at the scene of major news events.
In 2023, 14 college graduates who have just entered the journalism industry will come to branches across the country from the Beijing editorial office to exercise and practice, practicing the "four forces" on the front line of journalism, with their trousers covered with mud and their hands touching the earth, learning from their predecessors to freeze the moment of news and record history.
From January 31, 2024, the "I'm on the Spot" column will successively broadcast the photo reports of these 14 new photographers in 2023 and the stories behind them. I hope that their works and stories can bring you a young and vigorous force.
What is there in the Central Plains?
On the days when I packed my bags and prepared to go, during the two-and-a-half-hour journey by high-speed train, this question kept haunting my mind. At the end of February 2023, I arrived in Henan. I think the search for the answer began from the moment I set foot on the land of the Central Plains.
Warmth, in every note.
When I met the founder of the Xuchang Blind Children's Choir, she was taking a little girl to practice the piano.
My colleague and I crept to a short distance from them to the melodious sound and crisp laughter, for fear that the beautiful music played by the ensemble of piano and laughter would be interrupted. In between exercises, Su Xiao led the little girl over, and I saw that the little girl's glasses were black and gray. The little girl, named Niuniu, is a student at the Xuchang Special Education School and a member of the Blind Children's Choir, and has been learning piano for a while through the public welfare piano training program that Hu Xiao participated in. Niuniu is cheerful and intelligent, and she quickly got acquainted with us. When she heard that we were going to see the choir rehearsal, she was so excited that she applauded again and again, and kept saying "It's so exciting". Sunlight poured into the room through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and Su Xiao looked at Niuniu, and the smile dyed in the corners of her eyes became deeper and deeper. She said that every time she practiced and chatted with Niuniu, all her troubles seemed to be swept away, and she was the one who was **.
Through the lens, I felt a kind of warmth of "running in both directions".
On May 24, 2023, Su Xiao instructed the members of the Blind Children's Choir to play the piano at the Xuchang Mass Art Museum. "Every child deserves to be pampered, they are our ...... futureIn the afternoon, my colleagues and I arrived at the auditorium of Xuchang Special Education School, where Niuniu and more than 30 blind children were practicing the song "The Best Future" under the guidance of volunteers.
On May 24, 2023, at the Xuchang Special Education School, volunteer Bai Yitong instructed the members of the Blind Children's Choir to practice. 2023 is the second year of the formation of the Blind Children's Choir. When it comes to these special children, Su Xiao's eyes are full of love. In the course of public welfare piano training in the past few years, Su Xiao came into contact with the blind children in Xuchang Special Education School, and she found that ** has a unique value for the healthy growth of blind children. Therefore, she initiated the formation of a choir for blind children, and together with several other volunteers, she regularly went to Xuchang Special Education School to provide public welfare training for blind children.
On May 24, 2023, at the Xuchang Special Education School, Hu Xiao (left) communicates with two other volunteers before a rehearsal for the Blind Children's Choir. The blind children in the choir are of all ages and have uneven foundations, making it difficult to guide them in singing. During the training process, Hu Xiao and other volunteers did not give up on any blind children in the school, but constantly adjusted the plan according to the actual situation of the children.
On May 24, 2023, at the Xuchang Special Education School, volunteer Liu Zhenqian instructed the members of the Blind Children's Choir to practice. "Every color should bloom, and don't let the sun be black and white. Everyone has the right to look forward to it, and love is in the palm of ...... hand with me”
After the interview, the song lingered in my head. I think that for how to help this group of children, Hu Xiao and his companions have found their own answer: to use professional knowledge to let blind children see the sunshine in **. My camera captures the mutual watch and two-way rush on the land of the Central Plains, and I also feel the sunshine in life.
Stick to it, in every parachute takeoff.
Early in the morning, at the Linzhou Gliding Service Center located at the foot of Taihang Mountain, coach Ma Lei was ready to teach the students.
On June 8, 2023, Ma Lei (left) was explaining the precautions for opening an umbrella to students. 32-year-old Ma Lei was born in Shilou Village, Huanghua Town, Linzhou City, Henan Province. The favorable geographical and climatic conditions make Linzhou a popular destination for paragliding. In the 90s of the last century, some international paragliding competitions were held here, which planted the seeds of dreams for the horses that grew in the Taihang ravine. Seeing the colorful paragliders in the sky, Ma Lei imagined that he could become one of them in the future, looking at the place where he grew up from another angle, and looking at the "canal of life" that winds for about 1,500 kilometers on the cliff of Taihang Mountain, the Hongqi Canal.
Paragliding enthusiasts fly in the Taihang Mountains of Linzhou City, Henan Province, June 8, 2023. Hovering over the cliff of Taihang Mountain, the Red Flag Canal witnessed the blood and struggle of Grandpa Ma Lei's generation of youth. Today, Ma Lei has fulfilled his dream and become a national paraglider. The more he learned about the Red Flag Canal, the more Ma Lei felt that the dreams of his grandfather's generation were great and romantic. Ma Lei said that if the group of young people at that time did not dare to think, dare not dream, and did not have the spirit of "setting up the will of Yugong to move mountains and deciding to split Taihang Mountain", then the dreams of their generation would be difficult to realize.
