Avico photographers established a relationship with the Chinese Photographers Association in 2001 and we have been invited to China on four occasions since then. In 2002 we visited Henan province and photographed the Shaolin Monastery and the Longmen Grottos (both World Heritage sites). We also visited Kaifeng, one of the ancient capitals of China.

In 2005 we were honoured to be invited to join a group of 50 foreign photographers in a major expedition to record Tibetan life after 50 years of Chinese rule. There was a welcoming ceremony beneath the magnificent Potala Palace (home of the Dalai Lama) and we subsequently visited monasteries at Drepung, Sera, Linngor, Nenying Chode and the magnificent Yumbulagang Palace. We also photographed pilgrims in the Barkhor Street surrounding the ancient Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. We were very impressed by the devotion and friendliness of the Tibetan people and we subsequently produced two audio visuals to commemorate the trip (see AV link on our home page). Our photographs subsequently formed part of a travelling exhibition.

In 2007 we were invited to submit images for a major exhibition at the University of Shandong in Jinan. During the trip we visited the ancient city of Zhoucun and also photographed the annual Confucius Festival. At the end of the visit we were invited to spend a weekend in Zhuozhuang, (The Venice of China near Shanghai).

In 2009 we visited Chengde in the mountains north east of Beijing. Chengde is a World Heritage site and was chosen as the summer resort of Chinese Emperors in the 18th & 19th centuries. The palace and gardens are surrounded by a wall 10km long. Outside the wall are eight Buddhist temples in Tibetan style. One of the temples is based on the Potala and another, Punning, contains the World�s largest wooden statue of Buddha, 22m high.

In 2010 we supplied images for exhibitions in Qinghai, Chengde, Beijing and Nanjing.