Keeping watch over a beacon of history
When Reheman Amut worked in 1993, he never imagined that he would still be at his post 21 years later. The 42-year-old from Kuqa county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has spent half his life as a guardian of the Kizilgaha Beacon tower.
His work has become an all-consuming passion, and a symbol of the difficulty of safeguarding ancient monuments in Xinjiang's desolate desert regions.
The beacon, which has been standing on this stretch of the ancient trade route known as the Silk Road for 2,000 years, is the oldest and best preserved of a series of towers upon which fires were lighted to alert defenders to the approach of enemy troops and imminent attack. From its rectangular base, measuring 6 meters by 4, the tower tapers slightly to a height of 13 meters.
