New Tales of the Great Wall
Jinsol Lee, Group 2: Fiction, Quarry Bay School
n BC.210, there was a really wise and strong emperor called ‘XianQin’ in the East of China. Thanks to his
wise and gracious rule, his own country lived well and won many wars. His country won a huge amount of
territories. There were no problems in his country. People had peaceful lives except those who went to fight
in wars for territories. There were no droughts but neither was there much rain. All people of his country
loved the emperor for his gentle heart and his benign rule.
There was another emperor called ‘DuXin’ in the Western part of China. He was powerful also but not as
much as XianQin the Eastern emperor. One day DuXin couldn’t put up with his jealousy about Xian’s power so
he waged wars for unification in the Eastern of China.
I
XianQin’s country didn’t expect that to happen. Sadly, on the eighth day of war, Xian was killed by a
soldier from the west part of China. As a result, the East was merged with the West and DuXin became the
overall emperor.
There was an ancient giant cellar under the palace of DuXin. Inside that cellar, there were about 20 ordinary
Eastern people who were hiding there. They were a bit worried what would happen. But they were trying to find
a way to get their country back. Of course, there wasn’t a lot to eat inside that cellar but dead insects and small
fish which were very cold.
There was a man called ‘Shi Huangdi’ who came up with an idea. It was to write a letter to DuXin that he
should hold a party the following evening to celebrate of merger the new territories. It said in the letter that it
would take place in his palace and everyone was invited. The letter was signed as one of DuXin’s vassal whose
name he knew. It was sent by a secret agent. After DuXin received it and read it, he thought it made sense. He
invited everybody to come to the party. This was exactly what Shi Huang Di wanted. His plan was to set a giant
fire inside the cellar. That way it would spread all over the palace!
The night came. All Shi Huang Di’s people ran away as far as they could while Shi Huang Di was left
under the cellar to start the fire. On top of the cellar, there was a big party. Huang Di started the fire and ran
away before the fire got bigger. The plot really worked well. Nobody in the entire palace knew that there was a
fire just beneath them until the fire got so big that it could spread throughout the whole palace. Most of the
people died, and there are few survivors.
There was only one-eighth of the palace was left after the chaos of the fire. Shi Huang Di got all the people,
slaves who used to be ordinary people in freedom except for those who were trapped inside the palace and died.
After Huang Di achieved freedom, he got back the country, and he became Emperor.
Jin Sol Quarry Bay School.
* * *
1