In 1994, he learned that a large number of people were taking huge risks to go west to dig gold. Lu was immediately drawn to the story. "Going west means danger, not to mention they would be digging gold," Lu said.
That summer, he jumped into a truck and joined a gold-digging team headed west, having no idea what their actual destination was. After traveling for more than eight days, Lu and his companions stopped at a gold mine in northwestern Tibet.
Lu was shocked at the damage that the gold mines had brought to the plateau. Gold mines ran along the grasslands like scars on the landscape. He closely followed workers for months and took photos that captured their challenging lives and how they blended with the grassland landscape and local herdsmen.
The release of the photos met with a strong response from the public. People criticized the local government for allowing the mining industry to destroy the environment, and local officials were forced to promise they would close the mines within years.
Lu was relieved when he read in the newspaper that the Tibetan authority had banned gold mining in January 2006. "It gives me hope, because I see the changes that I can bring to the place and the people I took photos of," he said.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/753685.shtml
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