Walking the Wall

As the official send-off for our walk, last week’s event with the China Great Wall Society at Jiayuguan Fort couldn’t have been better. At the invitation of Great Wall Society leaders Dong Yaohui and Yan Daojun, we joined student conservation volunteers and Jiayuguan local government members in celebrating the end of the Society’s 35-day awareness-raising journey along the wall and the beginning of ours.

The China Great Wall Society, with a membership of over 1500 people, is the leading non-governmental organisation in China concerned with the wall’s preservation. The Society is dedicated to studying, publicising, protecting and exploring the Great Wall, and is involved in such diverse activities as publishing encyclopedias and collections of scholarly papers, advising on the production of TV specials, and hosting photo and painting exhibitions about the wall. If you can read Chinese, you can find out more about the Society at its website, www.chinagreatwall.org.

Mr Dong is Secretary-General of the Society and a well-known expert on the wall – he has accompanied foreign dignitaries such as American Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush on their visits to the wall, and is the author of The Eternal Great Wall (Beijing: China Nationality Art Photograph Publishing House, 2005). He probably knows as much about the wall as anyone in the world.

With Dong Yaohui. Photo by Yan Daojun

He is also one of the first men to walk the length of the Great Wall. In May 1984, he and two other men left Shanhaiguan (our destination) and spent 508 days exploring the wall, including its spurs and extensions. They arrived in Jiayuguan on September 24, 1985.

On Tuesday of last week, Jiayuguan was again Mr Dong’s destination. This time, there was a carload of journalists accompanying him, other members of the Great Wall Society, local government and museum representatives, and a busload of students from Hexi University in Zhangye.

Jiayuguan Fort is considered the end of the Ming Great Wall and is the most impressive tourist site in Jiayuguan. When we got there that afternoon, we had plenty of time to look around and take photos. Many of the students were media students, so they were keen on getting the right angles.

With the students at the top of the fort. Photo by Shen Cheng Ming

The formalities started around 5 pm, which is still quite hot and bright out here at this time of the year. There was a very strong wind coming off the desert, which was bad for the hair but good for the flags.

This banner says “Protect the Great Wall that extends 10,000 li”

The ceremony was opened by Zheng Yan, the Society’s Editorial Department Director, who spoke about the Society’s work during 2006 and the importance of the car journey they had just taken from Shanhaiguan. Also speaking were other Society members, museum and government representatives, and Mr. Dong.

After the Society leaders spoke, we were invited to the stage to say a few words about our trip. We’re not sure how well our speeches were understood (or whether the parts in Chinese made sense), but everyone seemed to appreciate the effort.

Emma making her first speech in Chinese. Photo by Cheng Wei Guang

After the speeches, Mr Dong took us both by the hands and formed an arm-linked chain of about seven people. The student volunteers fell in behind and we walked together through the fort as a symbolic send-off.

Under the arched doorway…

…and out into the desert. Photos by Yan Daojun

It was an honour to participate in the celebration. To have the support and encouragement of the Great Wall Society and the student volunteers from Hexi University means more than we know how to express. It was thrilling to walk out of the doorway with the crowd of students behind us, shouting and waving flags. As we write this, we can still feel the excitement of that day.