When you think of China, what color comes to mind? For me (and most people), I think of Red. This symbolizes luck, happiness, prosperity, and vitality. And Communism. Red is everywhere: the national flag, during festivals like Chinese New Year in the form of lanterns and decorations, and at traditional events such as weddings where brides often wear red dresses. And communism. After a while, I started to see red everywhere. But there was a day or so in Xiapu that some other colors peeked through.

We finished up at Yellow Mountain, hopped on a train and sped our way to Xiapu. Our first photo shoot was in Nanping, a traditional looking village that is over 1000 years old. It is also called “Chin’s Film Village” since a lot of famous movies were shot here, such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Ju Dou.” Our shoot involves three models, dressed in traditional wares, in and around Nanping Ancient Village. They arrived, ready to go. There were no introductions, no names given, not that I would be able to pronounce them anyway. One was dressed in green, one in pink and the last in red.

So, I named them myself. Since I am very bad remembering names, I chose Green, Pink, and Red. Pink was very cute, Green was extremely beautiful, and Red was neither. We positioned them in front of a small lake with the village entry in the background. Green was under a tree, Pink is center-lake, and Red somewhere else. I photographed mostly Green and Pink. It is my choice, isn’t it?

Pink is wearing the traditional Ruqun style, a sporty 2-piece outfit.

Green is wearing the traditional free-flowing Hanfu style dress.

After exhausting this spot, we directed all three models to walk single file beside a traditional wall, lake in front, building is in the back. This way we could photograph all three of them without any hint of discrimination.

Your eye focuses on red first, at least it’s not a closeup.

We moved inside the village to a smaller lake surrounded by old buildings.

While walking to the village center, this man was making some sort of pancake. This was not a setup.

Though this shot is completely staged, it works well and looks real. And, it was a nice way to finish the evening shoot.

The next day we visited Hongkun Village, another photo shoot with the aid of models. Unfortunately (and fortunately), our guide selected two of the same models that we hired for Nanping. Please be Green and Pink, please be Green and Pink, p-l-e-a-s-e!! Well, it turns out that Pink was not invited. So, we now have Green who becomes Red and Red who becomes Blue.  It looks like it is going to be a red day for me.

Inside a temple, Red posed in front of a prayer wall.

Perhaps my favorite portrait of the day. The Mandarin characters say, “The blessed one is also mortal”.

Red and Blue doing some painting – not really.

We were able to obtain access to the roof of a local store where we could photograph Hongkun Village from a different perspective.

Red, Green, Blue, and Pink were willing and able models. In the end, red (formally green) burned with tradition and elegance, pink added a playful twist, and blue (formally red) provided a comic relief — all together, a vibrant celebration of traditional Chinese style.