Great China Quest
One summer, before either of them was married, my son Albert and his friend Adrian engaged in a great quest across China. They both were teaching in a Chinese university at the time and were free for the summer. Of this quest, Albert says, “What started as a late-night discussion over a bowl of noodles took us on a trip across the length of China.”
He continues, “With only the starting and ending points decided, and a time limit of just 30 days (July 29 to August 27, 2010), The Great China Quest is the story of our journey to cover the 2,000 miles from Urumqi [in the northwest] to Guangzhou [in the southeast] (without flying) while attempting to tackle 15 scavenger-hunt challenges that our Chinese students have dared us to complete (see The Rules).” My English-speaking readers may know that China is approximately the size of the continental United States, so this trip is approximately the same length as traveling from Seattle to Miami.
I’d like my readers to know about this trip, as recorded on Albert’s website. A place to start is the 24-minute radio interview with Adrian (and his charming British accent) on campus radio. Note: a few seconds of the interview are in Chinese. The rest is in beautiful English.
To get a feel for the real Chinese people as encountered on the trip, a glimpse unsullied by political dogma, the trip is a real education. The quest included a television game show of an obstacle course. Otherwise, the trip was simply with ordinary Chinese people across the country. It sounded like a lot of fun.
By the way, the book is yet to be published. Maybe this blog post will spur Albert and Adrian on to get it submitted!