One of the things I definitely wanted to do in China was climbing the Great Wall, but I did not know how hard that was.

On the 6th day (Sep 13) of our tour, our guide took us to JuYong Pass and in the bus, she introduced us Chairman Mao’s words, “Until you reach the Great Wall, you are no hero”, which I think implies “No pain, No gain”.

When we got to the starting point of the wall, we saw a stone monument where his words were engraved and saw the grand Great Wall behind it. All these things excited me so much that I got determined to accomplish my “dream”.

However the journey was not easy. Some stairs were 30cm high. After clearing those stairs, I ran out of breath and had to rest for a while.

Of 16 members of our group, only 4 people reached the “hero point”. Luckily I was one of them.

Having reached the hero point, I was filled with joy, but then I wondered about the making of the walls.

According to Wikipedia, “The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west…..The Ming walls measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi).[5] This is made up of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) sections of actual wall, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.[5] Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km.”

Compared with these distances, my accomplishment is nothing, yet my pain was severe. What sort of hardships the people who made the walls went through? It must be beyond imagination.Certainly, "No pain, No gain".