Gao Fei: A Close-up Shot of Wuhan

By Zhang Qingnan

Before coming to Wuhan, Gao Fei, Russian name Дeниc Ким,worked as a web designer and maintenance staff in Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service.Going to and from work every day, he had lived a regular, stable life for 17 years.“Time flies, never to be recalled. Yet my dream would still be a dream without me getting any closer if I did not take some action. So I made the decision to go to China to fulfill my childhood dream,” This decision was made when Gao Fei was 38.

Gao Fei’s father is Korean and his mother is Ukrainian. Both of them are pediatricians. Ever since he was a tiny tot on his father’s lap, Gao has been extremely interested in China. Back then,his father bought a lot of Chinese DVDs including kung fu films and other Chinese classics. Movie stars like Jackie Chan,Gong Li, and Zhang Yimou were familiar names to him. Gao Fei was attracted by the exquisite scenes of natural scenic beauty, the ethereal grace of Chinese style architecture, and the Chinese lifestyle portrayed in those Chinese films. What’s more, in Vladivostok, many Chinese commodities were sold, including vacuum cups, lanterns, colored pencils, ping pong paddles, and “DaDa” chewing gum. These goods set off Gao Fei’s imagination and sparked the fires of his intense curiosity about China.

高飛 Gao Fei

高飛鏡頭下的漢街 Photo of Han Street by Gao Fei

月湖之畔的琴臺(tái)大劇院（高飛/攝） Qintai Grand Theatre by the Moon Lake (Photo: Gao Fei)

高飛，用鏡頭傳播中國(guó)

文/張清南

來(lái)武漢之前，高飛，俄語(yǔ)名Денис Ким，是符拉迪沃斯托克國(guó)立經(jīng)濟(jì)服務(wù)大學(xué)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)計(jì)和維護(hù)人員，每天上班、下班，生活很平穩(wěn)，一晃就過(guò)了17年。“時(shí)間在流逝，但夢(mèng)想仍然還只是夢(mèng)想，所以我決定到中國(guó)去。”高飛做這個(gè)決定時(shí)，已經(jīng)38歲。

高飛的爸爸是韓國(guó)人，媽媽是烏克蘭人，都是兒科醫(yī)生。高飛從童年起就對(duì)中國(guó)感興趣。那時(shí)候他的父親買了很多中國(guó)影碟，有武打片也有生活片，成龍、鞏俐、張藝謀……都是他熟悉的影星。他很喜歡電影里的自然風(fēng)景、房子和人們的生活方式。符拉迪沃斯托克有很多中國(guó)商品，保溫杯、燈籠、彩色鉛筆、乒乓球拍，還有“大大”口香糖。高飛滿腦子都是對(duì)中國(guó)的想象與好奇。

高飛血液中就有鑒賞美的基因。選擇武漢源于網(wǎng)上一張“武漢站”的照片，波狀屋頂把高飛深深吸引，他想親眼看到它。網(wǎng)上關(guān)于武漢的信息不多，他決定來(lái)武漢之初，心里也打鼓，漢語(yǔ)和英語(yǔ)都不好，怕交流會(huì)有障礙，家人也很擔(dān)心。

Gao Fei is aesthetically gifted.The funny thing is, the uniquely beautiful wavy rooftop he once saw in an online photo was what attracted him to the city of Wuhan; he wanted to see it in person. Not much information about Wuhan was available to him online in Russia. When he first arrived, Gao Fei was excited and nervous, with butterflies in his stomach. Since he was deficient,not only in Chinese, but also in English, he fretted the real possibility of a major language barrier—a worry also shared by his family.

Gao Fei is keen on photography, especially fond of documenting modern,international metropolises. As long as he is able, Gao Fei will strap his SLR camera around his neck and tour the city of Wuhan snapping away to his heart’s content. He often takes at least 200 shots in a clip, and more than 1,000 on a good weekend.In Gao Fei’s view,Wuhan is a dynamic and modernized city with skyscrapers sprouting up day by day. He is a big fan of tall buildings and likes to stand on skyscrapers snapping panorama shots of Wuhan. This is also the reason why he named himself Gao Fei, which means “flying high” in Chinese.

In the past few years, Gao Fei has witnessed the rapid metamorphosis of Wuhan that is taking place every day. New buildings, bridges, subways, and airports have been constructed and completed. Living in this ever-changing city, Gao Fei often gets lost and needs to ask for help from the friendly locals.

With more and more photographs and videos taken,Gao Fei established a Russian website, aiming to introduce the city of Wuhan to the Russians.Sometimes, he also posts these photos and videos to Facebook,Instagram and YouTube. Viewed through the astute eye of Gao Fei’s camera lens, the beautiful and graceful panoramas of Wuhan are wide-open and ready for the world to lay their eyes on.

高飛喜歡攝影，現(xiàn)代的國(guó)際化大都市給了高飛施展的空間。一有空，他就背上相機(jī)，四處拍照，每次起碼要拍200張，周末甚至?xí)^(guò)1000張。他覺(jué)得武漢很大，高樓林立，很現(xiàn)代化，符拉迪沃斯托克最高的樓也只有20層。他喜歡高樓，喜歡站在高樓上俯瞰武漢之美。他給自己取名高飛，就是喜歡站在高處，體驗(yàn)飛鳥的視角。

在武漢這幾年，高飛覺(jué)得武漢每天都在變，新樓、新橋、新地鐵、新飛機(jī)場(chǎng)，不停地竣工報(bào)喜。他常常因此迷路，但是總能碰到熱心人給與幫助。

隨著照片和視頻越來(lái)越多，高飛建立了一個(gè)俄語(yǔ)網(wǎng)站，想讓更多的俄羅斯人了解武漢這座城市。有時(shí)候，他也會(huì)把這些照片和視頻發(fā)到Facebook、Instagram、Youtube上。武漢的美，在他的鏡頭下盡展風(fēng)姿。