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On October 15, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming and his wife Madam Hu Pinghua attended the award ceremony and the banquet of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 held at the Natural History Museum. Chinese photographer Bao Yongqing won the grand title, becoming the very first Chinese photographer granted with such honour in the 55-year history of the award. More than 800 guests from all over the world attended the ceremony.
Ambassador Liu, Madam Hu and Lord Green (second from right) with the awardee, Chinese photographer Bao Yongqing (Central)
Ambassador Liu shared with the guests about the efforts that China has made to enhance the protection of wildlife and the natural environment. In particular, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has incorporated the ecological progress into the overall layout of the "Five-Pronged Overall Plan" in building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and set the building of "beautiful China" as the new objective pursued by the Chinese nation. He said, in addition to the government's attention, the awareness of ordinary people in China to protect wildlife has also increased significantly. The award indicated that the Chinese people, like people in other countries, have fully realized the importance and urgency to protect the wildlife.
Guests attending the event offered their congratulations to Ambassador Liu. Lord Green, Chair of the Natural History Museum, said that the honour of this award belongs to not only the photographer himself but also all the Chinese people who have made enormous efforts in protecting wildlife in recent years. He was impressed by the awareness and interest in China because the exhibition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 attracted 500,000 visitors in just 2 months while on display in Chengdu, compared to150,000 visitors in 8 months in London. This year, the Natural History Museum will take the exhibition to more cities in China, and looks forward to further collaboration with Chinese museums. Ambassador Liu agreed with Lord Green, saying that the awarding of a Chinese photographer will strongly push forward the cooperation between China and the UK in wildlife protection and the exchanges between museums of the two countries.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year was founded in 1965 by BBC Wildlife Magazine. The Natural History Museum became a partner in 1984 to create the competition as it is known today. The competition is now solely run and owned by the Natural History Museum. It aims at raising the awareness among the public to protect nature and care for wildlife. Dubbed the 'Oscars' of Wildlife Photography, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world's biggest and most influential natural photography competition.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 received 48,000 entries from 98 countries and consisted of 18 competition categories including Animal Portraits, Animals in Their Environment, Behavior-Birds, Behavior-Mammals, Plants and Fungi, Underwater and Black and White. Four images by Chinese photographers were among the final 100 on the shortlist. Bao Yongqing's The Moment, shot in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, captured the dramatic moment of a Tibetan fox hunting a marmot and made him the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 overall winner and Behavior- Mammals winner. Fan Shangzhen won Animals in Their Environment award.
An exhibition consisting of the shortlisted images of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 will be set to debut at the Natural History Museum on October 18, 2019 and last till May 31, 2020 before going on a worldwide tour including China.
The Moment, by Bao Yongqing, took this year's grand title.
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