Rural children have a snapshot to treasure

Throughout his university years, he traveled to most rural areas of China, voluntarily taking photos for children and the elderly with an instant camera, which he later upgraded to a digital camera and portable photo printer.

Li says that most of his photos capture the children smiling or laughing, to both challenge the stereotype that rural children are living a hard life and present the children in an unaltered, natural way.

After graduation, he took a gap year and hitchhiked from Sichuan province through Southeast Asia, visiting Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, among others, and gave children living in poverty their photos as gifts.

Apart from saving money by hitchhiking, couch surfing and participating in volunteer programs, he also supported his travels by posting a journal documenting his trip online, which was then published as two books.

Readers of the books have been impressed by his actions.

Wang Yuanyuan, a reader of Li's latest book, says: "It is really important to choose something you love and to persevere. Dameng has inspired me to be more brave, to work harder and to stick to the path I have chosen."

Before he settled back in his home province of Yunnan in 2020, he had given out approximately 15,000 photos to the children and elderly people in rural areas.