Going Back to the Qin Dynasty
Chee Kiu Sik, Group 3: Fiction, HKUGA College
s a historian, it is my obligation to study the history of the Great Wall after discovering that the
building of the Great Wall had killed hundreds of thousands of people. A lot of young people were
captured to build the massive construction without any freedom. I’ve always thought of changing
history; but unfortunately, what’s done cannot be undone. So, my ideal was never actually possible -
until that Friday.
I was having dinner with my long-lost-best friend Abigail, who was an inventor. She told me about her new
idea of building a time-machine and wanted me to try it later. I did not care about the risks and swiftly agreed.
A time-machine! How much popularity will I gain myself if I successfully travelled through time?
Her idea was to invent a pen that would allow the user to adjust a time on its screen and transfer the user to
another dimension when clicked. That was pretty creative, I told her.
Next week, I was handed an ordinary blue pen.
Let’s see… 800BC.
I twisted the cap to adjust the time I wanted it to flash. Click. A ‘blue-black hole’ appeared in front of me.
Abigail nodded at me and I knew exactly what to do. It was too precious an opportunity to miss, and I didn’t
need any second invitation either. I jumped into the hole.
Instantly I felt like I was flying in vacuum nothingness. I was falling, but steadily. I seemed to have lost my
senses and I was unable to move my body around.
At last, falling became sinking and I struggled to the surface for air. When I crept to the surface, I found
myself soaking in lake water. I looked around.
Where am I?
The trees looked like the ones in the Qin Dynasty. The clothes people were wearing looked like the ones in
the Qin Dynasty. The atmosphere seemed like how it would be in the Qin Dynasty. I supposed I was in the right
place.
What am I going to do here?
I had an idea, an idea that would fulfil my dream. But before I got to work, I had to find where the Great
Wall was.
The pen in my pocket started flashing suddenly. I picked it up to see if there was something wrong with it. I
pulled off the cap and found a delicate scroll wrapped around the cylinder. It said “There is a pouch in your
jacket. The items inside may help you.”
I stuck the paper inside my trousers and started to get to work.
It did not take it long for me to find the Great Wall. The problem was, whenever I tried to speak to anyone,
they stared at my t-shirt, my jacket, and my trousers and seemed to ignore what I was asking about. Even after I
repeated my sentence a few times, they didn’t look like they understood my words. I think the reason was that
they spoke Old Chinese.
Watching thousands of people hammering on stones, I started to imagine them all dying of their enormous
workload.
I have to do it.
I spoke to the workers with my best accent of Old Chinese, telling them that I came from the future. They
were understandably very sceptical, so I told them all about the Mexicans - Aztecs and Mayans, Columbus,
Rafael de Leon, the Sikhs, Catholics … all the way to the Opium War, New Republic of China, and 2013. I
know I looked like a know-it-all and complete show-off there but actually the workers stared at me with
astonishment.
“
Qin will actually die out?” “I thought this is going to last forever!”
What am I going to do next?
I have to make history and at least appear in Chinese History textbooks. I am going to bring about a
Revolution!
I reached for the pouch in my jacket where I found a can of spray paint.
Maybe, it can come in handy?
So without hesitation, I started spraying paint on the Great Wall.
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A
Shortlisted