Good and Beautiful
Sherie Li
stand on the hill and look over the Great Wall of China. The mountains around it are peaceful and quiet,
with the setting sun’s last rays biding the land goodbye before leaving for the night; yet on the wall there
are millions of tourists, talking loudly, taking pictures of the sunset. The wall is strong and proud, looking
as if the millions of workers who had used their sweat and blood to build the wall had only just finished it,
a golden dragon flying freely against beautiful mountains. Every visitor who lays his eyes upon the wall
marvels at its majesty, its demonstration of grace and power. I step back and hear a sharp crack beneath my foot.
It’s a dry twig. I pick it up, and I am swept back in memory, back to my home village, back to the dry desert,
back to the time when I was young enough to see the world as a wonderful and exciting adventure, and
everything in life was good and beautiful.
,
Group 3: Fiction, Evangel College
I
“
Archers, pick a target and fire!” I heard my commander yell, and I hurled the dry twig in my hand
with all my might out towards the advancing army, along with the two boys beside me, their round faces red
with heat and excitement. The twigs hit the ground, and we whooped as we saw imaginary enemy soldiers fall. I
heard a command “Keep firing!” and picked up another twig, when Yuen Wai yelled “This is no fun! Let me be
the commander!” Lee Yin laughed and said “You’re too stupid. Commanders are supposed to be smart.” Yuen
Wai’s face flushed and he shoved Lee Yin, making him stumble back against the wall. Lee Yin got up and
rushed at Yuen Wai, and they fell to the ground. I stood there, the twig still clenched tightly in my hand. “Stop
it!” I yelled over their voices. “You’ve been fighting about this for weeks! We can’t even fight a complete battle
without turning on ourselves!” Without thinking, I turned and kicked the crumbling brick wall behind me hard.
The bricks toppled over and hit the sand and rocks on the ground, smashing into a million tiny yellow shards.
Yuen Wai and Lee Yin fell silent and gaped at me, their eyes darting between me and the hole in the wall. “You
can’t do that...” Lee Yin stammered, slowly getting up and backing away. “What did you do that for?” Yuen
Wai yelled. I glared defensively back at them. “You’re the ones who were fighting all over the place. And who
cares if this part is broken? We can always play in another section of the wall.” Yuen Wai stomped his foot.
“
You’re such an idiot, Cheng Ho! You can’t just destroy the Great Wall! People died building it! Some of their
bodies were used as part of the wall! How do you think they’ll like it when someone destroys something they
died to build and disturbs their resting place? They’ll haunt you forever and ever!” I let my mouth hang open.
To me, the majestic Great Wall so often mentioned in stories about ancient battles existed only in some far away
universe and the wall on which we played on was just as unimportant and insignificant as everyone and
everything else in our small farming village. Lee Yin turned to the wreckage and murmured “Please don’t get
mad at us. Our friend was being stupid. He’s really, really sorry, and he promises never to do that to any other
part of the wall again. Right?” I nodded, feeling shivers down my spine. Suddenly the way I viewed the wall
changed completely. It was no longer just a big stack of cracked bricks on which we spent our days playing, but
the actual Great Wall. In my mind I imagined how it would have looked like hundreds of years ago, proudly
defending the borders of a great empire, tall and strong. In my mind I envisioned brick after brick being laid
back on top of each other, and I saw a structure both magnificent and graceful. It was beautiful.
After that, I would spend hours sitting near the wall, trying to draw how the wall would have looked
like before it had been battered down by wars and time. Yuen Wai and Lee Yin begged me to play with them,
but I just wanted to gaze at the wall, trying to see through the fog of time. Whenever I caught a glimpse of how
the wall looked like years ago, my breath was taken away, and I wanted to create something just like that,
something that was graceful and good and beautiful.
“
Cheng Ho, I have to admit that I was very impressed with your design. Your building is not only
very functional and practical, but it is also visually appealing. You’re one of the few people I’ve met who has
the ability to merge the grandness of ancient structures with modern designs.” I stared out of the car window and
tried to keep myself from grinning. “Thank you, sir.” I look out at the familiar landscape. When I returned home
from the city where I had been studying architecture, I was shocked to see that in place of fields of wheat and
corn, there were factories and tall buildings. I had been so excited when I was told my building would be built in
my hometown. We passed the section of the Great Wall on which I spent most of my childhood, and I smiled as
I remembered my days of pretending to be a soldier and how the wall had made me choose architecture as my
career. “Right now we’re clearing the land where the construction will take place, and the foundations are
scheduled to start in six weeks.” My boss said as he switched off the engine and stepped out of the car. I