A uygur scholar tells about passion for Chinese language

At 64, Azat is the president of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles in the XinjiangUygur autonomous region. Culture and ArtWeekly recently published an essay inwhich he recalled his lifelong friendship with Chinese language and literature. The following are excerpts.

Born to a teacher's family in Urumqi in 1950, I was influenced by my parents and became a voracious reader in my childhood. I began to learn Chinese since grade 3, and tried to read different kinds of literature in Chinese when I entered middle school.

Despite my learning, there were many new words in the literary works (I read). I was attracted to the plots in such stories and managed to understand the meaning through a story's context.