A poisonous red coral Zhao photographed at Sipadan, Malaysia. Provided to China Daily

As a photographer, Rita Zhao is always looking for the big picture. But one of the best things about taking her cameras underwater, she says, is re-discovering how small we humans are in the scheme of things. "Significant, but small," she says, grinning.

Most Chinese TV viewers know Zhao as a former CCTV-9 anchor, but lately she's gotten plenty of notice from the other side of the camera. Zhao's latest visual voyage has encompassed the natural wonders of Malaysia, which comes to life in a show that ends July 5 at Beijing's ASEAN-China Centre, the first exhibition in a planned multimedia series titled My ASEAN and China.

Zhao, born in China but raised and educated in the US, has been exploring the underwater world since her college days in California, where she was trained by former Navy divers. The young Chinese-American wasn't quite as enchanted as she expected to be.

"The water around the San Francisco area was SO cold," she says, shaking her head. "And there just isn't much down there to see."

But Zhao had the good fortune to make a trip to Egypt before she gave up on underwater adventure, and the Red Sea delivered everything she'd ever wanted in a dive. Drama, color, natural beauty - all in warm water.

Her eye for the natural world has been showcased by several embassies that have invited her to visit their countries for photography documentaries. But her perspectives "from sky, land and underwater" at the ASEAN show give the public a chance to see coral gardens, a barracuda tornado, and Zhao practicing tai chi and yoga in the sea near Malaysia in a multi-media melding of photographs, paintings, calligraphy, videos and lectures.

Other recent activities have been more down-to-earth. In addition to her own cultural work and consulting projects, she is the honorary principal of the Beijing Experimental School for the Deaf, where her friend Ante Simonic, Croatia's ambassador to China, recently came to visit with the embassy's soccer team - who got a game up with the students.

"They will always remember that," she says, smiling. "It's the small things that really count."

michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn