William Lindesay's Great Wall

By Hong Shu， Ah You

William Lindesay's Great Wall

By Hong Shu， Ah You

William Lindesay loves the Great Wall of China so much that he is the frst foreigner who covered the whole length of the Great Wall constructed in the Ming Dynasty（1368-1644）， that he has published five books on the Great Wall， and he has held many photo exhibitions to show the Great Wall in his eyes. He is 60 years old now. He is a leading scholar of world renown on the Great Wall and a leading promoter of the ancient structure which is a world cultural heritage site.

He was born into an ordinary family in Liverpool， UK. He frst learned about the Great Wall of China in 1967 because of a teacher. The new teacher asked his students to have three bedside books and the most important should be an atlas. He had his own three bedside books. It was the atlas that gave him the frst glimpse of the Great Wall stretching across the north of China. The glimpse also gave him a dream of seeing the mankind's most ambitious building project. He majored in geography at Liver-pool University. After graduation he worked in Egypt and Norway. In 1984， he and his brother ran a super marathon along Hadrian's Wall in UK. His brother commented that the wall was about 100 kilometers but the Great Wall of China was several thousand kilometers in length. That would be greater fun to run alone from one end to another of the Great Wall. William listened.

He got down seriously to the business of running along the Great Wall. He checked out books about the Great Wall to prepare for his super marathon in China. He also prepared physically by jogging or walking. In the summer of 1986， he arrived in China.

林赛（中）在长城捡垃圾Lindesay （c） and his friends pick up rubbish along the Great Wall.

林赛一家在长城The Lindesays on the Great Wall

The frst two efforts failed.

Both journeys started from Jiayuguan Fortress in the northwest. It was too hot. He didn't have adequate water intake. He suffered from hemorrhages and bone fracture in his toes. He had to scratch the plan. In April 1987， he tried again. This time he successfully ran about 1，500 miles and arrived safely at Shanhaiguan Fortress.

And it was during his stay in China that he met Wu Qi， a native of Xi'an， the capital city of northwestern China's Shanxi Province. In 1988 Lindesay and Wu came back to UK. The couple became sensational headliners after BBC broadcast an interview with them. In 1989 Lindesay published his frst book on the Great Wall， titled “Alone on the Great Wall”.

In April 1994， Lindesay and Wu came back to China to live and work. During that time， he and an American friend trekked along the Great Wall in the suburbs of Beijing on weekends. And he was upset at the sight of rubbish along the great building. He complained about the mess to his wife Wu. Wu replied， “What is the point of complaining？ If you don't like what you see there， you can clean up the Great Wall yourself.”He listened. The next weekend Lindesay and his American friend picked up rubbish on the Great Wall. The cleaning project started. In 1998， Wu Qi made another important suggestion: why not organize a team to do the cleanup work？ Back then they were staying at Friendship Hotel where a lot of foreigners working in Beijing stayed. Lindesay posted a notice on the public bulletin board at the hotel. More than 120 environmentalists from 36 countries signed up. Great Wall Hotel in Beijing endorsed the project and provided free vehicles， rubbish bags， gloves and lunch.

In April 1998， Lindesay and Wu Qi and his team cleaned up two sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. In 2001， Lindesay registered Friends of the Great Wall in Hong Kong so as to better protect the Great Wall. Signs featuring “Take Nothing but Pictures and leave nothing but footprints”were installed on the Great Wall and six locals were employed to clean up Jiankou Section of the Great Wall regularly， financed by two foreign companies.

Over years， Lindesay and Wu Qi have done quite a lot to enhance the public awareness of the Great Wall. With the fnancial support of many international businesses， the couple has held photo exhibitions to feature the ancient architectural wonder. As a result， the Chinese government has intensifed efforts to protect the Great Wall.

Nowadays， Lindesay and Wu Qi are almost scholars on the Great Wall. They have collected a lot of old photos taken over the past 100 years and they have taken many photos on their trips along different sections of the Great Wall over years. After publishing The Great Wall in 50 Objects in 2015，Lindesay plans to give a series of lectures in a university.

Nowadays， Lindesay no longer goes regularly to the Great Wall on weekends. He gives more time to his research projects. His two sons and his sons' friends have joined the team to continue the cleanup enterprise. Lindesay thinks the Great Wall may help people in the world know better about China， an oriental country growing at unexpectedly fast rate.