I came to work at the Paiyike Border Police Station on Dec 12, 2023. That day, after I put my luggage in my dorm, I went outside to the station's yard, where the head of the police station Peng Mingyou introduced me to the history of the police station.

I was standing at attention, but the wind was so strong that my body couldn't stop swinging. I had to focus on keeping my position upright and only heard part of what Peng was saying as the wind beat my face.

I joined my first border patrol two days later. I remember trekking and falling in knee-deep snow before climbing up a steep slope. The process was very exhausting. At that time I thought of my grandfather, and how he had persevered despite the tough work when he was young.

My grandfather is a veteran who was enlisted in 1970. He joined the construction of the "China-Pakistan Friendship Highway", also known as the Karakoram Highway, in 1974, and worked in Pakistan until 1979.

Those days of working at high altitudes were hard, but he is proud that he contributed to the highway's completion.

My grandfather has talked to me about his work on the highway many, many times. But I only began to relate to him after I came to work in the Pamirs five decades later.

His story has become an inspiration for me, encouraging me to try my best and excel in my work.