Qira

Passing through Qira County on our way, we were asked to stay by Wang Yijun, Director of the Office of the County Party Committee. He said he was an amateur archaeologist and an old acquaintance of Li Yuchun’s. In 1978 the two men had gone together to the desert in northern Qira County to survey a buried ancient city.

Memet Simay's household was one of 446 in Qira township forced to relocate in the 1980s, although the family has since returned to the area.