Home thoughts spur student's return

The eight years she spent in the Eastern coastal cities of Xiamen and Shenzhen are among Adila Alet's most precious memories, but she never forgot her hometown in the country's far west.

Adila, a member of the Uygur ethnic group, was born in Atushen, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. At age 16, she was sent to a high school in Xiamen, Fujian province, thanks to the Neigao program, a central government initiative to provide students from Xinjiang's ethnic groups with education outside the region.

"Before that, the only big cities I'd heard of were Beijing and Shanghai. I learned from TV that the cities have endless skyscrapers and countless people," Adila said. "I felt so excited when people told me that Xiamen was a beautiful city and I would be able to see the sea."