Chapter 41 Appendix 3 Picking up a Treasure on the Main Street

——Tang Shizeng One or Two Xu Youzhu, Director of the Photography Department of Xinhua News Agency and Director of China Photographic Archives After the "People's Photographic Daily" published Tang Shizeng's text and photo reports from the Gulf, the "People's Daily" published a photo of Tang Shizeng's military uniform in the "Weekly Digest" edition on February 3.A reporter specializing in news reports became a news figure for a while, and his photo was circulated and picked by several newspapers, which in itself was extremely newsworthy. "How did Tang Shizeng come to Xinhua News Agency?"

Because according to People's Photographer, Tang Shizeng was assigned to teach at China University of Political Science and Law after graduating from Peking University's Department of International Politics in 1983, so people have such doubts. "Picked from the street." This answer is not entirely a joke. In the winter of 1986, a Peking University graduate working for Xinhua News Agency walked into my office and introduced an alumnus who wanted to be a photojournalist.Before I could open my mouth, this alumnus piously held a large notebook with dozens of photos of him published in newspapers, proving his achievements in photojournalism.I took it and looked it up, but I didn't find a good one, so I handed it back to him immediately.Maybe it was my casual attitude that hurt his self-esteem. He blushed immediately and eagerly introduced how he likes news photography. None required, except for two Leicas or Nikons...

"You want to be a reporter when you come here? Do you need two cameras?" "One is fine." "I don't have one, and I can't be a reporter when I come here. If Xinhua News Agency wants you, you can do whatever it asks you to do." "Oh, if you don't give me the camera, I can do whatever you want." He thought for a moment, "Okay, just let me come to Xinhua News Agency." After he left my office, the hallway was full of greetings.Strange, how come there are so many of his acquaintances in the photography department?When I asked, some of them were alumni, and most of them were met during interviews on the street.The boys said that he was everywhere, and that he would kiss anyone with a camera on his back. He was familiar with each other, and he was quite modest, so they had a good impression of him. When they heard that he wanted to come to Xinhua News Agency, they all spoke well of him.

The University of Political Science and Law is also willing to help him. Although he is reluctant to let go of a good teacher, he is too obsessed with taking pictures to keep him. A few months later, he got his wish.Those "old Xinhua" who knew him on the street teased him that he was picked. People who only look at the photos without meeting him may think that Tang Shizeng is very tall, but in fact this adjective is not suitable for him.Although he is 1.83 meters tall, he is a bit of a hunchback. He doesn't bother to stick out his chest, so he has to subtract three centimeters, and his figure is slender.A pair of myopia glasses was put on a delicate and fair face, and the helmet was removed, showing a bookish look.But in our photography department, whoever wants to associate the concept of "scholar" with the image of Tang Shizeng must have something wrong with his brain software.Has anyone ever seen Tang Shizeng walking steadily and climbing stairs?He is always in a hurry, as if he is always followed by pursuers.

"It's raining!" He shouted excitedly as he rushed into one office after another in the summer of the first year. Who can't see the rain?What's there to be excited about when it rains?A little girl was upset by his calling and called him "crazy"! He muttered angrily: "It's raining after a long drought, that's news..." He turned around, picked up his camera and rushed towards the rainy streets and alleys.When he came back at night, he was drenched, but his eyebrows were beaming, and he showed the editor a stack of photos of people in the rain in different poses and with different poses. Even the little girl who called him crazy praised him happily, "Donald Duck is so smart".A group of "Singing in the Rain" feature photos were sent to Hong Kong and were very popular with newspapers.

After that, he still often suffers from "crazyness", and often gets praise after being scolded. As he took more and more photos, his requests also increased.Two Nikons are no longer a problem. He also needs a BP machine, a wireless phone, and a car with police lights like McCall's. In an emergency, he can turn on the police like McCall As soon as the light was put on the roof, the red light flashed, the siren blared, and the traffic was unimpeded.During this process, I don't know how many times I was scolded.But he insisted that he wanted it today, tomorrow, from the director, from the president, and publicized it to the boss over and over again. These things are necessary for journalists.His request was finally understood, except that there was no hope of McCall's police lights, and there was no condition for special-purpose vehicles in the country for the time being. After getting the BP machine and the wireless phone, the first thing he did was to print four words on his business card: "Work day and night." In the first year when the photography department established the news center, almost every day he said "work day and night". results.

