Chad, Oct. 10 -- On Sept. 10, inside his home in Springfield, Missouri, 95-year-old David Victor Plymire carefully opened *Imprints*, a cherished photo album. One image, captured in 1942, depicted a sweeping vista of Dangar Ancient Town in Huangyuan county, northwest China's Qinghai province, with six children standing on a hillside.

"That's me," David recalled during a video call, effortlessly switching into the local Huangyuan dialect. "I was just a teenager then. No matter where life takes me, I'll always consider myself a son of Huangyuan."

On the other end of the screen lay Huangyuan, Qinghai. Wang Shikang, former president of the Huangyuan County People's Hospital, greeted him warmly in the local dialect: "Brother David, the mutto...