Agricultural giant since 1983

Chapter 164 William Lindsay
"Do you understand foreign languages? That's great. Quickly translate for us. What was he talking about?" Several policemen hurriedly told the story as if they had seen a savior.

It turned out that they had received reports from the masses that a suspicious-looking foreigner had suddenly appeared on the Great Wall. A foreigner was running around in the wilderness, taking out his camera to take pictures from time to time.

This made them instinctively wonder if this foreigner might be a spy?Come to us to gather information?So he was caught immediately.

"Is there any confidential unit around here?" After receiving a negative answer, Li Lei was also wondering, did he come to do illegal surveying and mapping?It didn't look like it either, so I started asking the foreigner.

Seeing that someone could understand English, the foreigner gradually calmed down and quickly introduced his identity and what he was doing now.

"My name is William Lindsay. I was born in Liverpool. After graduating from high school, I entered the University of Liverpool majoring in geography and geology. After graduation, I went to work in oil fields in Egypt and Norway, and then returned to the UK to work at Manchester University of Technology. Now It's my GAP-year, uh, you know what GAP-year means, right?"

Gap-year was later translated into gap year, which roughly means that young people are not eager to step into the society blindly after entering school or graduating, before working, but stop and take a long-distance long-distance travel (usually one year), Take some time off to do what you want to do.

During this period of time, you can go on a study tour, work as a volunteer, or just take a break to think about your own life. It is different from a short-term short-distance travel and is not completely equivalent to a work trip; the interval means a pause, and it is in a relaxed state Long-term integration into local life.

The gap year at this time can help students learn more about themselves and experience life through social practice; the gap year is a way of "separating" the current social life to achieve the purpose of better integrating into the current society.

Similarly, some people who feel that their work has fallen into a bottleneck will also choose this way to give themselves a long vacation and rethink their life plans.

This concept is very strange to Jingshu, but it is not uncommon to Li Lei. In his era, the proportion of Chinese who did this was not high, but relying on China's huge population, the absolute number is not. It's a small amount, and I often see it when I browse video websites.

"I understand." Li Lei briefly said a few words about his understanding of the gap year, and then praised his hometown, "Liverpool is a very nice city, I like Beatles music!"

Liverpool is probably most famous for the Beatles and the Liverpool football team. After John Lennon's death, Liverpool changed its airport name to Lennon Airport.

Hearing someone praise his hometown, William Lindsay was even happier, and sang a few Beatles songs to Li Lei, "Hey"

"Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana!" Li Lei became excited and hummed along.

"Ahem, Comrade Xiao Li, what did you say?" Several policemen looked confused and couldn't help interrupting their conversation. Li Lei quickly introduced William Lindsay's identity to them.

It’s hard for the police in the 80s to understand the gap year. “It’s been a year since he’s gone, and he’s still needed when he returns to work? What about his wife and baby? Don’t support the family anymore?”

What they doubt the most is that there are so many countries in the world, why do you insist on coming to China? Even if you come to China for tourism, you will go to big cities like BJ and Shanghai. What is there to see in our backcountry?

Li Lei continued to ask, and William Lindsay also explained the reason. When he was 11 years old, the new teacher told his students in his class that you should keep three books by your bed, one of which is an atlas.

Therefore, William Lindsay would carefully read the atlas before going to bed every night. One day, he accidentally discovered "The Great Wall" marked on it. At that moment, he felt touched by something, and his intuition told him that this is his where to go.

William Lindsay has an older brother who likes running marathons very much. Influenced by his older brother, he also fell in love with the sport. One day in 1984, the two brothers ran a marathon along Hadrian's Great Wall across northern England.

My brother said as he ran that if he could run along the Great Wall of China, it would be considered a real long-distance run, because Hadrian’s Great Wall built in ancient Rome was only over 100 kilometers long, while the Great Wall of China was thousands of kilometers long.

The elder brother never expected that the words he said casually would not only arouse William's yearning for the Great Wall again, but also change the trajectory of his younger brother's life.

