Tibetannet

From soldier to wildlife photographer, Shandong native advocates for conserving endangered animals through powerful, moving images in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

"Cease to struggle and you cease to live." This is the motto Ge Yuxiu lives by. "I am still not too old to move. I can still do something," he said while smiling.

The 68-year-old Shandong province native has lived in Qinghai province for 51 years. For almost half that time, he has been on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where he has devoted his life to photographing and protecting wild animals.

Despite serious heart trouble, Ge is determined to stay on the high-altitude plateau and continue to do something to help conserve wildlife in the area, which is sometimes called the "Third Pole" for the amount of water stored in its glaciers.

Ge came to Qinghai to serve in the People's Liberation Army in 1970. He was lucky enough to gain access to a camera after he became company commander eight years later.

His enthusiasm for photography grew after a photo he took of soldiers reading news articles written on a blackboard was published in the Qinghai Daily in 1979.

He probably would never have turned to photographing wild animals without a visit to Bird Island in Qinghai Lake－China's largest inland saltwater lake－in 1995, after he had retired from the army and had begun working in financial sector.

Covering less than half a square kilometer, the island is home to over 100,000 migratory birds. "I became addicted to the bird kingdom," Ge said, adding that he has so far visited the island more than 200 times to take photos.

He never anticipated that his attraction to the island would tie his destiny with Przewalski's gazelle, a relatively small, slender antelope endemic to China.

Ge was en route to the island in late 1997 to take photos of swans when he saw seven yellowish-brown animals running across the grasslands, in a line. On hearing one of his companions shout "Przewalski's gazelle", he took out his camera and took photos of them.

He was later told by wildlife conservation experts that he had captured the world's first image of the elusive antelope.

"I was so excited to hear that," he said.

His excitement, however, soon gave way to anxiety after he learned about the animal's endangered status. Only found around Qinghai Lake, there were just 300 of them surviving in the wild at the time.

The incident became a turning point in Ge's photography career, as he decided to devote his efforts to saving the gazelle and other endangered animals.

He often spent time in the wild observing the gazelle and occasionally visited local herdsman to learn what they knew about the animal.

As he followed the animals, danger was never far away. One early winter morning, Ge fell asleep while hiding near the antelopes' habitat. Woken up by howls, he saw that five wolves were chasing a gazelle about 100 meters away.

The herd was only 30 meters away when it passed the sand dune Ge had hidden behind. Though the wolves didn't find him, he was so scared that he became drenched in sweat despite subzero temperatures.

"It would have been a lot easier for the wolves to catch me than to catch that antelope," he said, a trace of fear still in his eyes.

Ge has regularly visited wildlife conservation experts in Qinghai and places much farther afield. Making full use of his time during business trips to Beijing, for example, he has visited experts at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Forestry more than a dozen times.

Through his photos, Ge is a proactive advocate to the government, research institutions and the public, on the need to protect Przewalski's gazelle.

After long-term observation, he realized that the chain link herdsmen used to fence off grazing areas posed a great risk. The fences not only impeded the gazelles' movements, but also made them easier prey for predators like wolves and foxes.

Hoping to address the problem, he began an advocacy campaign at universities and elementary and secondary schools in Qinghai. He managed to get signatures from about 2,600 teachers and students by showing them photos of the antelope falling victim to the fences.

His perseverance led to at least eight of his proposals reaching Qinghai provincial authorities.

Following his suggestions, authorities chose Przewalski's gazelle as the mascot of an international cycle race held around Qinghai Lake in 2006, and a reserve and a separate station especially for the conservation of the antelope were established in December 2007 and September 2009, respectively.

Thanks to joint efforts, the population of Przewalski's gazelle has now increased to about 2,700.

Since 2019, Ge has turned to advocating for black-necked cranes to be made China's national bird as the country bolsters efforts to protect endemic species.

Because many Chinese are not familiar with Przewalski's gazelle, the cranes or Tibetan wild donkeys, Ge believes more understanding is needed, and he has pledged to do something to address the problem.

"If people don't even know of them, it will be not easy to get them protected," he said.