Patimanhan Parihat's mother teaches her to braid her hair before seeing her off to Beijing for the summer camp at their home in Qira County of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 23, 2025.

　　Ten-year-old Patimanhan is a primary school student from Qira County of Xinjiang. She was chosen to participate in an 11-day public welfare summer camp which brings together 32 outstanding Xinjiang youths to embark on a summer vacation trip. (Xinhua/Guo Yan)

　　Patimanhan Parihat (R) watches a national flag-raising ceremony at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, July 31, 2025.

　　She stood on tiptoe, her gaze piercing through the crowd as she watched the slowly rising China's national flag. Tears of excitement streamed down her cheeks. After more than 4,000 kilometers of travel from a small town near the Taklimakan Desert to Tian'anmen Square in the capital of China, the young girl witnessed the solemn scene described in her textbooks for the first time of her life.

　　Ten-year-old Patimanhan is a primary school student from Qira County of Xinjiang. She was chosen to participate in an 11-day public welfare summer camp which brings together 32 outstanding Xinjiang youths to embark on a summer vacation trip. (Photo by Zhang Limin/Xinhua)