So William Lindsay began to prepare, insisting on running fifteen to twenty kilometers every day, and then went to Chinatown to find someone to learn Chinese. Unfortunately, he found a Cantonese in Chinatown. The few Cantonese he learned were not in the north. Few people in the hinterland can understand it.

This summer, William felt that he was almost ready, so he resolutely quit his job and came to China. He wanted to "carry very little luggage alone, rely on the residents along the way for board and lodging, and set off from Shanhaiguan to JYG."

He said cheerfully to Li Lei, "I am 29 years old, I am not married, and I have no pressure to buy a house or a car. I have the ability to realize my dreams, so after booking a plane ticket from the UK to China, I am like this. coming."

These words reminded Li Lei of himself before time travel. At that time, he was about 29 years old. Although he was not married, he was overwhelmed by the pressure of finding a job and buying a house. For him, his dream had come true. A very luxurious thing.

Hey, how many people in this world have their dreams wiped out by the pressure of life. Fortunately, God gave me a second chance so that I can fight for my dreams again.

After arriving in China, William discovered that some areas along the Great Wall were not open to foreigners. Foreigners had to hold a pass issued by the relevant department to pass, and this pass was difficult to obtain. He had no choice but to run secretly. It was just a 1.8-meter-high The foreigner was so eye-catching in the inland areas in the 80s. He encountered similar things several times along the way. This was not the first time he was caught.

After translating these to the police, several policemen still didn’t understand, “You said that he spent so much effort just to run around the Great Wall, what is he trying to do?”

"Actually, it's easy to understand. People, when there is no pressure in life, you will start thinking about other things! You should know about the Yangtze river rafting in the newspaper recently, right? They all have the same meaning!" Li Lei found a very suitable example. , allowing them to understand what William Lindsay is doing.

American professional explorer Ken Warren and his wife Jane Warren came to China three years ago. They proposed a Yangtze River rafting plan to the China Sports Service Company under the State Sports Commission. The China Sports Service Company offered $80 The sky-high price, I want the Warrens to quit.

You know, at this time, the staff of the Sports Commission only earn 50 yuan a month, and 80 US dollars is definitely an astronomical figure.

Although the Warrens had little savings, $80 was beyond their reach. However, the temptation of becoming the world's first Yangtze River rafter outweighed the pressure of money, so Warren made an agreement with them that he would go back to the United States to raise money. Start drifting when you have enough money.

After the news spread, some people quickly raised objections. It is undoubtedly a great honor to sail the Yangtze River for the first time, so why should this honor be given to the Americans?Can't we Chinese strive for this honor?The pioneers of drifting on the Yangtze River should be the Chinese!The No.1 who conquered the largest river in China should be descendants of Yan and Huang!
Among them, Yao Maoshu, a photographer from the electronic classroom of Southwest Jiaotong University, had the most intense reaction. He had read and studied hundreds of materials on the hydrology, geography, and meteorology of the Yangtze River, and sorted out information from the source of the Yangtze River to temples along the river in Dukou City and Tibetan nomads. Detailed diagram of points.

Athletes who soaked in the reservoir all the year round and bought cheaply used old rubber rafts to learn driving skills.

He wrote a letter to the sports service company, hoping to join the Chinese American team and go to the United States to receive training from Ken Warren.However, the body suit was only screened internally, and this Sichuan Meishan fan was rejected, and he was advised not to drift.

Yao Maoshu also rejected the suggestion of physical clothing, and he decided to set off before Ken Warren and become the first person to drift the Yangtze River; before leaving, he thought that if he died, his wife would take the child alone Difficult to remarry, Yao Maoshu made a tragic move: he asked his wife to abort the 4-month-old child in his stomach.

On June 6 last year, Yao Maoshu launched from the source of the Yangtze River and entered the Tuotuo River; on July 20, after drifting for 7 kilometers, the rubber boat "Descendants of the Dragon" was found stuck in the rocks of the Tongjia Gorge on the Jinsha River Above, Yao Maoshu died at the age of 24.

Yao Maoshu's death aroused great repercussions, and major media scrambled to report on it. This year, he was named one of the "National Top Ten Outstanding Youths".

