A photo from photographer Lu Guang's documentary project "Pollution in China" shows an elder shepherd by the Yellow River cannot stand the smell. April 23, 2006. [Photo:china.com]

Welcome to Heartbeat, the show that gets to the centre of China's ever-changing lifestyle, but still manages to discover the country's rich cultural history. I'm your host Liu Yan.

For a long time China seemed focused entirely on economic growth.  But economic success has brought challenges in other areas.  China's environment, for example, is feeling the impact.  One organization here in Beijing is working to rebuild damaged forests around the city.  Healthier forests will help provide Beijingers with cleaner drinking water, and will improve the view from the nearby Great Wall of China.

Anyway, raising public awareness is vital to build support for environmental protection.  Award-winning photographer Lu Guang has been doing that in China for years.  He Fei brings us his story.

Reporter:

photographer Lu Guang

A power plant in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, two huge chimneys erect into the sky and thick dark smoke bellows from the chimneys covering a huge area of the village.

In the Yangtze River, a huge pipe bursts forth polluted water. The smelly yellow colored water with grey bubbles flows directly into the river.

Forty such pictures with the theme of "Pollution in China" caught the world's attention. The photographer of the collection, Lu Guang, was given the Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his focus on pollution issues. He is the first to receive the honor on the Chinese mainland.
 
He often returns to the places where he shoots pictures to see the changes. And his work has brought impacts to these severely polluted areas. Here is Lu Guang:

"This time when I came back to these areas after I got the award, I could tell the local governments were very active in changing the situation. Many farmers there also called and asked me why people of the local environmental protection bureau went there again and again. You can see the supervision there has been improved."

Since 2005, Lu Guang has been working on the 'Pollution in China' series. From the west to the east coast, from the reaches of the Yellow River to the banks along the Yangtze River, he went through almost all corners of China. Lu Guang has recorded the current situation of the pollution problems in the country in truth. He explains the inspiration that triggered him to the project.

"I was shocked when once I saw the scene that thick yellow smoke coming out of chimneys and spreading into the blue sky. I seldom saw the polluted scenes like that before. And the smoke smelled stingy. The scene was like in a movie when a gas bomb blew up. The scene was hard to imagine, but how could it happen in our life? Therefore, I was really impressed and decided to record the scene with my camera."

From then on, Lu Guang never stopped working. He travels around the country to find out the origins of the pollution and records them. His camera and lens are like his eyes and pen.

"I never think of winning an award when I take pictures. Recording is my priority. And of course, I want to solve problems. When I took these pictures, I told the local residents the reason why I took photos of them was that I wanted to help them solve the problems."

However, Lu Guang says he is not the one who can save the residents from misery. What he can do is taking pictures and publishing them in the media and call for the attention of society.

"If I don't take these pictures, no one will know the situation there. Then who will come and solve the problem? Nobody. So the local people actually welcome me to record their life with the camera."

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