'Senior backpackers' trot the globe
- By Daniel Xu and Wu Jin
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China.org.cn, September 6, 2011
Making the leap
The couple did not always have such grand ambitions to cover the globe with their footprints. The inspiration came when they made a relatively modest trip to Yunnan Province, where they encountered two backpackers who spoke not a single word of Chinese. Zhang was shocked they still dared to come this deep into southwestern China, and he did not want to fall behind.
"We'll climb the Alps!" he declared.
Europe, as their first voyage outside China, they have long conquered. What they also left behind as their travel logs gradually piled up, Zhang said, was "the simple mindset of seeing all the world’s most beautiful sceneries."
"The many, many cultures; their rise and fall and the conquering of one culture by another; the marks they all leave behind," Zhang said. "Those are much more awe-inspiring."
In Mexico City, the two came upon a magnificent Catholic church from the colonial period. Inside, they saw that the building had two parts: the church had been built on top of an old Mayan temple, whose basement and foundations were still intact.
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The senior backpackers Zhang Guangzhu and Wang Zhongjin cuddle on the glaciers of Antarctica. Knowing little English, the Chinese couple went backpacking to 40 countries during four years. [Courtesy of Wang Zhongjin] |
"The past culture was replaced by violent conquering, and this church was the very symbol of that repression – both parts of it kept at a pristine state," Zhang said. “And look at the Mexicans, most of whom have Indian's, white's and black's blood."
Zhang said he always believed colonial conquests of a people – some of their conquerors' blood now running in their own veins – can bring them nothing but humiliating and painful memories. Perhaps that was still the case, but he saw a kind of reconciliation locals might have had with their past.
"Look at them; you couldn’t say they are not happy. The history was painful, but it also made them and their home who and what they are today."
After this and other similar encounters with both historical artifacts and different groups of people, the couple said they found a whole new perspective for their surroundings. Wang said she started to feel like the world was just "one big family."
"If you could hold no grudges for ancient history that happened 500 years ago and look beyond the cultural and racial differences, then you can see that the Earth belongs to all of us," she said. "The world belongs to all of us."
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