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.

Gulaxiami means beautiful flower in the Tajik language. The four-year old normally stays with her mother and younger sisters in the house or plays outside on the grassland surrounded by snowy mountains.