One Bicycle, Three Thousand Years

On his 80th birthday, Long Xuming will travel by bicycle to Wangcong Temple in a journey of gratitude spanning more than three thousand years.

On His 80th Birthday, Long Xuming Chooses Gratitude Over Celebration

CHENGDU, China — Most people celebrate their 80th birthday surrounded by family, friends and speeches.

Long Xuming has chosen something different.

On the morning of August 24, 2026, he will leave the China Calligraphy Panda Script Creative Research Base on a bicycle and ride toward Wangcong Temple, home to the tombs of the legendary Ancient Shu rulers Du Yu and Bieling. There, instead of marking a personal milestone, he will pay tribute to the cultural ancestors who helped shape one of China’s oldest civilizations.

The journey is the centerpiece of the CPL August 24 Gratitude Journey, a public cultural initiative organized around a simple idea: gratitude is best expressed through action rather than ceremony.

In an era dominated by speed, technology and constant change, the event asks a quieter question: How should a society remember those who laid the foundations of its culture?

For Long, the answer begins with a bicycle.

It has been his preferred companion for most of his life, carrying him through decades of cultural work across southwest China. Returning to it at the age of eighty is less a symbolic gesture than a continuation of a lifelong habit.

Long’s career has rarely followed conventional paths. For more than forty years, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of Photography News, a publication distributed free of charge without government funding or commercial sponsorship, an achievement later recognized by a world-record organization. Over the years, he has also organized a series of public cultural projects combining photography, education and community service.

Among them was the 1987 Sichuan Women’s Bicycle Photography Expedition, recognized as the world’s earliest expedition of its kind, and a large-scale public photography initiative in 2012, during which more than 1,700 photographers created and presented free framed portraits to over 12,800 farmers across the Chengdu Plain.

His work has also extended into calligraphy, painting, literature and seal carving, reflecting a lifelong interest in connecting traditional culture with contemporary society. Projects such as Panda Script and Real-Name Landscapes have become part of that continuing exploration.

The destination of this year’s journey is equally significant.

For generations of people in Sichuan, Du Yu and Bieling have represented the origins of Ancient Shu civilization. They are remembered as rulers who encouraged agriculture, managed waterways and helped establish the cultural foundations of what later became known as the Land of Abundance. Whether viewed through history, archaeology or legend, their legacy continues to occupy a unique place in the cultural identity of the region.

Organizers say the event is not intended to commemorate one individual, but to encourage public reflection on cultural inheritance. Community youth representatives and members of the public have been invited to gather at Wangcong Temple on the afternoon of August 24, arriving either by bicycle or by car. Participation is free and entirely voluntary.

During the ceremony, several cultural works created through CPL, including Real-Name Landscapes, will be formally presented to the Wangcong Temple Museum as a permanent donation, linking contemporary artistic practice with one of China’s oldest cultural sites.

For Long, however, the day is unlikely to be remembered for speeches or formalities.

It will be remembered for a quiet ride.

A bicycle moving steadily across the Chengdu Plain.

A journey from the present toward a civilization more than three thousand years old.

In many ways, it reflects the values that have defined his life’s work: persistence over spectacle, service over recognition, and culture understood not as something preserved behind glass, but as something carried forward through everyday actions.

On August 24, that belief will take the form of a bicycle, a road and a simple act of remembrance.

Sometimes, the most enduring journeys are not those that travel the farthest.

They are the ones that bring us back to where our stories began.