HKYWA 2015 Fiction 3 to 6 - page 508

Fiction: Group 4
A Greater Treasure
Island School, Gaultney, Lindie - 14, Fiction: Group 4
acts:
-Since December 2004 HK and other cities found in the Pearl River Delta are interconnected
through subways and rails.
-The Pearl River Delta is one of Chinas leading economic regions and major manufacturing center
-By train it takes 2 hours to go from Guangzhou to Hong kong
-The Pearl River Delta is becoming a more popular destination
Use legend of the pearl
In the middle of the Guangzhou river sits a gigantic stone island, gradually washed and eroded by the water
that the stone became slick and smooth like the shape of a pearl
Third longest river in China
A Greater Treasure
I had always wanted to see the shiny pearl of the river. The one my ancestors told me about. The thing that
only the most successful and humble people were allowed to see. The treasure so precious that the dragon of
the water curled it up every night like a new born threatening to send storms if challenged. It was my dream
place. Something I had hoped for ever since I was a little child. Odd you might think, but to me it was the
epitome of adventure and beauty. A key to my somewhat lost heritage.
I dreamt of the salty air blowing against my long black hair, the waves silently lapping against the rock and
my thin, pale teenage body resting on the very top of the pearl in the most supreme and important spot.
The moon would be full and awake with light, fish dancing and playing in the dark mysterious waters. The
industrial cranes have stopped their work for the day and the only people in sight are the old fishermen
making their way in for the night - their paddles swooping and swaying as if singing a tune.
They told me it wouldn’t be an easy journey. I would have to travel day and night by boat past the monsters
of the sea. In my way stood many obstacles, that’s why I had started planning ever since I was seven. The
plan started off rough and rigid as to be expected, but later began to gain depth and complexity as I learnt
more about the dark secrets of the river. I learnt not only that it’s the third largest river in China, but that it
is also full of legends and mysteries. One of these tales described a stone island in the Guangzhou region of
the river. Legend has it that the waves washed and eroded the stone making the stone slick and smooth like
the shape of a pearl. This is how the name for the river is said to have originated. That is the treasure I wish
to find.
I imagined the joy I would feel when I finally saw the towering structure, strong and prominent in its place.
Quite large for a treasure one might think, but to me it would be a piece to the missing puzzle of my
heritage, a memory that not even the most powerful man could take away from me, something I could
treasure forever. This is my story.
The time had come for me to go to secondary school. It was the last week of summer and I had spent it in
my room huddled over my Chinese history book sucking in all the information I could get. You see the
thing is I was born originally in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta Region. A few months after I was born
I was sent away to an orphanage in which I grew up until I was four years old when my adoptive parents
came for me. I was never told exactly why my parents gave me up, but rather was told an array of white lies
every time the subject was brought up. Anyways this is beside the point so I was in my bedroom just
minding my own business when I heard my adoptive parents arguing in the room next to mine. They kept
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