On June 11, 2015, the Chinese Embassy in Germany held an aerial photography exhibition called "Flying Over China". Most of them were photographed by German Lufthansa pilot Wulf Diet Graf Castel-Ludenhausen while working in China (1933-1936). These pictures truthfully record China's unique natural landscape, landform characteristics, national culture and historical monuments 80 years ago. Castel later compiled them into a book called "China Flying". The picture shows the cover of "China Flight" reprinted in 1999.
Castel was born in Berlin in 1905 and grew up in a noble family on the shores of Lake Strez, formerly Prussian. He began to be full of interest in everything in China very early on. When he was in middle school, he had read many books on scientific research, among which the adventure stories of Sven Hedin on the Pamir Plateau in China and the Tibetan Plateau 3 were particularly fascinated by him. Going to the far east became his dream since he was a teenager. In 1926, 21-year-old Castel obtained a pilot certificate. In 1930, he officially became a pilot at Lufthansa. In 1933, Castel was sent to China.
In China, Castel's mission is to participate in the technological development of China's routes and the construction of the aviation transportation network. In China, a country with a huge territory, it will open up an air transportation network for cities and regions that do not have regular transportation connections. The unit he worked in was called "Eurasian Air Postal Company". It was founded in February 1930 and was established by Lufthansa and the then Ministry of Transport of China. In May 1931, the company began to operate postal services in Shanghai-Nanjing-Beijing-Northeast China.
When Castel came to China, the second long-distance route of Eurasia Company had already been put into operation. This route flies from Shanghai via Nanjing to Luoyang , then passes through Xi'an, Lanzhou, Hami , and Urumqi, and finally arrives at Tacheng located on the Sino-Russia-Mongolia border. This is also the route for Castel to perform its first flight mission. Flying in China was very challenging at the time. Apart from the long journey and long flight time, the pilots themselves have little understanding of the terrain and landforms of the passing areas. Those limited map data only mark the location of mountains and rivers, and can only be used as reference during flight. The pilot must judge the flight route by himself and resolve all emergencies alone. The picture shows the Xixia Tomb at the foot of the Helan Mountains photographed by Castel, with a shooting height of 50 meters.
In Castel's first flight, the continuous mountains caused him to suffer a lot, and dangers emerged one after another. In the end, he had to land in a forced landing due to running out of fuel. "Since then, I have always been cautious, and I know that recklessness will accomplish nothing." This caution has kept him awake during many emergency landings in the following years and survived. The picture shows him taking the evening scene of the Alaxan Desert.
The camera in Castel's hand forms a perfect combination with the plane he is flying. A large part of his aerial photos are records of natural landscapes such as terrain and landform at that time. Most of this part of the pictures were taken at an altitude of 1000 meters to 2500 meters using a medium- telephoto lens . The pictures mostly show natural landscapes such as continuous mountains, boundless deserts, small villages, neat camel caravans, and flocks of wild horses. Since most photos do not use the horizon as a reference, the lines in the picture extend infinitely to the surroundings, and the lines of the picture are relatively abstract, and the photographer has a strong subjective impression. Aerial view completely changed people's perspective on the entire space, everything on the ground is so small, and the sky becomes within reach. The picture shows the Loess Mountain Area in Gansu about 100 kilometers north of Lanzhou.
Castel used the Leica camera in his hand to save many unique and precious images during his many flights in China. From Guangdong in the south to Inner Mongolia in the northwest, from the modern city of Shanghai to the rarely visited mountains... These aerial photos show the unique style of many parts of China back then.The picture shows Castel looking south at the Kunlun Mountains at an altitude of nearly 8,000 meters from an altitude of 6,200 meters.
The picture shows Castel's plane flying across the Kunlun Mountains.
Beijing Forbidden City Hall, the shooting height is only 50 meters.
Peking Summer Palace, shooting height is 400 meters. Summer Palace was built during the Qianlong period in 1750.
Beiping Temple of Heaven, shooting height is less than 100 meters.
Beiping Old City Wall. The huge city wall to the west of Peking is one of the most spectacular urban fortifications in the world.