"Sichuan Daily" published "Long Song Sacrificial to Heroes", which recorded Yao Maoshu's drifting and distress for the first time in detail.This heavy report attracted more than 100 media reprints, and people asked, "Is there only one Yao Mao book for the descendant of the dragon?"

In China in the 80s, such a problem was a bomb. In order to be one step ahead of the Americans, in June 1986, a domestic spontaneously organized rafting team set off to the source, and they were unprepared.

A team from Shanghai had only one person left at the source. This person struggled to the Tuotuo River and returned after a glance; another drifter from Wuhan had three tires tied together on the drifting boat. A wooden plank was placed in the middle, and he was also persuaded to return near the source.

The last three professional teams began to compete for the honor of the first Yangtze River drift, Ken Warren and the Chinese and American teams, the Luoyang team and the Sichuan team.

These three teams paid a huge price. Three people died in the process of making up the drift, three people were missing in Yeba Beach, two people were killed in Tiger Leaping Gorge and Baihe Beach, American photographer Xipi died of pneumonia, and a reporter was killed by flying stones. Stoned to death, 3 people were killed in the three Yangtze River drifting teams.

In the end, the Luoyang team took the lead in entering Wusongkou, Shanghai, and was greeted by the leaders of SH Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, Navy Shanghai Base, HEN Province and LY City. After landing, SH citizens holding flowers surrounded the drifting heroes and entered the city. The speech was interrupted by cheers from the students.

Captain Wang Maojun was invited by Shanghai TV to shoot the show "Real Men". He shaved his beard on purpose. The director was very disappointed, "Oh, what we filmed is your beard..."

For a time, they became the heroes admired by the people of the whole country, and the reporters who reported the drifting also won their rewards. They won the National Good News Award of the year, the first prize of the National Photojournalism Selection and other awards.

Nowadays, rivers and rivers all over the country are full of rafting explorers, who hope to be stained with the glory of heroes in the same way.

The story of the Yangtze River rafting has also been put on the screen. The story of Yao Maoshu was adapted into the TV series "The First Drift on the Yangtze River", starring Zhu Shimao, who was famous in the Spring Festival Gala. The experience of the Luoyang rafting team was changed into the movie "Tiangu". The protagonists include Li Youbin and Chi Zhiqiang, the two who played Li Yunlong and sang "Tears Behind the Bar".

Nowadays, the topic of Yangtze River rafting is very hot. Even the policemen in small towns in northern Shaanxi have heard about it. They immediately understood Li Lei’s analogy, “Oh, this foreigner also wants to learn from Warren in the United States? No.1 who finished the Great Wall?"

"Oh!" The leading policeman slapped his thigh, "This foreigner is so insidious! Warren made a big fanfare at the beginning, but we snatched it first, so he wanted to do it secretly, and then publicized after the run, lest we Chinese snatch him. Run ahead!"

"No way, we must not let this honor be snatched by foreigners. We Chinese are the first to float the Yangtze River, and we must be the first to finish the Great Wall! Captain, why don't you lock him up for a few days? ? And let him expose his conspiracy in the newspapers!" Someone offered an idea.

Li Lei was dumbfounded. He just wanted to help William Lindsay, but he didn't expect to ignore the vigorous patriotic enthusiasm of the people and the huge sequelae caused by the Yangtze River drift.

He hurriedly explained to the policemen that William Lindsay simply wanted to see the Great Wall and had no intention of competing for No. 1, so he finally persuaded the policemen.

William Lindsay was also able to regain his freedom. When he returned to the county seat, Li Lei called them to have a meal together. Several policemen at the dinner table persuaded William Lindsay to give up this plan. They still had doubts and did not want to let the first The honor of running the Great Wall went to William Lindsay.

"We have released you now, and you may still be arrested when you go to the next place. At that time, there may not be someone like Comrade Xiao Li who knows foreign languages ​​​​to help you!"

"What should I do to get permission?" William Lindsay asked Li Lei, who still didn't want to give up.

　Interspersed with the 80s sensation, but now forgotten
　　
　
(End of this chapter)