At farewell to Zhang Yingfan, who was selected to go to college in September 1971.

From left to right, front row: Wang Chunlian, Cui Xianchao, Yan Chongjie, Li Baoquan; back row: Weijian Shan, Li Rongtian, Zhang Yingfan, Wang Dacheng, Liu Xiaotong.

Weijian Shan chasing a bull.

Weijian Shan with Liu Xiaotong (right).

Weijian Shan with Li Baoquan (right) in front of self-built makeshift reed-and-mud hut in Xiao Ming Sha by Lake Wuliangsu during reed-cutting season (December 1970 to February 1971).

The author, horsing around without a saddle in the Gobi.

Weijian Shan, in Urat Qianqi, shortly after arrival in the Gobi in 1969.

At Huang Yang Jie, Jing Gang Mountain, Jingxi Province, inOctober 1966. Jiang Gang was the first Red Army base Mao established in 1927. The monument commemorates the victory of the Red Army over the Nationalist troops. The inscription on the monument is by Zhu De, Commander in Chief of the Red Army: “The Memorial of Victory in the Battle of Defense at Huang Yang Jie.”

From left to right, Wang Yuanbo (with cane), unknown, Weijian Shan, and Wu Junjie.

In October 1966, at a well said to be dug by Mao Zedong at Sha Zhou Ba, Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, capital of the “Chinese Soviet Republic” from 1933 to 1934.

Left to right, front row: Wang Yuanbo, Weijian Shan, Qin Zhiqiang; back row: Wu Junjie, Huang Zhengfu, Zheng Lian, He Yuzhou.

Weijian Shan with brother and sister, c. 1965.

With mother and brother in Beijing’s Beihai Park on May 1, 1962