Wang Qi, the 78-year-old Chinese veteran who returned to his home country on Monday after being trapped for 54 years in India, attracting widespread attention in China. Who is the man? How did he end up in India? What do we know about his life there? And why did he wait over half a century to come back home?

Wang lost his way in a forest on China's border with India while constructing roads for the People's Liberation Army of China in January 1963, shortly after the conclusion of the Sino-Indian war. He said he "strayed erroneously" inside India's territory. He then saw a vehicle belonging to the Indian Red Cross and asked for its help. The vehicle took him to Indian authorities, which imprisoned him for seven years for “espionage.”

After being released in 1969, Wang was taken to Tirodi, a remote village in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where he spent the next 47 years.

In 1975, he married a local woman, Sushila, under "pressure from friends," according to the BBC. They raised two sons and two daughters.

Wang said his biggest wish was to return to his hometown before death. He had repeatedly applied to return to China since 1977, but had not received any reply from Indian authorities until earlier this week.

In 1986, he sent the first letter to his family in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province in northwest China. In 2002, he spoke to his mother for the first time in more than four decades on the phone. Unfortunately, he failed to see her again before she passed away in 2006.

In 2013, he received his Chinese passport from the Chinese embassy in India. However, he could not leave India without the exit permit issued by the Indian authorities. As a man in his 70s, he began to worry that he might not be able to realize his homecoming wish.

It was not until last month that Wang and his experience was unveiled by media, drawing widespread attention from the public. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said China was "pushing India" to complete the procedures needed for Wang's trip home. “I believe that with the joint efforts of China and India, and respecting the will of Wang himself, the case will be properly solved,” he added.

Having completed all required procedures, Wang eventually took the plane from New Delhi to Beijing with several family members on Monday, after decades of desperate waiting. He will head to his hometown on Monday to visit his parents’ graves.

The day of Wang’s return is also China’s Lantern Festival this year – an important occasion for family reunion.