The Great Wall
Jason Cheuk Hin Tam, Group 4: Fiction, Evangel College
t was eight years ago when I first visited Beijing. It was an aerospace study tour for primary students
and their family members that organized by Joint Primary Schools Association. There was an upsurge
for Aerospace Learning after the First China Spaceman Mr. Yang Liwei visited the space. I joined the
tour with my parents, my elder sister, schoolmates and Chinese teacher during the summer term break.
We had around three hundred attendees coming from different schools. They were primary students,
parents, teachers, principals, nurses and staff from travelling company. We spent five days in Beijing. It
was a very meaning and exciting trip to me.
Beijing is the capital of China and Great Wall is famous for its culture legacy. It is wonderful to
visit the capital of our nation and step on the Great Wall. The Great Wall was one of the largest
construction projects in Chinese history. It was about twenty-five feet high, twenty feet wide, and over
1500
mile long. It was made of stone for protecting China from northern invasions. I felt that I became a
big boy when I stood on the stair step of this big creation. This Beijing trip was not only a sight-seeing
tour but also had the opportunity to visit the aerospace center and related government offices, have the
joint learning time with the local primary school students by making the space rockets, have the fun time to
visit other prominent places and taste the Peking Duck with three hundred participants together. We had
certificate presentation and group photo-taking at the end of the trip. Those experiences were not easily
found from other travel tour.
In addition, this Beijing trip made me so excited that I had good memory for years. You know I
had an extraordinary dream on the last night before returning to Hong Kong. In the dream, sister and I
became the contestants of The Great Wall Marathon Walk. It was a team of four. We had two other
partners in our group. Can you guess who are they? They were Twins, Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung,
popular singers by that time. My sister collects their CDs, posters and photos. We both were shocked
when they stood in front of us as they were our teammates for the Marathon Walk. It was really incredible.
Sister and I were uncertain about joining the Great Wall Marathon Walk with our favorite artists. We
followed other teams to the starting point of the contest which was “Shan Hai Guan” and the ending point
was “Lop Lake”. In between, there were many checkpoints where drinks, snacks and energy chocolate
bars were provided. If we felt tired, we could get on the coach by the organizer for a good rest and enjoy
the surrounding landscape.
During the walk, we had time to view the mountain scenery which was majestic. We admired
those people who built the wall. They were soldiers, common people and even criminals. Many people
died during the construction as the work was hard and they faced lots of difficulties.
For the rest time inside the car, our super star Twins sang lots of hit songs for us and shared their
life experience with us. Though sister and I did not understand much, we enjoyed this wonderful time as
being the little fans. They also talked much about the history of Great Wall and acted as our temporary
teachers. They told us that as early as the Warring States Periods, the ruling powers began to build this
legacy as a defense against the enemies. The state of Chu was the first to build a wall, followed by the Qi,
Yan, Wei, Zhao and Qin. After the unification of the six states, the Emperor ordered a general to connect
the existing broken constructions and to extend them together for defensing any attack. It extended from
Lintao in the west and ended at Liaodong in the east. It was called "Wan Li Chang Cheng" that was well-
known by the western countries. Our Chinese astronaut mentioned that he saw the Great Wall from the
spaceship. I was very proud of being a Chinese.
It was a summer time, the weather was very hot and I felt dazed. As a result, I fell on the ground
unconsciously. My sister started screaming and called my name loudly. I was waked up by her great voice
and found myself lying on the floor of the hotel room. I then discovered that I was in a dream. I hurried
packing the luggage bag for going back to Hong Kong. This Beijing study trip was very fruitful as I met
two superstars in the dream and experienced many new things. I look forward having the second visit of
Beijing and the Great Wall.
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