companionship with the guards, hoping that this would make his life less miserable. He was wrong. Taking
advantage of this inexperienced naïve recruit (who was barely old enough to be considered a man), they pushed
him harder than the others, forcing him to take on the more strenuous jobs, assigning him the most dangerous,
deadly tasks.
Life for Yao Ming at the Great Wall was utterly miserable. Each day carried a new life threatening
challenge, it was as though the guards were trying to see how far they could push the men until they would snap,
breaking in two as easily as the millions of brittle fallen twigs that surrounded the tired men in an ever-
thickening blanket.
There was no effort taken into hygiene, safety or health; men slept crowded into small barracks, where
they were treated like cows that took up too much room in a barn- squished together and whipped if they broke
apart.
Minutes turned to hours working there.
Days felt like years.
Each small movement brought its own unique pain to every corner of Yao Ming’s aching body. Every
gust of wind, tortured the men clad in rags with the threat of frost-bite, terrorizing them all with its power; after
all, it had already claimed the lives of so many working amongst them. Worriedly, Yao Ming would ask himself
the same questions every single morning when he awoke from his shorted sleep: will I live to see the trusty sun
rise in the east at early dawn tomorrow? Will I live to smell the early morning dew? Will I ever see my mother
again? These three questions became a sort of war chant for him, it was what kept him strong, it was the only
thing that he could control in his world controlled by the will of others.
Now, while you are living, eating and laving away along with hundreds of other men you tend to form
some sort of I guess what you can call ‘friendship’. Yao Ming, however, had chosen to form one with the wrong
man: Lao Wu. Without hesitation, naïve Yao Ming, hoping this would help his reputation (as Lao Wu was
greatly favoured amongst the guards due to his wits and strength), offered to share what was left of his tiny
portion of rice with him. Due to the lack of food available and the fact that the workers only got one break a day
to eat- Lao Wu, without hesitation, excepted. Unfortunately.
As the weeks went by the friendship between Lao Wu and Yao Ming formed stronger, leading Lao Wu
to eventually tell Yao Ming about his plan that him and some other workers had come up with a few days
before: a rebellion. Frustrated with the way that the hardworking builders had been treated, Yao Ming
immediately agreed and started, in hushed voices, to discuss the arrangements and details of the rebellion.
Illuminating the night sky, the moon stood watch over the everlasting wall, casting a watchful glance
over everyone below it. The dead silence of midnight filled the wet, heavy air as it weighed on Yao Ming’s
shoulders, this was the night. It was the night that all the injustice would change, when they would finally get
what they rightfully deserved.
A bloodcurdling battle cry split the un-expecting tranquility of the atmosphere around the anxious
rebels.
“
Are you ready?” Lao Wu inquired.
“
Yes,” Yao Ming abruptly replied.
Screeches of metal as it hit against metal. Cries of the wounded, Cheers from the victorious. The hope
of hundreds of men with nothing to more to lose than their lives; or had they already lost them?
Yao Ming, full of determination and a will to exceed so intense that it overtook his whole body, rushed without
a fear onto the battle field. Three men immediately pounced on him, his ego finally got the best of him and he
had taken on more than he could handle.
The last thing he ever saw was the embrace of the moon as it caressed the earth and the sea of a
thousand red bodies, led into the arms of death by fear, greed and violence.
Chin Ming took one final longing glance at the grave, remembering the boy she once had come to know. So full
of potential, spirit, life and love. If only he had been more careful those twenty long years ago. If only…
* * *