The giant panda and the golden monkey, also known as "China's Double Treasures", are the flagship species for biodiversity conservation in the world. Xue Kang, a scholar of "Shuangbao" culture, was born in Baoxing County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, where the scientific discovery of giant pandas and golden monkeys was made. He has a natural "hometown" complex. From photographers who initially took pictures of landscapes, to special photographers who paid attention to ecology, to "wind chasers" who devoted themselves to "China's Double Treasures" going out, Xue Kang recorded the giant pandas he had witnessed under the lens of Xue Kang. And the protection of golden monkeys, and with the unique perspective of photography and stamp collection, let the "double treasures of China", especially the golden monkeys, enter the public eye, until they are brought to the United Nations conference.

The golden monkey under the lens of Xue Kang

"I'm 68 years old this year, so I will continue to wrestle with time. I will regard propaganda and protection of giant pandas and golden monkeys, inheriting and promoting Chinese culture as my lifelong responsibility, and protecting and improving the ecological environment as my lifelong career." Treasure", his temperament is restrained and steady, his eyes are full of tenderness and perseverance. With more and more in-depth conversations, a story of Xue Kang and "China's Double Treasures" slowly unfolds...

On April 1, 1869, French naturalist Armand David saw a live panda in Baoxing County. This day was designated as Panda Discovery Day, and Baoxing became a world-renowned giant panda type specimen origin. Of course, David's harvest in Baoxing is not limited to this. Many of the world's most famous Chinese species were discovered here for the first time. For example, the golden snub-nosed monkey.

As the "hometown" of giant pandas and golden monkeys, Xue Kang has a special preference for them. He smiled and said, "The giant panda was discovered on April Fool's Day, so it is very naive, and the golden monkey was discovered on the Youth Day, so it is so young and heroic."

At present, there are five kinds of golden snub-nosed monkeys known in the world: Sichuan snub-nosed monkey, Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, Guizhou snub-nosed monkey, Nujiang snub-nosed monkey and Vietnamese snub-nosed monkey. Among them, the four species of golden monkeys in China belong to the first-class national key protected animals.

The golden snub-nosed monkey is a rare and unique animal in my country. It is distributed in the remote mountains and forests in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Hubei. In the golden monkey family, the Sichuan golden monkey is the most beautiful one. They have sky-blue cheeks, a pair of piercing, large, round eyes, and adult male monkeys have prominent sarcomas on either side of the corners of their mouths. Of course, the most attractive thing is the golden hair. With the change of age, the hair will also change accordingly. "Their back hairs are up to 30 centimeters long, and they look majestic, just like the unparalleled hero in the Water Curtain Cave in Huaguo Mountain - the Monkey King." Xue Kang's words of praise for these elves are always endless. In fact, Xue Kang's relationship with "Shuangbao" also started from the golden monkey.

Embark on a filming trip deep in the mountains

"Double Treasures" Cultural Scholar Xue Kang

In 2015, after Xue Kang stepped back from his busy leadership position, how to live a more meaningful life became a question he pondered. On weekdays, Xue Kang loves scenery and appreciates beautiful things, and his biggest hobby is photography. So, he regained his camera and ran non-stop on the way of photography. Aiming at the golden monkey was inspired by an inspiration in 2016. "That year was the Year of the Monkey in the lunar calendar. I discussed with a few photographers and formed a 'Monkey Photo Group'. The purpose at that time was to take advantage of the 'hotness' of the Year of the Monkey to shoot a group of works about the golden monkey." With the curiosity and love of the golden monkey, and the original intention of using images to spread popular science knowledge and ecological protection, Xue Kang started a filming trip deep in the mountains.

The first stop, Xue Kang and the others came to the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve in Hubei, where the Hubei subspecies of Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey lives. On the night of arrival, it snowed heavily in Shennongjia. "When I wake up, the golden monkeys jumping up and down between the branches are the only colors in the world. We will press the shutters in our hands from time to time to track the monkeys flying in the forest, and capture all kinds of wonderful things. The moment." In Xue Kang's memory, the frozen fingers and the excited heartbeat were left at that moment.

"Monkey photo group" in Shenlongjia

Since then, Xue Kang has visited Shangri-La in Yunnan, Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou, Yangxian County in Shaanxi, Jiuzhaigou, Pingwu, Tangjiahe in Sichuan and other places, and recorded the daily life of different types of golden monkeys in the wild at various time periods with tens of thousands of freeze frames. Activity details, a lot of information and materials were collected. During the journey of more than 50,000 kilometers, he also had extensive and in-depth exchanges with hundreds of experts, scholars, forestry departments and protected area staff who are engaged in the scientific research and protection of golden monkeys. throbbing."

From photographer to protector of the environment

For Xue Kang, visiting wildlife photographer and conservationist Xi Zhinong was a qualitative change. During the filming inspection in Yunnan, Xue Kang heard that Xi Zhinong had been devoted to the filming and protection of wild animals in China for many years, and practiced the belief of using images to protect nature, and he showed the little-known Yunnan snub-nosed monkey in front of the public, and was sent to the public by Xi Zhinong. This protected a virgin forest where they inhabited, which made him very moved and admired. Therefore, Xue Kang made a special trip to find Xi Zhinong and listened to the touching story told by Xi Zhinong. Xue Kang was deeply inspired and strengthened his determination to protect and promote the golden monkey. It is also this time that he has officially transformed from a photographer to a protector of the ecological environment. "Protecting rare wild animals and building an ecological civilization is a long-term plan that concerns the well-being of the people and the future of the nation, and is an important part of realizing the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

The golden monkey under the lens of Xue Kang

As the saying goes, "infinite scenery lies on the dangerous peaks", and there are also dangers on the way of photography. Xue Kang's most impressive visit was in Weixi, Yunnan in April 2017. At that time, in order to photograph the majestic figure of a monkey king, he was crawling in the grass and focused on waiting. When he returned to his residence in the middle of the night, he realized that there was a black foreign body on the left chest. . "The doctor told me that fortunately, I am not allergic to the toxins of ticks. If there is an allergic reaction, the consequences will be serious." There are countless thrilling experiences such as this, but they did not shake Xue Kang's determination to shoot in the wild.

