Tajik herdsman's life through lens of a solider(1/14)

Gulaxiami makes a face. [Photo by Wang Lie/chinadaily.com.cn]

Editor's note: Wang Lie enjoys his dual identities, that of a People's Liberation Army soldier and that of a photographer.

The 37 year-old political instructor of a battalion is now doing his duty in Tashkurgan county, China's only Tajik autonomous county in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture. During his 18 years of service on the Pamir Plateau, the amateur photographer has been recording the life of the ethnic Tajik who reside in the sparsely populated mountainous areas.