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Dawan Residence, a Hakka-style residential compound first built in 1763 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, enjoys a history of over 250 years. It covers an area of 25,000 square meters.

Dawan Residence also excited Ronny Verdoodt, a photography enthusiast from Belgium. “Like this [tour] today, it steps back into history. And to see how they lived like 250 years ago. It was very nice to see that,” he said. It was the first time for him to participate in a photo walking tour. At the compound, Johann van der Walt from South Africa used a dual-camera setup to capture a 3D action shot of the kylin dance. “The traditional dance was really very beautiful. We really enjoyed that.”

In addition to the ancient village, expat photographers spoke highly of the modern facilities.

One of the highlights of the trip for Jeremy David Smith from Canada was the Pingshan Library. “The library is an amazing building in itself. The architecture and building of the structures are unbelievable. If you see it from afar, it looks like a book with pages slightly opened. You can see that a lot of time, efforts and ingenuity went in to create that,” he said.

Arthur Edward Rash Jr. from the U.S. found the trip extremely enjoyable. “From a photographic point of view, you have to get away from the MTR stations of Shenzhen, because it has been really commercialized. But when you come to a place like this [Dawan Residence], you see the history and culture, and you see how they try to preserve the buildings like here in Pingshan. This is really cool,” Rash told Shenzhen Daily.

Rash thinks the big plus of being in Shenzhen is that there are many ancient places and villages in Shenzhen that they can go to take photographs and see the way those places used to be. “Even though a lot of people don’t realize it, there are many great places to go and see in Shenzhen.”

“This was a huge surprise and an eye opener to us. Pingshan has succeeded in being a true global district while still embracing their heritage with pride. ‘Live Pingshan, Live Global!’” said van der Walt.