She is Li Weihong. At the age of 49, she has already become a grandmother. But she has a different hobby – recording surroundings by using a DV camera and sharing her works with other villagers. Thanks to Li’s works, villagers saw them appear on TV for the first time.

Li Weihong told us she was pleased with others’ willing to see her works. she loves their smiles when they watch her works. Yesterday, one viewer smiled and said: “From now on, we should be brave to face the camera. We should behave naturally. Look, we look so well on TV. Ten years later, when we see this video again, we will be moved.” Those words made her very happy. Three years ago when she started video-recording, few villagers supported her.

For Ms. Li, to record own life is to record what she is interested in. Over the past three years, she has used her camera to film activities such as farm works, festivals and wedding ceremonies.

Ms. Li also recorded her son’s wedding ceremony. Some said: “I’ve never seen a wedding ceremony like this. Bridegroom’s father gets drunk and mother is moving around with a camera in her hands. They don’t receive guests and personally handle gift money; they just ask others to deal with those matters. They aren’t aware of the importance of finance.”

How did Ms. Li become so passionate with DV recording? What’s her intention to make those videos? The answer to these questions is an activity three years ago.

In 2011, at the age of 46, Li Weihong signed up for this training course by chance. The course was a part of “Eyes of Villages – A Charity Campaign on Filming” initiated by Beijing Shanshui Conservation Center. In this campaign, cameras were distributed to farmers and herdsmen in western China who were expected to use them to express their thoughts on local culture and environment. At that time, one of Li’s friends was making preparations for the campaign. Ms. Li’s signup was handled by him.

Ms. Li didn’t tell her families when she was notified. They called her 15 days in advance. Then Ms. Li worked hard until 10pm or 11pm. she even used a torch. Ms. Li didn’t tell families that Ms. Li was going out until she completed farm work, 3 or 4 days before the departure date. They consented.

In the winter of 2011, Li Weihong, along with other entrants, started to receive trainings on filming and editing. It was the first time for her to touch a camera. She had to learn the most basic operations at first.

Ms. Li said that she always feels interested when she is told to receive trainings. The reason for that, according to her, is that she had a father passionate about new tings.

Ms. Li’s father used to do experiments. He listened to the radio frequently for knowledge. And he practiced what he learnt into practice by experimenting. At that time, marsh gas was not popularized at the village. Father said to her: “Daughter, we can use marsh gas as energy. I learnt that in the radio.” He also said he could make washing powder. Putting wood flour into glass bottles, he managed to breed mushrooms. He experimented often. Others sowed wheat seeds just by sprinkling, but he dug furrows and sowed seeds one by one.

As to this aspect, Li Weihong resembles her father very much. Before that training, she made time to go to Kunming to take part in another training on eco-agriculture where she learnt how to plant grapes ecologically and the hazards of pesticides and fertilizers on human and environment. After that, Li began the pilot planting of ecological grapes, although she had no ideas what would happen. That year, she also made a decision to practice freshly-learnt knowledge to film the whole process.