From 24 Hours Online, summarized and translated by CDT:
I have arrived at my destination, Xi’an city. The whole journey was about 3,800-4,200 km. I visited five provinces–Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Shaanxi. I started from Beijing in the hot summer (August 10th), and ended in Xi’an in the cool autumn (October 21st). On my trip I went though the North China Plain, the Yellow Plateau, the Ordos grassland, the Maowusu Desert, Ningxia rice land, along the road of the Sui and Ming Great Wall ruins …
I was glad, as my weight dropped from 84 kg to 79 kg. I was shocked, as most places I stopped by were extremely safe and used to be considered dangerous. I was angry, as the media, the so-called tongue of the people, mostly told lies or trash; I was concerned, as the matters relating to peasants were the most easily to be seen as minor but should be seen as big issues; the peasants are the group that needs the most attention but hasn’t gained a glance.
Over such a long journey I changed seven bicycle inner tubes, three tires, four chains, and a set of gears, etc. Fixing the bike was as common as having meals on my trip. As you may have noticed I did not update my photos recently, as my camera broke.
On October 21st, Sanxian Xuebing Lian comrades gathered in the Big Pagoda square in Xi’an and held a welcoming ceremony for me. See the photos below:
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Sanxian Xuebing Lian (the third front student-soldier brigade) was a group of about 25,800 middle school graduates in Shaanxi, who were selected between 1970-1971 during the Cultural Revolution to build the railway from Hubei to Sichuan. Since 2005, members of the Sanxian Xuebing Lian have set up special blog . Over 400 regular members have posted on the blog to track their lives over the past three decades and today. Laohu Miao is a member of this community, which has followed his recent trip online.
– Read also a profile of blogger Laohu Miao and his 24 Hours Online blog, via CDT.
