In February, Yang was invited to participate, together with celebrity guests, in the second episode of variety show The Great Wall, which introduces knowledge about the monument in an entertaining way. As part of the show, Yang taught the guests how to take a good photo of the ancient structure.

Actor Yang Di, said during the episode that, when he saw Yang Dong's photos, all he could say was "wow" and that he didn't know the Great Wall could look like that.

Yang Dong's love affair with the camera began when he received one as a gift from his parents. In 2011, although he majored in accounting when he enrolled in Yangtze University in Jingzhou, Hubei province, he never stopped engaging in his passion for travel and photography.

While in college, he would spend almost every weekend and vacation traveling to the many scenic spots around Jingzhou and across the country.

"I'm an introvert, but since I've had a camera, it has helped me to communicate with the world," he says.

After graduation in 2014, Yang Dong and a friend spent six weeks backpacking through the Tibet autonomous region, before he moved to Beijing and started a photography course at the Beijing Film Academy.

His tutor Xiao Dianchang said in a documentary about Yang Dong that he was a diligent student with a strong ability to comprehend. "The aspect of a successful photographer was to find a specialty, and I thought he was good at landscape photography," Xiao said. After a month's study, Xiao told Yang Dong that there was no need for him to continue the course and that he should go out to practice his photography.

Xiao encouraged Yang Dong to continue pursuing landscape photography. The bigger picture for Yang Dong soon came into focus－the Great Wall.