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Zhang Kechun - A Buddha Head in the Mountain, 2015 — Zhang Kechun – A Buddha Head in the Mountain, 2015

About the Yangtze, China’s Yellow River

The Yangtze River, Asia’s longest river, is the main subject of The Yellow River, a series of photographs by Zhang Kechun. The Yangtze is praised as the cradle of Chinese evolution due to its central function in the civilization of ancient China. Paradoxically, the river is also referred to as China’s sorrow, based on the ferociousness of the river during flooding season.

Kechun’s initial motivation

For many years, the matriarch river of the Chinese nation has been cited in various writings of poets and artists. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Chengdu-based photographer Zhang Kechun took it upon himself to photograph the river. As a young boy, Zhang had read about the river, and he understood its significance as a pertinent symbol of the Chinese nation. On this, he says, “I wanted to photograph the river respectfully,” “It represents the root of the nation.”

Zhang’s two year journey

Having spent two years at the bank of the river, Zhang formed an affinity for it. Not only was he taking his time capturing its essence, but he also acted as a sort of tour guide to tourists that visited the region. The result of his 2-year labor is an expansive portfolio that has the essence of a pilgrimage. He manages to expertly capture the silent moments of the Yellow River and the expansive gray skies that nearly envelop every corner of the landscape. The photographs emit a stillness that is almost wraithlike and transient. His pictures also include the people within the landscape and classical relics he found along his photography journey.

Photographer Zhang Kechun portrait — Portrait of Zhang Kechun

Pollution and ecological destruction of the Yellow River

The photographs also expose the environmental destruction that has come with contemporary living. According to Zhang, the purpose of his artistic pilgrimage was not to reveal the ecological destruction of the Yellow River. Still, he ran into so much pollution that to fail to capture it would have been negating the truth and the essence of the photographs. He says:

I started off wanting to photograph my ideal of the river, but I kept running into pollution. I realized that I couldn’t run away from it and that I didn’t need to run away from it.

Video: Zhang Kechun speaks about his Yangtze river photos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_6_5MFOv00

2 min 55 sec

The severed head of Buddha

A Buddha statue was thrown in the middle of a coal mining plant. Mines and coal surround the area, and there is a temple in the mountain. A coal mine owner built a golden statue of a dozen meters. The Buddha’s head of at least 5 meters, big and heavy, was broken. Because of Buddha’s concept of people, no one wants to smash it and throw it away, so it stands in the coal factory.

Zhang Kechun - Buddha in Coal Yard, Ningxia Province, 2011 — Zhang Kechun – *Buddha in Coal Yard, Ningxia Province*, 2011

Conclusion

Although the project has overcast and foreboding undertones, he hopes to spread a message of hope to his Chinese counterparts; that regardless of how much change the world undergoes, some things like nature and the Yellow River are bound to stand the test of time.