Pashto express

Che Hongcai thought he'd crank out a dictionary for Chinese students of one of the Afghan languages in about two years, but it turned into the job of a lifetime. Sun Li and Hu Meidong catch up with the linguist 35 years later.

Though his face gradually turns glistening red and his voice cracks with emotion, it seems Che Hongcai won't stop talking unless someone reminds him to take a drink of water. Such eloquence amuses Che's wife, Xue Ping, who describes her husband as a "taciturn" man and jokes it was like Che was letting out what he kept inside for years all in the one conversation.

The subject that's making Che so talkative and passionate is the Pashto-Chinese dictionary, a laborious quest that has taken up about half of Che's life, even though the publisher didn't remember commissioning it. Pashto is one of the official languages of Afghanistan.