Pic story: guard at Yecheng Martyrs Cemetery, NW China

Eniwar Emer sweeps the ground in the Yecheng Martyrs Cemetery in Yecheng, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 16, 2023.

Every April, flowers bloom in the Yecheng Martyrs Cemetery in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, where 233 martyrs were buried.

"I will take good care of the cemetery," said 53-year-old Eniwar Emer in front of his father's tombstone.

Eniwar is a second-generation keeper for the Yecheng Martyrs Cemetery, following the footsteps of his father Emer Yit, who had maintained the graves there from 1970 until he died in August 2017.

Yit retired from the army in 1968, when he landed a brief stint as village Party secretary in his hometown before later becoming headmaster of a local middle school. But he never felt quite fit for those jobs.

It was in 1970 that he learned of a job opening for a guard at the Yecheng Martyrs Cemetery, where his fellow soldiers had been buried. He applied for the position, strongly believing that the job would be the best way for him to remember them.

That year, Yit moved into the cemetery's grounds with his family and stayed there until retiring in 2002. His son Eniwar has since been filling his shoes.

During his time at the cemetery, Yit spent countless hours trying to give the martyrs a peaceful and pleasant space to rest.

"Watching over the cemetery, which includes watering the grounds, tree-planting, cleaning and gardening, has kept my father busy all those years," Eniwar recalled.

Every day before dawn, Eniwar came to the cemetery to sweep the ground, weed and wipe the tombstones. He told stories about the martyrs to the visitors, and helped those who came to pay homage find the gravestones of their relatives.

"I am familiar with every tombstone here. The deceased heroes always live in my heart! I will ask my son to take care of my father's fellow soldiers the day when I couldn't go on anymore," said Eniwar. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)