Capturing Nature’s Essence: A Photographic Journey with Chinadaily.com.cn

Primates and antelopes

Upon completing his secondary education in 1983, Xi began his career as a photography aide to Wang Zijiang, an educator from Yunnan University, working on a documentary focused on avian species.

In 1984, motivated by his desire to capture images of birds in motion, Xi invested approximately 500 yuan ($68) to acquire his first camera, which represented nearly five months of his earnings.

After becoming involved in a black-necked crane survey in 1990, he succeeded in taking the nation’s first photographs of the endangered bird during its wintering period in Yunnan.

From 1992 to 1994, he took part in a research initiative on Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys within the Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve of the province.

It required three years and six expeditions into the mountains for him to secure his initial frontal images of these elusive creatures.

During this time, he discovered a logging company’s intentions to clearcut the habitat of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, leading him to pen a letter to a State councilor. This effort sparked the formation of the Green Student Camp, a grassroots movement focused on environmental conservation which ultimately preserved the monkeys’ habitat.

At the Green Student Camp situated in the Baima Snow Mountains, he met his future spouse Shi Lihong, a journalist from Beijing. After their marriage, Shi resigned from her position and later relocated with Xi to Yunnan. In 2002, together with two other wildlife photographers, they established the Wild China studio. By 2022, the couple transformed their residence in Dali into the Wild China Museum.

One prominent photograph of the monkeys captured by him was featured in National Geographic magazine in 1995, propelling the species into the global spotlight. “Fate led me to encounter the monkeys in their natural habitat,” he has stated on several occasions. “Had it not been for that moment, I might not have pursued my path as a wildlife photographer.”

In 1997, while working as an investigative journalist for China Central Television, he explored the remote terrains of Hoh Xil on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, highlighting the dangers facing Tibetan antelopes due to rampant illegal hunting. At one particular site, he witnessed hundreds of deceased Tibetan antelopes.

“I could just take photographs, yet I felt fortunate to be present,” he remarked. “It presented me the opportunity to reveal the entirety of wild nature to the public—a domain characterized by both stunning beauty and stark, challenging realities.”

Due to his photographic endeavors, a greater number of individuals have become aware of Hoh Xil and the adjacent Sanjiangyuan area, a sanctuary for numerous unique wildlife species. Subsequently, a national nature reserve was established to protect Hoh Xil, and Sanjiangyuan has achieved the status of the largest national park in the country. The population of Tibetan antelopes in the nation has escalated from 60,000 in the 1990s to 400,000 today.