In the summer of 2015, Yang visited the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall in Hebei province. It was the first time he took photos of the Great Wall — with the effort garnering him a top accolade.

To capture the photo of the Jinshanling section in the clouds, Yang made two dozen visits before he finally found an image that satisfied him.

In May 2016, while photographing at Jinshanling, Yang noticed how the pattern of the moving clouds resembled smoke, as if from a beacon fire during some long-forgotten war.

“The scene transported me to an ancient battlefield, and I immediately started running to find the best angle of the clouds and the beacon tower to capture that moment,” he recalls.

“The Great Wall is about nature, as well as the architecture. There is a spirit of the Great Wall and my love for that is presented in my photos,” Yang says. After learning more about the Great Wall and communicating with specialists who devoted themselves to studying and protecting the ancient edifice, he says he now has a better understanding of it. “The Great Wall has given me spiritual sustenance, knowledge and willpower.”