Kazakh President Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev: I took a Family Photo on the Great Wall

On February 23, 1997, the Chinese Lantern Festival had just ended, but the festive afterglow echoed inside and outside the Great Wall.

Nursultan Nazarbayev, then President of Kazakhstan, and his family, climbed up the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing, China.

The Great Wall at the time was covered by a flurry of snow, which added an auspicious atmosphere to their arrival.

The Great Wall is even more majestic and magnificent with the backdrop of fog and mountains. Accompanied by his entourage, Nazarbayev and his family took the stairs and came to the observatory platform, where they looked off far into the distance and saw the dragon-like Great Wall winding along the ridges of mountains.

The beautiful scenery aside, Nazarbayev was more overwhelmed by the profound cultural connotation and spiritual value of the Great Wall.

They then followed the local customs of “family reunions on the Lantern Festival”, and took a family photo with the magnificent Great Wall as the backdrop.

The family photo bears witness to the happiness of Nazarbayev’s family, and also the friendly ties between China and Kazakhstan.

“When China is good, Kazakhstan is good,” said Nazarbayev.

As good neighbors, friends and partners linked by mountains and rivers, China and Kazakhstan have jointly written a beautiful chapter of the ancient Silk Road linking the East and the West. In the new era, Kazakhstan is the first overseas stop of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

In 2019, China awarded the outgoing president with the Medal of Friendship, the highest honor given by the People’s Republic of China to foreigners. Like the Great Wall, the China-Kazakhstan friendship stands strong and sturdy.