Not the Xiongnu, but me!
Serena Yeung, Group 3: Fiction, Evangel College
ing……Ring….!” The University bell rang, as I entered the class as usual, “Please be seated.
Welcome to my class, my name is Professor Lovisa. Today’s lesson is going to be about the
Great Wall. Has anyone of you been to the Great Wall? Or do any of you believe that the Great
Wall is the only man-made structure in the world which we can look at with our naked eyes
outside the Earth?” I asked.
Then I started the lesson, and talked about the beginning of the Great Wall. “The Great Wall was built
between 221–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. In 211 BC, Qin Shi Huang destroyed the
six countries, to become the only political power in China, and the restructuring of the Empire. The human cost
of the construction is still unknown, but it has been estimated by some authors that hundreds of thousands
workers died building the Qin wall. As you may know, the reason for building the Qin wall was to protect the
Empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, and at that time the relations between the
Chinese dynasties and the Xiongnu were complex, with repeated periods of military conflict and intrigue
alternating with exchanges of tribute, trade, and marriage treaties. But it was wrong, the history was totally
wrong. It wasn’t the Xiongnu people – they built the Great Wall because of me!”
The whole class became silent, even a needle dropping on the ground could be heard. “You won’t believe it, till
you listen to my story. It happened when I was at your age.” At the end of the University studies before summer,
I went on a trip with a few of my friends to the Great Wall.
As I walked along the Wall alone, suddenly something made me fall down. I tripped down into a big
hole. I was moving and turning very fast, not knowing where I was going. The hole seemed endless, and I could
just see a big flashlight, pricking my eyes. My brain kept on revealing my past memories, and I felt that I was
going back to the past. Then, the time turned back anti-clockwise and I found that I was standing in front of a
door, on which was written 220 BC.
As I gently opened the door, the sight before me gave me a shock. I could not understand where I was!
It didn’t look like an urban city at all, but rather like countryside or some tiny, slow-paced village. How come I
was like that, travelling to this ancient past?
Wasn’t I wearing a western-style business suit? Why did everybody living here look so old-fashioned?
Their hair was black, but mine was blonde. Their skin looked different from mine too. I was a lost individual
wearing shabby, torn clothes and with no shoes.
Although the village wasn’t modern at all, but the people living there were really helpful and kind to me. The
first night, when I got there I had no place to live, and luckily an old man welcomed me to his home for a night.
Though his home was extremely small and there was only a tiny space for me to sleep, I found that he had a
great passion to help the people who were in need. We talked for the whole night – he asked me where I came
from, and I answered him that I came from the future. He was surprised and asked how it was like. He told me
about their Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. I told him that Qin was a remarkable and famous Emperor in the future,
and his incredible restructuring of the Empire.
The next day when I woke up, I found that the old man was packing his belongings, looking like he
was in a hurry. He told me that I had to leave immediately because the soldiers would be arriving to their village
an hour later. Then, I got on a boat and thanked him before carrying on with my journey. Unfortunately, when I
was preparing to leave the house, the soldiers discovered me. They then arrested me and brought me to the
royal court to meet Qin Shi Huang.
With an appalled, heavy feeling, a pair of white-faced guards led me down the dark hallway, up a short
distance of sandstone stairs, and across the main door and as I walked in, I glanced down at the soldiers lined
with weapons. Then, I arrived at the inner court, and heard a loud, husky voice of the Emperor, telling me to
enter the hall to meet him. After that, I saw a huge sturdy man with broad shoulders and powerful arms sitting
on a throne. I thought he must be Qin Shi Huang. He asked me where I came from, and I replied him that I came
from Europe, so that was why the color of my skin and hair were very different from the Chinese. His face
turned red, as I was well dressed with western-style suit. I bowed before him before I sat down, which, to my
surprise, made him think that I was one of the Xiongnu people. So he ordered his large range of soldiers to bring
me to prison and he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state
borders. So, he mandated all the men in China to build a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along
the empire's new northern frontier. So, this was how the Great Wall was built. “It was built not because of the
Xiongnu people, but because of me!”
“
R