Expression of a whole new art form

With the in-depth understanding of the living conditions of golden monkeys, Xue Kang began to think about whether he could combine his two hobbies, photography and stamp collecting, with the theme of golden monkeys, to organize an open stamp collection and explore a new art form. With "shadow" to fix post, to "shadow" to expand post, to "shadow" to develop post, to promote mutual complementation through shadow post, to promote the development of philatelic culture, and to arouse more people's attention to the golden monkey, an endangered animal , give them more care and love, so as to further enhance the consciousness of wildlife protection, and jointly build a beautiful ecological home.

The uniqueness and richness of materials are directly related to the quality, personality and heritage of a stamp collection. As we all know, there are very few golden monkey stamps. The golden monkey stamps that appear as "national business cards" are only three stamps with teeth and no teeth issued in my country in 1963 and one of the national key protected wild animals issued in 2000, which have been issued by the United Nations. One, and the others are several zodiac tickets issued by foreign countries in the Year of the Monkey. Faced with such a small number of stamp materials, it is indeed very difficult to compile a 5-box open-type stamp collection with "the area of not less than 50% of the stamp products"; and the rules of the stamp exhibition are clear, and the open category follows the rules of the thematic category, requiring "stamp products should be multi-country, More varieties and a larger time span”, which makes it even more difficult. Therefore, in the process of organizing the stamp collection, Xue Kang racked his brains, thought of many ways, overcame various difficulties, traveled around for a long time, and extensively collected relevant materials.

Hard work pays off. In 2017, the first open collection of stamps organized by Xue Kang, "Golden Snub-nosed Monkey - The Genie of the Eco-Homeland", received widespread attention once it was published.

In the postal collection, the cute eyes of the golden monkey, the figure jumping through the jungle, and the warm scene of gathering with family members touched the hearts of every viewer. It can be said that this is a work that embodies Xue Kang's deep love for the golden monkey. There is pay and there is pay. In August 2017, the stamp collection won the open category gold award at the "13th Sichuan Stamp Exhibition"; in December, it won the open category "large gold-plated award plus special award" (the highest prize). It is worth noting that the Great Gold Plated Award is a recognition of the professional level of the stamp collection, and the Special Award is a recognition of the theme selection of the stamp collection. In March 2018, at the "2018 Hong Kong First World China Stamp Exhibition", the stamp collection won the second place in one fell swoop. In 2019, it won the "China 2019 World Stamp Exhibition Open Category Grand Silver Award" again. At the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Kunming, this stamp collection was displayed online in the main exhibition area of the China Pavilion.

In 2019, Xue Kang at the World Stamp Exhibition's solo exhibition area

Although his works have won many awards at home and abroad, Xue Kang did not stop there. In 2020, the world's first golden monkey ecological and cultural illustrated book "Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Stamp Book" is officially published with the golden monkey philatelic achievement-stamp collection as the entry point.

"I can do another 20 years"

In addition to the golden monkey, Xue Kang is also very concerned about the giant panda, one of the "double treasures". In Xue Kang's eyes, the giant panda, as a rare native animal in my country, is naive, docile and optimistic, and is a symbol of peace, friendship and unity. Since the Tang Dynasty, giant pandas have traveled across the oceans as messengers of friendship, become messengers of folk friendship, and spread the spirit of peace and friendliness of China. With his love for giant pandas and his reverence for nature, Xue Kang organized the stamp collection "Giant Pandas - Messengers of Friendship", and won the big gold-plated award in the open category at the 2021 Shanghai National Theme Stamp Exhibition.

In 2022, the world's first giant panda ecological and cultural illustrated book "Giant Panda Stamp Book" will be officially published. It is worth mentioning that more than 400 lifelike photos of giant pandas taken by Xue Kang are selected in this stamp collection, and the giant panda "Sesame" is the prototype of the mascot "Rongbao" of the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu. The created "Hundred Cats", the personalized giant panda stamps with "Rongbao" as the main image issued by China Post and other contents, and the first book collection ticket printed by China Post with special stamp paper as the book, etc. Xue Kang hopes to promote and disseminate Chinese giant panda culture at home and abroad through this unique carrier form.

Giant panda under Xue Kang's lens

The fixed photos and the square-inch stamps have gradually become Xue Kang's unique "business card", and at the same time carry his strong family and country feelings. Whether it is the rush for the protection of golden monkeys or the international dissemination of giant panda culture, Xue Kang believes that he can do his best. During the exchange, Xue Kang's love for his hometown, country and nature, his inexhaustible enthusiasm and endless energy deeply infected the reporters. When the reporter reminded him to pay attention to his body, he waved his hand and said boldly: "I can work for another 20 years!" When the reporter expressed his admiration and praise to Xue Kang, he was very modest: "It's just a little small. role, and that's my mission."

Today, Xue Kang is still busy in the protection and promotion of giant pandas and golden monkeys, and the "Chuanjin snub-nosed monkey" initiated and led by him has also entered the countdown to publication.

"Each of us is not only a beneficiary of a harmonious ecology, but also a builder of a harmonious ecology. To protect wild animals is to protect the precious wealth and beautiful home that God has given us, and to contribute to the realization of the beautiful Chinese dream." Xue Kang said emotionally. , "For the rest of my life, I will devote myself to disseminating Chinese culture and contribute to cultural self-confidence!"