The father-son duo first started taking the images in 1986- the year Li was born. From that moment on, a tradition was born.
1986
The incredible pictures capture Li's growth from an infant to a man with a son of his own. Of course, they also show how Jun aged, gracefully we must say, over the course of three decades. The last photo is super sweet. In it, you'll find there's a new addition- Li's own son.
1987
In every single photo, you'll see that Jun and Li are both shirtless. Jun told CNN that's because Li's birthday falls in the hot summer months in China, and the family would take off several layers of clothing in order to remain cool.
1988
According to Jun, most of the photographs were taken in the same spot, against a wall outside their home in Guizhou province, southwest China.
1989
As a child, Li said he never really thought too much about the sentimental value the photos might one day have. At the time, taking these now viral images was just something he and his father had always done.
1990
"It has become a habit a long time ago that we took the same picture every year when I visited my parents, as naturally as going home for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner every year."
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
According to Li, 2014 was the only year that he and his father did not manage to complete the family tradition. That's because Li, a film director, was in the United States for the birth of his son.
2014
"I spent more than half a year in 2014 in the U.S. My child was born, so I couldn't take him to go back home and visit my family. My father was busy at the time, so he couldn't come to Beijing to visit me," he said in an interview with People's Daily Online.
