"Tigers and dragons surrounded thousands of years, gods and ghosts hovering every night.” The Western Qing Tombs, one of the royal tombs of the last feudal dynasty, are located on plains surrounded by mountains. They have logical composition, complete system and grand scale. They are like a glittering diamond inlaid in China.

Shooting in the Western Qing Tombs is like walking between life and death. While traveling through the Sacred Way and stone archways of Tailing Tomb,  the natural granophyre of Changling Tomb, nanmu palace of Muling Tomb and fog-locked Chongling Tomb---the art of architecture, the value of existence, the rise and fall of history, the contrast of life and death and the fight between vision and thought are like raging tides, crashing and rushing. It is like a huge hand to illustrate, clip, rehearse and perform the past and the present by montage technique.

I am fascinated by the history between mountains and water, the quintessence of Chinese architectural art and contrast of magnificence and decline. In less than two years, I traveled to and fro more than 50 times in the Western Qing Tombs and walked through historic relics. I applied 8*10 cameras and shot here. The special charm of white and black films washed away the disturbance of the earthliness. The bricks and walls demonstrate the inspiration of history. The Pure Western Qing Tombs make my emotion flow and integrate imagination and reality into one.

In my humble opinion, only gross format cameras can depict the grandeur of the Western Qing Tombs. Only the simplest black, white and grey can romance the permanence and glory of Chinese culture. It exerts the greatest strains upon imagination and enlightens speechlessly to each visitor. Shooting in the Western Qing Tombs, speech is more than it is and even thinking is a barrier. The antenna of inspiration is delicate and dragging me to travel in the world of existence and void, to shoot again and again. Facing the Western Qing Tombs, I shoot without invention, and try to turn it into eternity.

- Wang Jian