The Gilgit Chinese Memorial Cemetery (, ), locally known as the China Memorial ( scl, چائنہ یادگار, lit=Chinā Yadgār), is a

graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located in

Danyor ''Dayyor'' , native_name_lang = ur , other_name = , nickname = , image_skyline = File:Bridge Danyor.jpg , settlement_type = City , image_caption ...

Gilgit–Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

, about ten kilometres away from the capital city of Gilgit across the

Gilgit River The Gilgit River () is a tributary of the Indus River, and flows through the Gupis-Yasin, Ghizer and Gilgit districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. The Gilgit River starts from Shandur Lake, and joins the Indus River at near towns of Juglot and Bunji ...

. The cemetery, established in early 1970, serves as the final resting place of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

s who died during the construction of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The

tombstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, ...

placed over the graves contain

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

inscriptions in

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

. In August 2011, a

delegation consisting of retired People's Liberation Army soldiers, journalists and a relative of a worker visited the cemetery to pay homage to the deceased. The visit was widely publicized in the

Chinese media The mass media in China consists primarily of television, newspapers, radio, and magazines. Since the start of the 21st century, the Internet has also emerged as an important form of communication by media, and is under the direct supervisi ...

. Prior to their departure for Pakistan, they had also met the Pakistani ambassador to China,

Masood Khan Masood Khan () is a Pakistani-Kashmiri diplomat who is currently serving as Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States. Khan also served as the 27th President of Azad Kashmir. Khan joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1980. From August 2 ...

, who was highly appreciative of their gesture. In April 2013, a ceremony was held at the cemetery in which key Chinese and Pakistani officials were present, including the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

of the Chinese embassy in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, Zhang Lianyou, officials of the

China Road and Bridge Corporation China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a subsidiary of Fortune Global 500 company China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), focuses on global civil engineering and construction projects such as highways, railways, bridges, ports, and ...

, members of the Gilgit–Baltistan Legislative Assembly and Pakistani law enforcement personnel. During the ceremony, tributes were paid to the deceased and a pledge was laid on behalf of the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...

for a renovation of the cemetery. Pakistani officials present at the occasion lauded the contributions of the Chinese workers as a symbol of healthy and longstanding bilateral relations between China and Pakistan.

Background and significance

The

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...

is an international highway which runs across the Karakoram mountain range and through the

Khunjerab Pass Khunjerab Pass (; ; ug, قونجىراپ ئېغىزى) is a mountain pass in the Karakoram Mountains, in a strategic position on the northern border of Pakistan (Gilgit–Baltistan's Hunza and Nagar Districts) and on the southwest border of Ch ...

, thereby connecting China's

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

region with the neighbouring Pakistani administrative territory of

in the Kashmir region. It serves as the primary land transport link between Pakistan and China. Construction of the highway was carried out jointly between the governments of Pakistan and China from 1966 to 1979. The construction of the highway had created difficult conditions for

and Pakistani workers due to the high elevation of the mountain range and turbulent weather. Estimates for the highway construction's death toll ranges from around 1000–5000 people, of which nearly a third were Chinese workers who had died mostly in

landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

avalanches An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

and accidental falls. Newer reports estimate the casualties to be higher than initially reported, and difficult to pinpoint due to the nature of the terrain in the region. The cemetery remains an important visitor attraction in Gilgit.

References

{{China–Pakistan relations Cemeteries in Gilgit-Baltistan China–Pakistan relations Chinese cemeteries Chinese diaspora in Pakistan Gilgit District

Background and significance

See also

References