A photo can be worth a thousand words

Studying Beijing, increasingly I comprehended its early layout dating back to  13th century Yuan Dynasty. How it straddled a north-south axis line (zhongzhou xian 中轴 线) with the Forbidden City at the centre. My fascination with this led to the recent production of short videos on its story both historical and contemporary.

My early life in Beijing concentrated around hutongs near Zhonggulou (Bell and Drum Tower), perfect locations to appreciate traditional, local lifestyles. In those early days, few other westerners were present there. Later, however, leading study tour groups from Scotland, I would take them into those back alleys to give an experience of “Old Beijing”. It was very satisfying to be told, "We can see Bruce why you have developed such a passion and love for Beijing!"

Walking, learning about and photographing Beijing led to numerous publications introducing the city such as "Beijing This Month". Later, with Radio Beijing, over twelve years, I had a daily feature "Bruce in Beijing". More recently, writing along with a series of video productions help  to show the city I call home - how it has transformed into a contemporary capital where fast-moving lifestyles sit alongside generations of  tradition.

The modernity I saw increase with the run up to Beijing 2008 Olympics while continuing up to the present day. Examples are not simply the CBD skyline and other amazing examples of construction. It has also been infrastructure such as Beijing South Railway Station coinciding in 2008 with the initial high-speed rail line connecting the Capital with Tianjin. Beijing's metro network transformed from a simple two line system to one of the world's largest and certainly most modern. Daxing International Airport with futuristic, much commented architectural design proved perfect for photography. All of this, through the lens, I have been able to help show Beijing, how it is represented within the modern era.