CHINA, NATIONAL, FEATURES: The Great Wall, William and Qi
By Lou Li
The more William Lindesay thinks about it, the more he regards his story a perfect example of destiny.
Lindesay, the first foreigner to make a traverse on foot along the whole length of Ming Dynasty Great Wall and the founder of International Friends of the Great Wall, came face to face with this destiny when he was still an 11-year-old boy in Britain, looking at the Great Wall on his school atlas map for the first time.
"My dream of the Great Wall began at that time," William said. "But most people who have dreams in childhood forget these and end up doing something else. But luckily, I've stayed with mine."
His dream came true in 1987, when he traveled 2,470 kilometers on foot along the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Great Wall (from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan). Back in Britain, William recounted his 2,470 km solo adventure in Alone on the Great Wall, which was published in the UK, USA and Germany. After that, he returned to China. While working at Xi'an University of Technology and later at China Daily and Xinhua News Agency, he actually spent much of his spare time trekking and researching on the Great Wall. From the late 1990s, he began picking up garbage from the Wall by himself. In 1998, William organized the first public clean-up action on Great Wall, heading 120 participants picking up garbage at Jinshanling Great Wall and later continued to organize many activities of the same kind. In 1999, he helped place ten notice boards that bear "Taking Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints" beside footpaths leading up to wilderness Wall in Huairou.
At the end of year 2000, William decided that it was time to work full-time for the Great Wall. He established in 2001 the "International Friends of the Great Wall", a non-profit NGO devoted to the conservation of the Great Wall, embarking on a larger dream – "to assist China's cultural-relics authorities in preserving the authenticity of the Great Wall of China".
Also with the Great Wall, William found another destiny of life – his wife Wu Qi. William says the Great Wall is the matchmaker of him and Qi. And previous reports often went like "William met his beautiful wife on the Great Wall." Reading that, William laughed, "So many people have visions of me walking along the Great Wall and spotting Wu Qi in a field pounding corn. And people must think I said to this farm girl something like, 'Xiaojie, ni hao!' (Hello, young lady)."
But the true story of William and Qi together on the Great Wall began on what might have been the last day of William in China. "We met each other in the lobby of our hotel one afternoon. She could speak English. And at that time those Chinese who were learning Chinese took every opportunity to flex their language skill. I remember I was in the lobby of the hotel and heard someone say 'hello, what do you do China?' and I said 'hello, my name is William'. I didn't say anything like 'I'm running along the Great Wall.' because I was en route to complying with a deportation order for trespass in closed areas, and it was my last day, perhaps forever, in China," William reminisced, still being able to tell every detail of his first meeting with Qi though it was almost twenty years ago.
"So I said 'I am writing a book'. And I remember you asked what the book was about," William said turning to Qi, "I said 'it is about the Great Wall'. And then Qi said 'what is it called?' But I didn't have a name for the book, or perhaps half a book, at that time. Anyway, off the top of my head, I said 'the book is called From the Desert to the Sea', because the Great Wall goes from the desert to the sea. And she said 'oh, very nice, bye-bye'. And that was it.'
William called it a miracle that just two weeks later he managed to return to China and restart his journey along the Great Wall. Then, destiny took a hand, one again. He met Qi in the lobby of the same hotel. "The rest is private," William said with smile. In 1988 William and Qi married and interestingly, the subtitle of William's first book "Alone on the Great Wall" is "From the Desert to the Sea".
"The Great Wall is truly our matchmaker. William came to China because of the Great Wall and then we could meet each other," said Wu Qi. "I majored in history at university. But I never thought I'd hear so much about the Great Wall of China from a foreigner. I was moved at that time that a foreigner could be so crazy about the Great Wall."
But her parents might not think the same way. "My parents couldn't figure it out why a foreigner came all the way to China," said Qi. "Because back in 1987, there were not so many foreigners in China at that time."
Even now, William said, his career might sometimes be misinterpreted by his father-in-law. "Qi's father was recently overheard answering a question 'what does your foreign son-in-law do in Beijing' with the response 'he picks–up garbage on the Great Wall'," William said jokingly.
But Qi understood fully William's long-term goal and she supported him whole-heartedly. She became William's assistant and the public relations manager of "the International Friends of the Great Wall", in charge of contacting officials and sponsors and promoting the Society's activities. "We make a good team," William said.
"Without Qi's organization, this project would just be a pile of photographs," said William, referring to his efforts to document how the Great Wall has changed over the last 150 years with the project "The Great Wall Revisited". "The Great Wall Revisited" utilizes the "re-photography" technique—repeatedly photographing the same place with a time lag in between. William has been traveling back and forth across North China with his file of vintage photos, looking for the exact spots where they were taken, to re–take them. "My aim is to link the past and present, and bring a better future for the Wall by providing this evidence to experts, officials and the general public," said William, two weeks before the photo exhibition to open at Beijing's Capital Museum on January 5, 2007.
