Encounters in China 34. Kimio Zhensheng 师生门墩情

There are lots of crossborder friendships and in some sense, it is these friendships that build understanding between people from different countries and make the world a better place. For more about these encounters between Chinese and people from other countries, please check out the series Encounters in China from the playlist Kimio Iwamoto (Japan) first travelled to Beijing in 1995 to study art. His tutor was Ma Zhensheng who was the Professor of Art at the Beijing Language and Culture University. In his spare time, Kimio would cycle around Beijing and noticed the rich variety of ornate pillar decorations found in the doorways in Beijings historic Hutongs, referred to as Mendun in Chinese. Kimio felt they were an important artefact of Chinese culture, but noticed they were being lost and destroyed during Beijings rapid development. He began to photograph them, and also to collect ones that were due to be demolished. He conv