Wei Xiang, Director of the Hungarian Photographers Association: Deeply Impressed in Liaoning by Those Morning Exercisers, Elderly but Positive

Morning exercisers who play Tai Chi leisurely, children listening to music on the square and old people in rural areas who use stones as chess to entertain themselves. In the upcoming "Rays of Light in Memories" 2021 Liaoning-Central and Eastern Europe Photography Exchange Exhibition, the works of Wei Xiang, Director of the Hungarian Photographers Association, who lives in Hungary all the year round, are highly anticipated.

Recently, Wei Xiang recounted his experience of photographing in Liaoning and shared the stories behind the photos.

Wei Xiang, Director of Hungarian Photographers Association Photo: Liaoning Provincial Photographic Artists Association

In early November 2019, with the invitation of Liaoning Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Liaoning Provincial Photographic Artists Association, Wei Xiang， along with a delegation of eight Hungarian and Slovakian photographers came to Liaoning to shoot scenery and local culture.

During this time, they traveled to Shenyang, Dalian and many other cities. They visited Liaoning Provincial Library and Shenyang Imperial Palace, photographed morning exercisers in Shenyang Beiling Park, and children's life in No.1 kindergarten in Dalian Jinzhou, enjoyed the charm of Xinghai Bay Bridge in Dalian Xinghai Square, and took photos in free market.

In Wei Xiang's opinion, the most impressive experience for him is shooting morning exercisers in Beiling Park. He once chatted with several morning exercisers and still keeps the chat content in his mobile phone. During the shooting, Wei Xiang and an old man surnamed Sui got along very well. Although the old man was 80 years old, he is strong and often went to Beiling Park to do rope skipping. Wei Xiang was deeply touched by Sui's saying that "What matters most is to have a good day."

"What we all like is the open educational activities of the kindergarten and the magnificence of the Xinghai Bay Bridge. I've heard about Shenyang Imperial Palace for a long time, but when it was in front of us, I was still amazed." Wei recalled.

This trip to China has made the photographers of China, Hungary and Slovakia form a deep friendship. They agreed to hold photo exhibitions in their home countries to show the achievements of this cultural exchange activity. Amid COVID-19 fallout, the 2020 exhibition in Hungary- "Liaoning in the Eyes of photographers of China and Central and Eastern Europe” will be postponed until summer 2021.

Wei Xiang is looking forward to the upcoming "Rays of Light in Memories" 2021 Liaoning-Central and Eastern Europe Photography Exchange Exhibition. "I believe and expect a complete success of the exhibition and this cloud photography exchange." Wei Xiang said.