On June 8, 2023, at the Linshushan International Gliding Base in Linzhou City, Henan Province, Ma Lei made pre-flight preparations.
Ma Lei (right) inspects gliding equipment before a flight on June 8, 2023. The spiritual wealth left by the Hongqi Canal has supported and inspired generations of young people to continue to struggle.
In order to participate in the competition, Ma Lei has walked out of the mountains many times and overlooked the beautiful scenery around the world. But he will always return to Taihang Mountain, return to his hometown, and continue to inherit the spirit of "self-reliance, hard work, unity and cooperation, and selfless dedication". I think what is in the original is the adherence to the spirit of arduous struggle and the persistence of striving to build the hometown.
On June 15, 2023, Ma Lei helps the participants adjust their gliding equipment.
On June 15, 2023, referee Ma Lei observed the wind direction during the 14th Lin Xishan International Paragliding Open.
Inheritance, in every meticulous crafting.
For a long time, the Central Plains culture has attracted the attention of the whole country and even the world with its magnificent charm, and Henan, which has a long history and rich cultural heritage, has also become a treasure place for inheriting and developing various traditional skills. Traditional handicraft skills are inseparable from teachers, but also inseparable from people. During my year in Henan, I met many people who inherited their skills and listened to their stories, and the most impressive thing for me was the group of Tang Sancai artists.
On July 20, 2023, in the workshop of a production enterprise in Nanshishan Village, Tang Sancai artist Gao Shunwang was glazing a plain tire. Tang Sancai is known as the "Treasure of Oriental Art" and has a history of more than 1,300 years. Nanshishan Village, Chaoyang Town, Mengjin District, Luoyang City, Henan Province, is famous for the production of Tang Sancai.
My colleagues and I waited for a while at the door of a Tang Sancai production company in the village, only to see Gao Shunwang who hurriedly walked out of the production workshop, when he had just finished inspecting a newly fired Tang Sancai finished product, and he didn't even have time to wipe his sweat. After a brief introduction to Tang Sancai's production raw materials and processes, Gao Shunwang led us into the production workshop and began to put into the busy work. During the whole process, apart from answering questions, he basically didn't say anything, and his eyes were only focused on the work at hand.
Engraving mud tires, glazing plain tires, and checking the ...... of the fired finished product
Gao Shunwang and every craftsman are meticulously completing every step. And I was also shocked by this traditional handicraft skill, and by the "magic" of the seemingly ordinary clay that was transformed into exquisite Tang Sancai products after being tempered by the craftsmanship of craftsmen and furnace fire.
Workers process mud tires on July 19, 2023.
Workers glaze a plain tire on July 20, 2023. At the same time as the Tang Sancai enterprise in Nanshishan Village is in hot production, various research activities are also in full swing.
In the Tang Sancai Cultural Park, the students who participated in the research activities had a deeper understanding of the historical heritage behind it by listening to explanations and experiencing the production process of Tang Sancai. Speaking of the purpose of building this garden, Tang Sancai artist Zhang Erxiao was full of feelings, "Every brick in the garden is carefully selected by me and laid, and these Tang Sancai (exhibits) are also made by me," he picked up a three-color horse and said, "I want everyone to see the beauty of Tang Sancai, Chinese history, and Chinese culture!" Zhang Erxiao's eyes revealed pride.
On July 21, 2023, students participating in the research activity visited the Tang Sancai Cultural Park in Nanshishan Village. In just half a day, Tang Sancai Cultural Park ushered in a batch of research teams, from kindergarten children to junior and senior high school students, from experiencing Tang Sancai's production skills to listening to the teachers introduce the historical and cultural origins of Tang Sancai. Recording all this with my camera, I am extremely confident that Tang Sancai's skills will be passed down from generation to generation.
Looking back on this year, I carried my camera on my back and pressed the shutter to record the people I met and what happened in the land of the Central Plains. As for the question in my mind, "What is in the Central Plains", I don't think I can find the final answer in just one year.
The reason why Henan has become today's Henan is because of the mutual help of generation after generation, the adherence to the spirit of hard work and the inheritance of excellent traditional culture, but not only these.
But I'm pretty sure that in the future, I'll continue to carry my camera on my back and walk on the road, recording every precious moment.
Scan the other reports of *** Dai Qiaochu in 2023 in the picture below:
Curator: Lan Hongguang.
Co-ordination: Yu Lan, Fei Maohua, Zhou Daqing, Liu Jinhai.
Reporter: Dai Qiaochu.
Editors: Wang Haiyan, Fang Xin, Yin Dongxun, Miao Mengqi (intern).