Li Yizu in his childhood. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Li Yizu says he had a great Chinese mother.

"My foster mother had only one Child. I think she is a great mother. She raised me up. When I decided to go to Xinjiang, which is so far away especially at that time when the travel was not so convenient, she showed full understanding and support. She didn't even tell me that she felt ill after I left her. At that time when I was young, the only thing I wanted was to do was to pursue my dream. Only years later when my children left home to somewhere far away, I could understand the feeling of my mother back then."

Li Yizu and his foster mother, 1938 in Beijing. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

He became a geological engineer of No. 156 coalfield geological team in Xinjiang after graduation. From the Altai Mountain to the Gangdise Mountain, his footprints covered almost every corner of west China in the next 20 years, including the A-Li region in Tibet, where the altitude is above 5,000 meters.

In a TV documentary about the wind erosion landform "Devil city" located in the northwest Margin of Junggar Basin, Li Yizu is helping a scientific study team to determine rock composition. The life of geographical explorers can be very tough. It's common for them to set off with baggage, gasoline and explosives and stay in the wild for up to more than 1 year. One of his colleagues died during a mission.