William Lindsay, an United Kingdom, first came to China in 1986 and successfully achieved a 2,470-kilometer walk on the Great Wall in 1987. After settling in China in 1990, William Lindsay devoted himself to the exploration, research, conservation and publicity of the Great Wall. Over the past decades, he has held 9 exhibitions along the Great Wall, published books such as "William: My Life on the Great Wall" and "50 Great Wall Cultural Relics", and won the Chinese Government Friendship Award and other honors.
William Lindsay's Chinese wife, Wu Qi, said in a recent interview with a reporter from the main station's global information broadcast that William Lindsay came to China to realize her childhood dream.
Wu Qi: William Lindsay first came to China in 1986. When he was 11 years old, he was interested in atlases, and one day he turned to the page of the map of China and saw a zigzag line on it, and the teacher said that this was the Great Wall of China, which was very ancient. He said, when I grow up, I'm going to China, I'm going to run from one end of the Great Wall to the other. United Kingdom has more than 100 kilometers of Hadrian's Wall between Scotland and England, called the Hundred Mile Wall. In 1984, he and his brother ran from one end of the Great Wall to the other in three days.
William Lindsay first went to the Badaling Great Wall, because the first photo he saw of the Great Wall was the Badaling Great Wall.
In 1987, he spent 78 days running the Great Wall, becoming the first foreign friend to walk on the Great Wall alone. In 2000, he decided to quit his job and start specializing in the Great Wall. Later, William Lindsay and Wu Qi bought a house in Xizhazi Village at the foot of the Jiankou Great Wall, and the family went to see the Great Wall every weekend. If there are guests who want to see the Great Wall or have a film crew to photograph the Great Wall, they will be responsible for reception and other work, and William Lindsay will also explain the history and geography of the Great Wall to the guests.
Wu Qi: In the 90s, William Lindsay found that as the roads got better and there were more and more private cars, more and more people came to take pictures of the Great Wall, but there was also more garbage on the Great Wall. Later, we found 100 Chinese and foreign volunteers to go to the Jinshanling Great Wall to pick up garbage and donate garbage bins, and the impact of the event was still very great. From this time on, he began to do work related to the protection of the Great Wall.
William Lindsay took a lot of photographs and held the exhibition "The Great Wall: A Hundred Years of Retrospection" in Beijing, Jiayuguan and many other places, through the comparison of the current photos of the Great Wall and the photos of the Great Wall 100 years ago, let people see the changes that have taken place on the Great Wall, and call on people to protect the Great Wall and the surrounding environment and culture. He also put forward the slogan "If you don't love the Great Wall, you are not a hero", and established the International Association of Friends of the Great Wall.
William Lindsay's love for the Great Wall has also been passed on to his children. He and Wu Qi's youngest son, Tommy Lindsay, said he started climbing the Great Wall when he was in his mother's womb.
Tommy Lindsay: My childhood was also closely connected to the Great Wall of China, and our whole family has a very unique affection for the Great Wall of China. I usually go hiking on weekends, and I've been to the Jiankou Great Wall hundreds of times, and since I was almost 4 years old, I've been going to these more famous Great Wall landscapes around Beijing.
In 2022, after graduating from Peking University, Tommy · Lindsay walked the Great Wall with his brother.
Tommy Lindsay: It took 153 days to travel 3,842 kilometers, the first section is from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan, and the second section is from Huludao City in the north of Shanhaiguan to Dandong. We personally measured the main line of the Great Wall with our feet, especially in places with mountain dangers, and we saw everything we could. Although I may not have gained as many experts, as a hobbyist, I know a lot about the Great Wall of China.
To protect the Great Wall is to protect the common civilization of mankind and protect our common homeland. The villagers at the foot of the Great Wall are also becoming more and more aware of the need to protect the Great Wall.
Mei Jingtian, a villager from Shixia Village, Badaling Town, Yanqing District, Beijing, has been volunteering to protect the Great Wall since the 80s of the last century. His niece, Liu Hongyan, later became a full-time Great Wall protector.
Mei Jingtian: I have expectations for the new Great Wall conservators, and I hope that they will continue to protect the Great Wall and our world cultural heritage. Let's all work together to protect the Great Wall!
Image courtesy of the interviewee
Reporter丨Sun Lingli Yin Sleeveqi
Editor丨Sun Lingli
Host丨Ge Peng
Production丨Yang Xiaolei
Signing丨Enron
Producer丨Liu Yiyao
Source: Global Information Broadcasting