A tourist from inland province revisited the Khunjerab Pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during this seven-day National Day holiday, not only for a tour at the major trade port between China and Pakistan, but also for tracing back a friendship with a young Uyghur boy.
Wang Mingzhou, the tourist from north China's Shanxi Province, paid a tour at the Khunjerab Pass four years ago, when he made friend in a restaurant with the boy named Umaier Eli, who was just five years old then.
"I was ordering food but couldn't read the Uygur menu, but the owner was too busy to help me. So, I asked the boy for help. He came over singing and dancing. We were all happy," Wang recalled.
The enthusiastic boy impressed Wang deeply, and he decided to visited him again during this visit.
Before this visit, Wang made great efforts to find the little boy, as Wang doesn't have any contact information about the boy. At a naan shop, he met the now nine-year-old Umaier Eli.
Wang bought a football from his hometown as a gift for Eli, and Eli danced for Wang to express his appreciation.
"I like football, and I will cherish it forever," said Eli.
At parting, Eli gifted Wang a package of naan, a type of leavened flatbread and a staple of people in Xinjiang. Wang expressed his hope to invite Eli to visit his hometown in Shanxi and the national capital, Beijing. This pure friendship, crossing mountains, still shines at the border pass.
Khunjerab Pass witnesses friendship between Han and Uyghur ethnic groups
