For more than two decades,

Ge Yuxiu has photographed wildlife.

Dedicating his life and work to ecological protection,

Ge is known as the King of Birds and

Father of Przewalski’s Gazelles.

I was deeply moved during my interview with Mr. Ge; greatly impressed by his easygoing disposition, his passion, his dedication and his kindness. In describing his life as a photographer over the past two decades, Ge had much to say. But he spoke most about the lovely animals captured within his lens.

A Photographer’s Life

“I taught myself how to take photos in 1978 when I was serving in the military. Later, my images were first published in the Qinghai Daily,” recalled Ge, who today resides in Xining City, Qinghai Province. “In the early 1980s, I bought myself a dual-lens camera and ever since my life has been closely tied to photography. I took many photos of Qinghai’s scenery and ethnic charm.”

Ge jokingly explains that for him photography is like a magic boat. In 1995, he began to focus more on animals, birds, and the environment around Qinghai Lake. He has toured the lake more than 100 times, visited the origin of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers a dozen times, and even went as far as Hoh Xil to shoot wildlife.

To capture his images, he once stayed for seven days on an isolated island, eating food so substandard that it was difficult to swallow. His hands blistered, his lips chapped, and his skin turned the color of a cooked potato.

“I sometimes encountered danger. Once when I went to Longbao Lake in Yushu County to photograph black-necked cranes, I was caught in a swamp and almost got myself killed. Another near-miss happened when I was on Bayanhar Mountain at an altitude of 4,800 meters to photograph wolves. I ran closely after them for quite a while and almost lost my life due to a shortage of oxygen. One winter I went to Qinghai Lake to photograph whooper swans, my favorite birds. It was more than 20 degrees below zero Centigrade. I stumbled and fell into a huge ice hole. I almost died for those lovely birds,” recalled Ge.

Bird Island

Each spring, the well-known island attracts thousands of birds, and there they mate and lay eggs. When flocks of birds take flight at the same time, the scene is quite spectacular. In the past, people’s knowledge of the island was limited to what they read; even those who have been to the island seldom took away images of the birds. Unable to access the interior of the island and restrained by the observational conditions, the birds’ life on the island was unknown to most people.

Ge has made more than 40 trips to Bird Island (actually the collective name for a grouping of small islands) to capture his photographs. He also made it to a particularly desolate island within the group three times. On this small spot of land of only 1,200 meters in length and at most 100 meters in width, Ge remained for days. “Fleas, a common parasite on birds, are the most annoying. They bit me all over and the lumps were killing me,” said Ge. Not wanting to disturb the birds, Ge had to be extra careful when taking photos, so he crawled to approach their nests. Thus, his skin was often scratched and his clothes were frequently torn by sharp rocks. To get the best images, sometimes Ge remained motionless for long periods of time – sometimes up to two or three hours.

In the summer of 2002, at his own expense Ge published The Bird Island, the first feature photography album in Qinghai Province. Thus, more people became acquainted with Ge and his work. Through the more than 100 selected images presented in the album, the natural life of the birds is set forth for readers.

“To take good pictures, first you have to know the birds and respect them. It may not take much time to shoot a picture. However, there is a lot to do before then. You must carefully observe the birds, their nature and behavior, including their taking flight, seeking food and playing. Besides that, reading books and picture albums on birds is also necessary,” said Ge. More careful readers may have already discovered that among Ge’s later works, there were hardly any scenes of thousands of birds taking off simultaneously. “Birds are easily scared during the hatching period. Thousands of birds taking off simultaneously often result in squabs being pecked to death because their parents are forced to leave them,” explained Ge.

Over time, Ge came to better understand birds. He could even tell by their calls if they were about to take off or land. “Birds are the most beautiful flowers and angels in the sky. The universe shines with their beauty. The more I photograph them, the more uneasy I feel. Now deserts are approaching the home of birds. In recent years, with gymnocypris przewalskii, an edible carp in Qinghai Lake, shrinking in great numbers, it is becoming increasingly difficult for birds to find food. The shooting of birds during their search for food occurs frequently and even runs rampant,” said Ge.

Gradually, photography conceded to Ge’s second favorite hobby. He has now become an environmental activist, and has written articles on the protection of avian habitats. Hence, his nickname: “King of the Birds.”

Father of Gazelles

To capture images of this critically endangered animal, Ge worked from dawn to dusk and waited for hours for the best moment to take a picture. Finally, he captured the animal with his camera, and later published an article advocating protection of the gazelle.

“It is not easy to photograph gazelles. I knew when I prepared to photograph them that I needed to better understand the animal. So I frequently visited local herdsmen, and consulted with them with my broken Tibetan language,” recalled Ge. He also consulted with experts on the gazelle, so as to better know the creature.

His deepening understanding resulted in better photos. Ge managed to photograph moments of their courtship, mating, leaping, and standing upright. And new ideas came to him. “I was thinking that since Przewalski’s gazelle is only found in China, they should have a Chinese name. And the Chinese name should be known to the entire world.” After conducting research with several experts and friends, Ge suggested that the lovely animal be given the Chinese name of Zhonghua Duijiaoling, due to the fact that the males have black antlers which bend inwards at the tips. To generate more publicity for the creature, Ge created display boards at his own expense. And along with concerned organizations, under the Internet banner of www.qhqphoto.com he launched a signing campaign, Saving Przewalski’s Gazelles. Calling for protection of the animal, he published articles in more than 20 newspapers and periodicals.

When taking pictures of wildlife on the plateaus, to obtain a vivid and dynamic effect, some photographers first disturb then chase the animals. Some drive wild after poor animals for a long time in order to get beautiful pictures, often at the cost of the animals’ lives. Concerning this, Ge made his objections quite clear. “All photographers should be environmentally conscious. Animals in our lens are the real masters of nature. Photographers are intruders. Thus, we should do everything in our power to not disturb them. The ultimate goal for wildlife photographers is to provide more reliable materials for people to understand wildlife’s living environment and raise the public’s level of awareness concerning environmental protection,” said Ge.

Ge believes the planet should be a home for animals and humans to live in harmony. “Our world will become better only when large numbers of wildlife exist and coexist with humans. If there are only humans on the planet, the world would be meaningless,” he said.