His demands were endless, from equipment to tasks. An earthquake occurred between Datong, Shanxi and Yangyuan, Hebei. Just half an hour after the radio broadcast, he rode his bicycle from home to Xinhua News Agency.Buy 10 packs of biscuits, take a "Daihatsu", drive thousands of miles, and arrive at the epicenter before the People's Liberation Army for disaster relief.Worked 38 hours straight to send out the first scoop photos across the country and the world. A biologist from Peking University went to the Qinling Mountains to investigate wild giant pandas. It was the coldest season of the year in the Qinling Mountains. He followed him wearing an ordinary down jacket.Tracking and searching in forests, seas and snowfields at an altitude of 2000-3000 meters.People have to crawl through the giant panda passage in the bamboo forest. An inch-thick snow poured into their necks on the bamboo bushes.But being able to photograph wild giant pandas in their natural state is enough to make up for everything.When the giant panda disappeared on the snow field, his tears dripped on the viewfinder, melting the snow on it.He cherished the experience of this winter and said that he would never forget it in his life.

In order to reveal the mysterious veil of Hoh Xil, he went with the national scientific expedition team to an uninhabited land with an altitude of more than 5,000 meters.The severe cold, lack of oxygen, drought, and strong radiation there are called "mysterious death zones" because no one has ever set foot there. A slight cold may lead to pulmonary edema and death within a few hours.The threat of death could not stop his longing for the "wild animal paradise".In order to chase the wild yaks in the clouds, I had to walk a few steps on the rocks to breathe heavily, and my lungs seemed to be fried in oil, almost bursting.In this scene, he can actually have unlimited reverie: from "The Snow of Kilimanjaro" to "Out of Africa".

The Gulf War was clouded, and he reported one report after another, and even directly wrote to the president, requesting that he be sent to take first-hand photos of the battlefield, and compete with the United States and Reuters. In 40 days, he went from Baghdad to Amman, and then from Amman to Tel Aviv, single-handedly, punching and kicking. Nearly 30 photos and 6 articles have appeared in the newspapers. In the three years at Xinhua News Agency, he went to many places where no one went, all at his own request.There is only one exception. In the early spring of 1989, I went to Dortmund, Germany to interview the 40th World Table Tennis Championships, which was dispatched by the organization.

He ran around all day long, and he couldn't see when he was peaceful.The photography department held a training course for young journalists, and asked him to talk about his experience in interviewing social news. He had already greeted him, but he never sat down to prepare. There are several cards in the thick lecture notes.From China to foreign countries, from Lu Xun to Hegel, he quoted extensively from many sources, eloquently, with theory and practice, which impressed the young and old attendees. During the lecture, there were five days before he went to Baghdad. He said in class that he was going to Baghdad, he wanted to be a kapa, and it was best to be a single young man, not to get married.

If you therefore believe that he foresaw the trip to Baghdad and didn't fall in love, or even thought that he would be celibate for his career, you would be fooled. When he first came to Xinhua News Agency, someone introduced him to a partner.At that time, the Iran-Iraq war was not over yet, and he clamored all day to go to Beirut.He asked the introducer, does the girl have a Nikon?Can she go to Beirut?With these two, I agree.His attitude was very sincere, and the introducer was so angry that he called him a fool.He was grinning, as if he was a little silly. Playing stupid is his trick to deal with difficult problems, and he really used this trick in Baghdad.In Baghdad before the war, no foreign journalists are allowed to take pictures casually, and it is considered "illegal" to take a camera on the street.The common people don't understand English, and he doesn't know Arabic, except for "Sinisha Bisadike" (a good friend of the Chinese reporter), after saying this, he smirked at others.The common people were baffled. Seeing his kindness, they waved to him friendly and stopped pestering him. In an interview with the UN secretary-general at Baghdad airport, he played dumb again.The military police ordered all journalists to file into a room to meet de Cuellar.He bowed his head and obeyed the order, behaved well, took advantage of his unpreparedness, turned around sharply, stepped over the railing, trotted a few steps, caught up with the secretary-general and his party, and walked in close to the distinguished guests.This time there was really a chaser, but he pretended not to know, grabbed the best position, and took shots that the United States and the co-reporters couldn't match. There is a saying that is as wise as a fool.It would be a fool not to see his cunning. (This article was originally published on the front page of "People's Photography" on February 13, 1991)