With its 12 animal zodiacal signs, China’s love affair with the animal kingdom is taken by some to extremes.
Now, Nanjing photography enthusiast Cao Qingchun, who has visited over 100 stone animal sites in Jiangsu, documenting them photographically over the past 18 years, has had his book “Stone Animals in Jiangsu”, co-authored by him and archaeologist Shao Lei, published by Phoenix Science Press. The book introduces the general history of stone animal tombs in Jiangsu over the past dynasties.
68-year-old Cao Qingchun was born in 1949 when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded. He once served in the military, taught at school and engaged in publicity work at a governmental institution. After his retirement, Cao visited 68 cities and counties in Jiangsu province at his own expenses and shot over 50,000 photos relating to Jiangsu’s history and culture. He once published the book “Famous Pagodas in Jiangsu”, also in cooperation with Shao Lei, then a researcher at Nanjing Cultural Heritage Protection Research Institute, who once participated in archaeological investigations and excavations including altar architectural remains in Zhongshan of Nanjing in the Six Dynasties (222 – 589) and the Tomb of Xiaozige, a member of the imperial family in the Qi and Liang periods of the Southern Dynasties (420 – 589).
For the new book, Cao has visited and shot photos of all the existing 100-plus stone animals in Jiangsu, according to a historical and cultural heritage list of Jiangsu. Among these, 69 sites are showcased in his new release, including one located in Fengyang of Anhui province, namely the stone animal that sits by the tomb of the parents of Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328 – 1398).