William gave his special thanks to Qi at the end of his upcoming book, "The Great Wall Revisited": I couldn't have achieved so much without her.
Unlike other cross-cultural couples, William and Qi both agree that they have encountered no cultural shock and actually don't have any conflicts. But after a second thought, Qi said maybe she and William had some different ideas toward the education of their two sons, 12-year-old Jimmy and 6-year-old Tommy.
"We combine the Western way and the Chinese way to educate our children. When William is away from home, I would adopt the Chinese way, pushing the boys hard to finish homework," Qi said. "But William is always very lenient to the boys."
"I saw Tommy last night doing homework," William broke in. "He had a sheet full of Chinese characters. He is only six years old! I couldn't believe it. I thought, oh, poor boy as he sat there, murmuring characters like a monk," William said.
Jimmy and Tommy are "core" members of the "International Friends of the Great Wall". They've been with William and Qi to nearly every activity they have carried out on the Great Wall. Qi thought the boys would gain high awareness of the importance of history and environmental protection from joining the activities.
One time, when William was walking with Jimmy, his eldest son, they passed some wasteland close to where they were living. People were demolishing buildings there. "But there were also trees," William said, "and Jimmy was very angry to see saplings broken or covered by what looked like illegal dumping of rubble. He said to me 'when I'm older, I am going to use the money from my company to plant trees'."
The Lindesay family went to Britain in July this year. On July 12, Queen Elizabeth awarded William the rank of "Officer, Order of the British Empire" for his international contribution to protecting the Great Wall of China. "This is just like May 1st Labor Day Medal in China," William explained. In London he unfolded the national flags of Britain and China for a photo outside Buckingham Palace with Wu Qi, Jimmy, Tommy and his brothers, sister and their families.
"I promised the Queen that I would persevere in my conservation work of the Great Wall and I hope to continue for one hundred years!"
William turned 50 a few weeks ago. "It is a milestone," William said. "But for me I don't think I could ever retire, because the Great Wall is always going to be there. It's my passion. I am very lucky that I am doing something I really enjoy. It's worthwhile, interesting and fascinating.""I am also very lucky to have Qi and a happy family life as my foundation," William said.
The more William Lindesay thinks about it, the more he regards his story a perfect example of destiny.
Lindesay, the first foreigner to make a traverse on foot along the whole length of Ming Dynasty Great Wall and the founder of International Friends of the Great Wall, came face to face with this destiny when he was still an 11-year-old boy in Britain, looking at the Great Wall on his school atlas map for the first time.
"My dream of the Great Wall began at that time," William said. "But most people who have dreams in childhood forget these and end up doing something else. But luckily, I've stayed with mine."
His dream came true in 1987, when he traveled 2,470 kilometers on foot along the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Great Wall (from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan). Back in Britain, William recounted his 2,470 km solo adventure in Alone on the Great Wall, which was published in the UK, USA and Germany. After that, he returned to China. While working at Xi'an University of Technology and later at China Daily and Xinhua News Agency, he actually spent much of his spare time trekking and researching on the Great Wall. From the late 1990s, he began picking up garbage from the Wall by himself. In 1998, William organized the first public clean-up action on Great Wall, heading 120 participants picking up garbage at Jinshanling Great Wall and later continued to organize many activities of the same kind. In 1999, he helped place ten notice boards that bear "Taking Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints" beside footpaths leading up to wilderness Wall in Huairou.
At the end of year 2000, William decided that it was time to work full-time for the Great Wall. He established in 2001 the "International Friends of the Great Wall", a non-profit NGO devoted to the conservation of the Great Wall, embarking on a larger dream – "to assist China's cultural-relics authorities in preserving the authenticity of the Great Wall of China".
Also with the Great Wall, William found another destiny of life – his wife Wu Qi. William says the Great Wall is the matchmaker of him and Qi. And previous reports often went like "William met his beautiful wife on the Great Wall." Reading that, William laughed, "So many people have visions of me walking along the Great Wall and spotting Wu Qi in a field pounding corn. And people must think I said to this farm girl something like, 'Xiaojie, ni hao!' (Hello, young lady)."
But the true story of William and Qi together on the Great Wall began on what might have been the last day of William in China. "We met each other in the lobby of our hotel one afternoon. She could speak English. And at that time those Chinese who were learning Chinese took every opportunity to flex their language skill. I remember I was in the lobby of the hotel and heard someone say 'hello, what do you do China?' and I said 'hello, my name is William'. I didn't say anything like 'I'm running along the Great Wall.' because I was en route to complying with a deportation order for trespass in closed areas, and it was my last day, perhaps forever, in China," William reminisced, still being able to tell every detail of his first meeting with Qi though it was almost twenty years ago.
