介绍:
If you want to know what Afghanistan is really like these days, Liang Zi is the right person to ask. The freelance photographer journeyed to the country four times over the past decade, all by herself.
Born and raised in a veteran soldier's family in Beijing, Liang Zi says the ultimate motivation for her to go to Afghanistan is her military background.
(sb1, Liang Zi, Female Mandarin)
"At the beginning it was because I used to be a servicewoman myself. I served in the army for 15 years and also worked as a photographer during wartime. I have wartime experiences and I was curious what modern wars are like, especially after the September 11th terrorist attack."
She served in the Chinese army during the border conflict between China and Vietnam in the late 1970s when Liang Zi worked as an army photographer.
She has in depth knowledge about Afghanistan, more than what you read in the newspapers everyday. She knows the routine of Afghans' daily life, their traditions and customs at local weddings and the unbelievable scene of underground beauty saloons.
While she has had a lot of experiences in the country, like the time she survived a suicide bombings and made her way to a local secret service where she spent some time with the allied forces, Liang Zi says the Chinese public has some misconceptions about Afghanistan.
(sb2, Liang Zi, Female Mandarin)
"When I was there the first time, I found the condition was worse than I thought. It looked like that the place was completely destroyed after an earthquake. But nowadays, there is still misinformation about Afghanistan. The country is not as terrible as the media reports say. People are doing business, travel, go to school – it is not just bombings."
Liang Zi, in particular, used her camera to record how Afghan women lived during wartime. She interviewed and made friends with Afghan women, including female generals, widows who supported families by making bread and most of the time, just ordinary and hardworking Afghan women.
Liang Zi says these strong women represent the most beautiful side of Afghanistan.
(sb3, Liang Zi, Female Mandarin)
"They are really strong and confident from inside out. What touches me the most is their resilience and vitality, which I cannot imitate. The heroic spirit is something you can feel from looking at them even if you don't know them very well. Their courage shines through during the wartime. "
She says Afghan women under burka are like dust over the ruins but also beacons in a desperate time.
Apart from recording the daily life of locals, Liang Zi also wrote down what military campuses of the allied forces looked like in her book as she spent some time at the NATO air force base in Kandahar.
(sb4, Liang Zi, Female Mandarin)
"The logistics are far better than I thought. They have great canteens, hundreds of laundry machines, grocery stores and churches. But the loneliness is the real problem. After all, it is not life back home."
Here is an excerpt from her book.
(Female Monologue)
"It is common to see troops with guns and uniform smoke, drink coffee and just talk together in a sunny day. Some of them play video games on their laptop. If it is not the guns and uniforms, it is hard to believe they are in a war. But also they could lose their life anytime and be on the next day's newspapers. Thinking of this makes me chilled. War is cruel and life can be dispensable and fragile here. So I understand the troops are trying to enjoy the sunshine as fearless as they can."
The humanitarian approach of Liang Zi uses in her book is also evident in the books about her trips to Africa. She traveled to Africa all by herself eight times in the past decade.
Liang Zi says the power of Afghan women can be an inspiration for everyone. After all, people sometimes can be as tiny as a speck of dust but their inner strength can shine upon others like a beacon of light. It all depends on whether a person has the power to make it happen.
For Studio+, I'm Li Ningjing.
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