The cemetery, established in early 1970, serves as the final resting place of Chinese workers and engineers who died during the construction of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in Pakistan throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

[5][8] In August 2011, a Chinese delegation consisting of retired People's Liberation Army soldiers, journalists and a relative of a worker visited the cemetery to pay homage to the deceased.

Pakistani officials present at the occasion lauded the contributions of the Chinese workers as a symbol of healthy and longstanding bilateral relations between China and Pakistan.

The construction of the highway had created difficult conditions for Chinese and Pakistani workers due to the high elevation of the mountain range and turbulent weather.

Estimates for the highway construction's death toll ranges from around 1000–5000 people,[5] of which nearly a third were Chinese workers[11] who had died mostly in landslides, avalanches and accidental falls.