Living amid the mountains

Updated: 2015-03-06 11:41

By Cui Jia in Urumqi(China Daily USA)

Two Tajik women prepare nang on their home-made stove in the Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, south of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photos by Wang Lie / China Daily

Members of the Tajik ethnic group in the far west hold on to their traditional way of life

Wang Lie, 37, is a political instructor of the battalion in charge of the Wakhan Corridor-based companies of the People's Liberation Army in the Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, south of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

During his 18 years of service on the Pamir Plateau, Wang took on photography as a hobby and recorded the life of Tajik people who live in the isolated mountainous areas.

In February 2007, he met Arimaner, a Tajik herdsman living in the Khunjerab area, which borders Pakistan and at an average altitude of 4,800 meters. Arimaner was about 16 at the time. The soldier and herdsman became friends.

Wang visited Arimaner's house again in November. Arimaner is now a father of two young daughters. Wang recorded the daily life of the family and their fellow neighbors and friends in the westernmost corner of China.

The Tajiks are actually Caucasian. Arimaner has a Roman nose and deep eye sockets. The Tajik men also called themselves "sons of the sun".

Most of the time, Arimaner and the male family members go deep into the mountains to herd their sheep and yak, leaving their wives and children behind. Tajiks treat their livestock like family members. Kicking or beating the animals is prohibited.