URUMQI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- This white man born to an expat family in China in the 1930s was abandoned as a baby.

Li Yizu was later adopted and raised up by a Chinese couple.

Li spent his childhood and finished his education in Beijing. Out of love for adventure, he chose to study geological surveying and prospecting in college.

Upon graduation in 1961, Li applied to work in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, one of the country's biggest hubs for mineral resources.

He came to Xinjiang one year later, and has stayed in the far west Chinese region ever since.

He worked on the prospecting team of the local coal mine geological bureau, traveling over mountains, the Gobi desert and other landscapes across Xinjiang to search for valuable minerals. Li joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1981.

After retirement, Li refused to sit idle and volunteered to give public lectures on Xinjiang's diverse geology and big changes.

He has given some 900 lectures colored with his personal experiences in schools, government organizations and communities. At 73, he even accompanied a geographical documentary team to travel across Xinjiang.

Long years of fieldwork have impacted one of Li's knees, and he has to use a walking stick for support. Despite that, he gets very talkative when it comes to Xinjiang.

"The natural scenery in Xinjiang is impressive, and local people's kindness is even more so. I'm happy living here," Li said, explaining his decision to stay in Xinjiang before sharing memorable stories of receiving timely help from the locals during his trips such as free meals and voluntary tour guides.

Li is an avid fan of photography. He has taken over 10,000 pictures of sceneries and daily life in Xinjiang which recorded the sea of changes in the past six decades.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service