Located in the North Atlantic Ocean and 5,000 kilometers from China, Iceland is a country that most Chinese people are unacquainted with.

Their idea of the northern European island nation comes from its name, which suggests a barren land of ice and snow.

But that is a wrong impression. It was what the ancient Vikings wanted others to believe. As a legend goes, when the Vikings first reached the island more than 1,000 years ago, they were stunned by its gorgeous beauty. They deliberately named it "Iceland" to scare away future visitors, and called the nearby ice-capped island "Greenland."

Few Chinese have heard of the legend, and fewer still have ever seen the beautiful scenery that once lured the ancient Vikings.

In this sense, Li Renchen, former deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, is rather lucky.

In the summer of 2001, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and Iceland, Li headed a press delegation to the island country at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland.

Nearly three years later, Li still gets quite excited when he recalls the days he spent in Iceland.

"It is such a beautiful country. I call it 'faraway pulchritude'," he exclaimed.

Luckily for us, who might not have a chance to visit Iceland, Li has a habit of recording what he sees with his camera.

He shot more than 140 rolls of film during his seven-day visit to Iceland. The result: nearly 5,000 photos.

Some photos were taken in the capital city of Reykjavik, while others were taken in the countryside. Based on subject he divided the photos into several major categories.

And now Li is going to share with the public the photos he treasures so dearly.

He has carefully selected 180 photos from the collection and compiled them in an album that will come out in early June.

The album, titled "Picturesque Iceland," is published by the China Photography Publishing House.

His publication of the book, according to Li, has won strong support from the Icelandic Embassy in China and Chen Haosu, chairman of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

"It is a fruit of the cultural exchanges between China and Iceland," he said.

Li says he has been to dozens of countries, and this is the first time that he has published a book on a country.

In addition to the book, an exhibition of these photos will be held in Beijing at the hall of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries beginning this Thursday, the National Day of Iceland.

Things in common

"At first glance, China and Iceland seem so different in so many aspects," Li said.

China is a huge populous continental nation in East Asia, while Iceland is a sparsely populated island country in Northern Europe.

Plateaus as high as 400 to 800 metres constitutes three-fourths of the country, which stretches north of the Arctic Circle, with countless lava valleys and rivers, offering gorgeous scenery.

Europe's second largest island country, it covers an area of 103,000 square kilometres, the same size as some of China's smaller provinces, such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

And it has a population of only 290,000.

However, Li soon found that the peoples of the two countries share a great many things in common.

"I found on their faces familiar smiles," he said, adding that he could sense the local people's hospitality and goodwill towards Chinese visitors.

During the seven-day visit, he had wide contacts with people from all walks of life, from high officials such as Prime Minister David Oddsson to the common people.

His interview with the Prime Minister, he recalled, was originally scheduled to last 30 minutes.

"During the interview I noticed there was a piano in the room. And I asked the Prime Minister whether he is a music-lover," Li recalled.

The Prime Minister smiled and began talking about his love for music. The interview turned into a friendly conversation between old friends, and lasted 45 minutes.

Another time he ran into a group of young people playing volleyball on the street. A former member of the volleyball team of his university, Li happily joined them in the game.

During the seven days, Li visited many places in the beautiful island country and marveled at the outstandingly beautiful scenery he saw. "Every time I saw something beautiful, I would ask the driver to stop, and at first he complained to me that I wanted to stop too frequently," Li said.

But the driver did not complain any more two days later, because he understood that Li was really in love with his country.

They went as far as Grimsey Island, the northernmost Icelandic settlement, and Li and his colleagues became the first Chinese to set foot on the Arctic island.

Li says he is happy to see that the mutual understanding and friendship between China and Iceland has been growing in recent years.

"There are more and more official visits as well as people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, and the co-operation in trade and technology has been expanding," he says.

The good news is that this April China and Iceland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on visas and related issues for Chinese tour groups to travel to Iceland. Iceland is expected to become a popular tourism destination for Chinese people.

(China Daily June 16, 2004)