"So I said 'I am writing a book'. And I remember you asked what the book was about," William said turning to Qi, "I said 'it is about the Great Wall'. And then Qi said 'what is it called?' But I didn't have a name for the book, or perhaps half a book, at that time. Anyway, off the top of my head, I said 'the book is called From the Desert to the Sea', because the Great Wall goes from the desert to the sea. And she said 'oh, very nice, bye-bye'. And that was it.'
William called it a miracle that just two weeks later he managed to return to China and restart his journey along the Great Wall. Then, destiny took a hand, one again. He met Qi in the lobby of the same hotel. "The rest is private," William said with smile. In 1988 William and Qi married and interestingly, the subtitle of William's first book "Alone on the Great Wall" is "From the Desert to the Sea".
"The Great Wall is truly our matchmaker. William came to China because of the Great Wall and then we could meet each other," said Wu Qi. "I majored in history at university. But I never thought I'd hear so much about the Great Wall of China from a foreigner. I was moved at that time that a foreigner could be so crazy about the Great Wall."
But her parents might not think the same way. "My parents couldn't figure it out why a foreigner came all the way to China," said Qi. "Because back in 1987, there were not so many foreigners in China at that time."
Even now, William said, his career might sometimes be misinterpreted by his father-in-law. "Qi's father was recently overheard answering a question 'what does your foreign son-in-law do in Beijing' with the response 'he picks–up garbage on the Great Wall'," William said jokingly.
But Qi understood fully William's long-term goal and she supported him whole-heartedly. She became William's assistant and the public relations manager of "the International Friends of the Great Wall", in charge of contacting officials and sponsors and promoting the Society's activities. "We make a good team," William said.
"Without Qi's organization, this project would just be a pile of photographs," said William, referring to his efforts to document how the Great Wall has changed over the last 150 years with the project "The Great Wall Revisited". "The Great Wall Revisited" utilizes the "re-photography" technique—repeatedly photographing the same place with a time lag in between. William has been traveling back and forth across North China with his file of vintage photos, looking for the exact spots where they were taken, to re–take them. "My aim is to link the past and present, and bring a better future for the Wall by providing this evidence to experts, officials and the general public," said William, two weeks before the photo exhibition to open at Beijing's Capital Museum on January 5, 2007.
William gave his special thanks to Qi at the end of his upcoming book, "The Great Wall Revisited": I couldn't have achieved so much without her.
Unlike other cross-cultural couples, William and Qi both agree that they have encountered no cultural shock and actually don't have any conflicts. But after a second thought, Qi said maybe she and William had some different ideas toward the education of their two sons, 12-year-old Jimmy and 6-year-old Tommy.
"We combine the Western way and the Chinese way to educate our children. When William is away from home, I would adopt the Chinese way, pushing the boys hard to finish homework," Qi said. "But William is always very lenient to the boys."
"I saw Tommy last night doing homework," William broke in. "He had a sheet full of Chinese characters. He is only six years old! I couldn't believe it. I thought, oh, poor boy as he sat there, murmuring characters like a monk," William said.
Jimmy and Tommy are "core" members of the "International Friends of the Great Wall". They've been with William and Qi to nearly every activity they have carried out on the Great Wall. Qi thought the boys would gain high awareness of the importance of history and environmental protection from joining the activities.
One time, when William was walking with Jimmy, his eldest son, they passed some wasteland close to where they were living. People were demolishing buildings there. "But there were also trees," William said, "and Jimmy was very angry to see saplings broken or covered by what looked like illegal dumping of rubble. He said to me 'when I'm older, I am going to use the money from my company to plant trees'."
The Lindesay family went to Britain in July this year. On July 12, Queen Elizabeth awarded William the rank of "Officer, Order of the British Empire" for his international contribution to protecting the Great Wall of China. "This is just like May 1st Labor Day Medal in China," William explained. In London he unfolded the national flags of Britain and China for a photo outside Buckingham Palace with Wu Qi, Jimmy, Tommy and his brothers, sister and their families.
"I promised the Queen that I would persevere in my conservation work of the Great Wall and I hope to continue for one hundred years!"
William turned 50 a few weeks ago. "It is a milestone," William said. "But for me I don't think I could ever retire, because the Great Wall is always going to be there. It's my passion. I am very lucky that I am doing something I really enjoy. It's worthwhile, interesting and fascinating.""I am also very lucky to have Qi and a happy family life as my foundation," William said.
posted by Editor @ 9:02 PM
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