Eternal Water with Ripples
Zhang Chenglong
About this series
2021 – 2024 — Beijing, China
About this series
The Yongding River is a large river located in the west of Beijing. Having been affected by the upstream vegetation, terrain and climate since ancient times till present, the river water is turbid and turbulent, and often runs recklessly in the flood season. Thanks to the targeted governance over years, the river does not see floods anymore and it has even dried up for several years. In recent years, after construction and transformation, the current river is clear and runs gently. The river bank with sediment deposition has been constructed into a similar ecological leisure space. In the same space, the new landscape has replaced the river water containing large amounts of sediments and gradually became a garden for people to store their thoughts. However, a flood in the rainy season of 2023, which had been isolated for a hundred years, made the Yongding River, which had been silent for decades roar again, turbid and turbulent water have ruined all that has been painstakingly done in recent years. Time in the garden is transitory.
Photographer: Zhang Chenglong
Nationality: Chinese
Based in: Beijing, China
Website: zhangchenglong.net
Instagram: @alonbjs
Zhang Chenglong (@alonbjs) lives and works in Bei’jing, China. He has worked as a photographer and editor for China News Service and ‘Fellow Traveller’ magazine. His practice is always poetic and gentle and focuses on the quotidian details, showing honest care for the subjects portrayed and has a unique way of exploring the interludes between tradition and modern transmutations. His work has been selected as a winner of the LensCulture Critics’ Choice Award 2024; been shortlisted for the Athens Photo Festival (2022 and 2026), the Belfast Photo Festival (2022 and 2026), the Portrait of Humanity Awards 2023; awarded as one of the ‘Highly Commended’ photographic artists at the Belfast Photo Festival 2022, and received an Honorable Mention in the Annual Photography Awards 2021.