Treasure of Gobi Desert
St. Joseph’s College, Darren Leung, Fiction: Group 4
T
he Gobi Desert, located in the northern and northwestern China, has been one of the
most famous Deserts in China – and in the world. With a long history of inhabitation by
both humans and other creatures, the Gobi Desert is a unique specimen for archeologists,
biologists and journalists. Also, the Gobi desert has served as the border for the Chinese
civilization for centuries, and helped repel other nations invading the country. In conclusion, the
Gobi desert can be considered one of the greatest treasures of Asia.”
Kelvin closed the geography textbook. He has known about the Gobi desert from the book
since he was small, but he has never imagined that he would be able to step on this piece of land
in his life. And not without a good reason – his mission was to offer technical support to the
power stations as a part of the Great Western Development Strategy of the Communist Party. He
was also assigned to help, wherever appropriate, to construct the town of Chu’Meng (“Start of a
dream” literally), which will serve as the base of further explorations to the West in the future.
The car wheeled to a stop – they finally arrived at the site for Chu’Meng. As Kelvin packed his
belongings to prepare to get off the car, he envisioned a happy town with satisfied citizens and
beautiful scenery of the desert. He imagined merry little children playing around on the sand. The
sun was shining brightly on the town – just like the future of Western China.
Kelvin alighted from the car. The sight of the city was not what he had expected. The houses
in the town were all identical, with a grey color and a cuboids shape. The inhabitants were all
workmen, their faces dull and expressionless, carrying toolboxes or suitcases in their hands. The
humming of machinery was heard from every corner of the city, and the air was dry but polluted
with desert dust.
A local official in a nearby cab beckoned to Kelvin.
“So you are the engineer Kelvin from Shanghai?” he said, “We have been expecting you.
Please follow me to the power station immediately.” Kelvin was a bit dumbstruck, but resigned
himself to following the official into the cab.
As the cab travelled out of town, Kelvin gazed at the scenery outside. The land outside was all
rough and barren, with no vegetation except for a few cacti.
“It wasn’t all like this before,” said the official, “Years ago the land here is lush and fertile. But
that’s before the Great Western Development Strategy began.”
The cab arrived at the power station. The official led Kelvin down, and introduced him to
the other workmen. They all looked at Kelvin respectfully, making Kelvin feel a bit nervous. The
official exchanged a few words with one of the workmen, and led Kelvin to a nearby electric
generator. Kelvin examined the generator. Although the generator looked a bit old, it was still
in good shape. Kelvin concluded that there was nothing he could do about it, and proceeded to
wander around the station to chat with some other workmen.
A workman carrying a wheelbarrow walked past, his face dull and emotionless like all these
workmen in town.
“Why do you look so grim?” Kelvin asked. “I still have a lot of work to do: the officials have
made us carry barrows after barrows of coal every day, and I have only finished half the amount
required,” the workman sighed, with a touch of remorse in his words.
“
