CPL August 24 Gratitude Journey: Cycling to Pay Homage with an 80-Year-Old World Record Creator

On his 80th birthday, CPL Chairman Long Xuming will once again ride his bicycle to Wangcong Temple to pay homage to the two ancient Shu emperors

Special Invitation

More than three thousand years ago, Emperor Du Yu and Emperor Bieling, two wise rulers of ancient Shu, were laid to rest in what is now Pidu District of Chengdu. To the people of Sichuan, they are not only historical figures, but also revered ancestors.

They taught the people to farm, governed the waters, and laid the foundation for the Land of Abundance. What they left to later generations was not only land and home, but also wisdom, resilience, and the power to create.

On August 24, 2026, as Mr. Long Xuming, Chairman of the CPL City Photography League, Editor-in-Chief of Photography News, and a distinguished practitioner of five Eastern arts, celebrates his 80th birthday, a special gratitude journey will take place in Chengdu.

On this day, Mr. Long will use the humble means of transportation that has accompanied him throughout his life—a bicycle—to travel from the China Calligraphy “Panda Script” Creative Research Base to Wangcong Temple in Pidu District.

There, before the tombs of Emperor Du Yu and Emperor Bieling, he will pay homage and thank the ancestors for the strength they have given to later generations.

This is not an ordinary ride.

It is a ride in tribute to ancient Shu civilization;

It is an action that looks back to the cultural roots of the Land of Abundance;

It is also an 80-year-old cultural creator’s simple and solemn expression of gratitude to the land, to the ancestors, and to the times.

For forty years, Photography News, under the leadership of Mr. Long as Editor-in-Chief, has been distributed to the public free of charge, without government funding, without social cooperation, and without corporate sponsorship.

It has been recognized with the world record for the longest-running photography newspaper distributed free of charge.

In 1987, Mr. Long planned and organized the Sichuan Women’s Bicycle Photography Expedition. The team crossed the Qinling Mountains, traveled east across the Yellow River, and conducted research in revolutionary base areas.

At the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, the team received a grand welcome and was later recognized with the world record for the earliest women’s bicycle photography expedition.

In 2012, he organized more than 1,700 photographers over a period of six months to take portraits for more than 12,800 farmers across the Chengdu Plain. The photographs were printed, framed, and presented on site.

The project became a cultural public-benefit action of a scale rarely surpassed by similar initiatives anywhere in the world.

Over the years, Mr. Long has continued to advance simultaneously in calligraphy, seal carving, painting, photography, and literature—the “five arts.”

Through decades of persistence, he completed cultural creations such as “Real-Name Landscapes” and “Panda Script,” and through CPL, these achievements have continued to reach more distant places and wider audiences.

Now, on his 80th birthday, he has chosen once again to get on a bicycle and return to the tombs of the two ancient Shu emperors to offer thanks to the ancestors.

The CPL August 24 Gratitude Journey sincerely invites youth representatives from advanced communities across the Chengdu Plain, as well as all members of society who share a spirit of gratitude, to join the journey.

Each invited organization may select 12 representatives to participate. Participants should be between 18 and 30 years old, with no gender restrictions.

Participants may travel by bicycle or by car. On the day of the event, they will set out independently from their own locations and gather before the tombs of the two emperors at Wangcong Temple at 3:00 p.m. to take part in the homage ceremony.

No fee will be charged for this event.

All participation is voluntary, independently decided, and self-managed.

Invited organizations and individuals may confirm their participation by telephone or WeChat, without any complicated procedures.

During the homage ceremony, CPL Chairman’s Special Envoys who previously participated in the “Ten-Thousand-Mile Journey Across China” will present the 33-jin “3+2” cultural collection, including Real-Name Landscapes, before the tombs of the ancient Shu emperors.

The collection will be permanently preserved in the Wangcong Temple Museum.

Gratitude is not a slogan. It is a conscious expression of humanity.

We sincerely invite you to set out with us on August 24, 2026—to ride together, to arrive together, and to stand together before the tombs of the two ancient Shu emperors.

Together, we will offer a solemn and simple expression of thanks to the ancestors who gave later generations wisdom, resilience, and the power to create.

Chengdu City Photography Association June 6, 2026

Address: 4th Floor, No. 1111 Yinglong North 2nd Road, Shuangliu District, Chengdu, China · China Calligraphy “Panda Script” Creative Research Base

Tel: 18180941853　18980732628　+86 (028) 86780121

Chairman’s WeChat: Longxuming70