Song Ziwen , Wang Jingwei and Panchen Lama have all appeared on Castel's passenger list. The picture shows Master Panchen Lama (the person wearing a black robe) flying from Nanjing to Beijing in the summer of 1934. There are also Wang Jingwei and Dai Jitao in the picture. After arriving in Beijing, Castel received the flight fee from the Panchen Lama - a whole box of banknotes. He refused and asked the master to give him a signed photo.
Airport in northern Peiping. A monk was about to take a plane.
The picture shows Ordos, the city of temples. Ordos is located on the grasslands in the northern bay of the Yellow River, which is the Lama Temple in the city center.
Castel shot from west to east in Xi'an.
Castel used the Laika 2 series camera that was not long ago, which used a roller shutter from left to right: "Because the driver's seat is located on the left side of the cabin, I can only shoot through the window on the left. This just makes the roller shutter direction of the shutter opposite to the direction of the object moving. Therefore, although the aircraft's low-altitude flight speed is as high as 200 kilometers per hour, the exposure speed of 1/200 second is enough to meet the shooting needs." The picture shows the Gansu loess terraced fields photographed by him.
The picture shows Yancheng, Henan after the floods ravaged in Henan. Most of the houses were destroyed.
From east to west, overlooking the flood of the Luo River in Henan. The black right diagonal line in the middle of the photo is the Zhengzhou-Luoyang Railway.
The area south of Tongguan, Henan Province, Loess Plateau soil erosion is severe. The village can be seen in the foreground.
A village in the area with the most severe soil erosion in Henan.
Henan cave Folk residences. The caves are generally square wooden buildings 10 to 15 meters deep, and the rooms are partially chiseled underground, making them warm in winter and cool in summer.
Zhengzhou community fire, people are juggling to cheer up. Zhengzhou is an important railway hub in Henan Province.
A village in northern Anhui after summer harvest. Threshing began, and neatly arranged stone mills ground the grain into flour under the pull of the animal.
Yangtze River -Hengzhou-Binzhou Highway and village markets north of Binzhou .
Castel once vividly recalled his thrilling landing in Chengdu. At that time, the entire landing gear of the Ju52 aircraft was trapped in the mud. Without any modern machinery and equipment assistance, it is very difficult to drag the 8-ton fuselage out of the mud. Castel made his mind to the buffalo on the local arable land. He needs about 10 buffaloes. To this end, it took Castell and his mechanic two days to convince the owners of the buffalo. "They believe without exception that this work will cause harm to the buffalo, and we have great patience for this." Castel tied the buffaloes to the fuselage in groups and asked their respective owners to give orders next to them. But everything is in vain. "These buffaloes are as conservative as their owners - they have been pulling plows for hundreds of years, so how can they ask them to pull the plane?" After hours of attempts, the buffaloes still refused to force in one direction, and the rope eventually broke and the fuselage was almost unmoved. The villagers watching burst into laughter. The picture shows a buffalo tug the plane.
Chengdu, Sichuan. The population here was about 800,000 when the filming was taken, and it was the richest city in China at that time.
Local children.
The hillside in southern Sichuan is covered with countless rice fields, and all rice fields are filled with water when shooting.
Sichuan Guangyuan.
flows through Jialingjiang in Guangyuan, Sichuan. Castel shot from south to north.
Rice fields in southern Hunan. The mountains at the junction of Guangdong and Hunan become flat here, forming large areas of rice fields. Jungle-covered hills and villages dotted like small islands.
Shanghai. The foreground is the South Island, and the back is Zhabei and Hongkou . The shooting height is 2500 meters.
Qiantang River tide.
Karst landforms in Guangxi.
A village with dense houses about 30 kilometers north of Guangzhou.
There are countless plunge boats on the Pearl River in Guangzhou. Some residents live here.
Castel.
Due to the lack of map information, Castel can only hand-draw the route diagram.
In August 1936, Castel ended his work in China and returned to Germany. At the end of his photography collection "China Flight", he had this passage: "From the day I arrived in China, the land in front of me has undergone tremendous changes. And in the future, it will change drastically, which is unimaginable. I firmly believe that everything we have done for China Airlines has not been in vain. In the future, perhaps longer, it will slowly reveal its influence on this ancient and huge country." The picture shows the Leica 2 series cameras used by Castel.
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