I will never forget you

Century-old friendship

In the 1920s, David's father, Victor Plymire, arrived in Tongkhor town along the ancient Tea Horse Road. In 1932, one-year-old David was brought to the small plateau town, where he spent the next 17 years growing up and came to regard it as his hometown.

Time has taken its toll. The trans-Pacific journey has become too physically demanding for David over the past decade.

"We all miss you! Almost ten years have passed since you were last able to come to Huangyuan. People here, young and old, miss you," Wang said, waving at him through the screen.

Wang told David that they were making the video call from the ancient town's old streets, where many historic buildings had been restored with the help of photographs taken decades earlier by his father, Victor.

A century ago, Victor took his camera around Tongkhor, documenting its streets, scenery and residents and leaving behind a unique visual record of life on the plateau. The photographs were later compiled into an album titled Imprint of a Legacy.

Dong Baoming, general manager of Huangyuan Dancheng Tourism Development Co, Ltd, said Victor and David's photographs had helped bring the town's past back to life. The images now fill the Imprints exhibition hall, which has opened to the public, offering visitors a glimpse of Huangyuan as it once was.

At 18, David bid farewell to Huangyuan with his family on a drizzly day. Thinking it was merely a short trip, they left their furniture and bedding sealed in the old house as they were — no one imagined the farewell would stretch to 38 years.

One moment during the call was particularly poignant. Bai Qiming, son of Bai Yongsheng, David's childhood friend known locally as "Ga Liang-ge," sent his greetings to David through the screen and spoke of how they had missed each other over the years. David fell silent for several seconds before quietly saying, "I can't come back now."