NOT much escapes the lens of award-winning Chinese photographer and documentary director Liang Zi, especially if
it is in Africa where she lives in villages for months at a time to record tribal life. She recently explained what drives her passion for the big continent to Shanghai university students, as Nie Xin reports.

Celebrated freelance photographer Liang Zi has been to Africa five times to live and work for up to five months at a time. That?may not be a big deal for a man in his 40s, but it takes some courage for a woman that age, especially if she is "roughing it" by living amongst the tribes in their villages.

The short-cropped hair, youthful looking, Beijing-born photographer with a self-admitted "Africa complex" has built an enviable reputation for being prepared to go off the beaten track in pursuit of her passion for learning about the people and documenting their lifestyles.

So it was not surprising that hundreds of college students sat spellbound in Shanghai last month as Liang recounted for over two hours at the invitation of Tongji University how she achieved her driving ambition to go to Africa and the freedom and rewards she has gained from being a photographer.

"My voice today is not good, because of too much alcohol last night," she started her address."It's my first time speaking at such a top university so I'm?nervous and my hands are sweaty," she laughed, continuing to break the ice at the?opening. Her humble start and sense of humor won?immediate applause.

Yang was born into a military family in Beijing and joined the Chinese army at age 16, a career path that took her to Qinghai Province, Tibet Autonomous Region and many other?postings as a military photographer.

"I started to realize as my career developed that I wanted to go here and there without restrictions,"?Liang said. "Whether I was at home, in the army or working for?companies, there was so much discipline that I reacted by always wanting more freedom."

Her urge to be liberated, to do her own thing, was the driving force behind Liang quitting work in 2000 -- her first book, "An Open Diary," was published in 1998 -- after having established herself in a post-army career as a professional photographer for Chinese newspapers and magazines.

"That's when I got 100 percent freedom and now it's my ideal lifestyle," Liang said.

She has been freelance for almost 10 years and her wanderlust and commissions have?taken her to Africa, India, Pakistan and the Middle East to take still pictures and shoot documentary films.Liang's ambition to visit Africa had been nurtured through books and?movies since childhood.

"I read books about Africa by a Chinese writer, San Mao, when I was a child," she said.

"Later, I watched movies and TV shows and was impressed that Africa was rustic and natural. I wanted to see the Sahara Desert and how people lived.

"Every photographer wants to go to such places where there's natural life, organic biology and rich culture," Liang said.

But it was not easy in the late 1990s, when there were no travel agencies in China, to visit Africa.

Concerned with problems such as HIV/AIDS and violence, Liang spent a year trying to find a benefactor who could support her visit to Africa.

"I thought that if I could be a family friend to a tribal chief,?I could get protection," Liang recalled. "Then I found a Taiwanese friend who lived in South Africa and he knew a tribal chief in Lesotho."

Liang's concerned friends tried to dissuade her from the trip. "But I?am not a person who thinks twice before acting and didn't want to?dwell on it too much, even though I couldn't speak good English at the time," she said.

Liang set out in 2000 for a small village in Lesotho, a landlocked country surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. "I was going there not just as a traveler but also as a photographer. I love photography too much not to do it wherever I go," Liang said.

Her host village was very poor, with no electricity and only the river as a source of water.

As well as her cameras, Liang took a fear of the unknown with her to the village. She arrived for the first time late at night in the car of a tribal chief and a group of villagers were waiting to welcome her. "I was so scared and nervous at the time. But later on I found they were all friendly," she said.

Liang learned a lot of the village's customs during her four and a half months' stay, such as how they punish thieves and carry out their wedding traditions.

"They force the thieves to work for the victim's family," she said. "And they kill?a bull on the wedding day to show the power of the man."

Liang recorded her experiences on camera. "All of these are still vivid experiences for me and they opened my mind to the fact that the world?is so big," she said.

But in Liang's mind it was not the real Africa. The place was cold and?the mountains reminded her of Tibet. "I thought Africa should be hot and the scenery beautiful, the people warm-hearted and naked?with colors painted on their faces," she said.

She persisted, though, in finding "her" Africa and returned the following year for five months. This time her destination was the Republic of Sierra Leone in the west and she?finally found an extremely hot and dry Africa, as well as locals mining for diamonds.

"All the people were bare-chested because of the heat and it seemed quite natural," she said.

She was a victim of theft because the heat necessitated leaving her windows open and learned the hard way about religious practices. "But all of these experiences made the trip interesting and got me involved in the locals' life," she said.

The two trips to Africa were just the beginning of Liang's odyssey. Since 2000, she has visited five times, mostly to the sub-Saharan region, including Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Eritrea in the east and Cameroon in the middle.

"The more I know, the more I find I don't know and need to know," Liang? said. "I've fallen in love with Africa and want to know more."

Liang occasionally hires an interpreter -- "there are so many local languages" -- but most of the time communicates with?locals in English and through sign language.

She has befriended local people and lived with them. She has written about her experiences and feelings in diaries. She has photographed the natural environment and people's daily life for pictorial essays?and documentaries.

She stayed in Eritrea for three and a half months and initially it was difficult to make a breakthrough with the locals.

At the start, the women ran away from her as soon as she appeared with a camera.

"All the residents are Muslim and the women refused to be photographed. It stayed like that for a few weeks and it made me very?depressed," Liang said.

But she was determined to get her pictures and shared with the villagers the medicine she'd brought from China, massaged the sick, and cooked up magnificent mutton meals. Gradually she won their trust and was allowed to take?pictures of the women wearing their cloth masks.

"All the Western photographers had been unable to take their photos," she said triumphantly.

Liang has many interesting stories and her eyes sparkle as she?talks about the joy she gets from working freely in an open, natural environment.

"I find power and strength during these trips," she said. "I shake the?habits of city life when I make the connection to nature -- the rain,?the sun and the wind.

"When I see the locals living in poverty but with a happy smile on?their face and singing when they work, I am inspired by the natural power of?life. They are all so beautiful because of their energy," Liang added.

So far Liang has had four books published about her trips and Chinese?TV has screened documentaries about them. Out of Africa, her work -- including a?two-year "doco" project on which she was a director called "Last House Standing," about a Shanghai man and his old house -- has won awards.

Liang is now planning a trip to Congo in June and her next?book will be published in August.

The technology of photography and the filming process is of secondary?importance to her.

"The contents are vital. You should know what you want to shoot. The?direction should be clear. But you can't expect too much, the same as in?life," she said.

"My freedom is the most important thing to me. I can give up every other?thing to have it. I combine my hobby, career and life. My current lifestyle is very meaningful," Liang concluded to great applause from the admiring student audience.