I’m sometimes asked “What’s it like accompanying a VVIP to the Great Wall?”
有时，人们会问我：“陪同一位大人物登长城是什么感觉？”
The answer is well, incredibly easy!
我的回答是：不难！
More than a month ago I received a special request from the British Embassy in Beijing if I might be available to accompanying very very important British visitors to the Great Wall and telling them the Great Wall story as I’ve come to know it.
一个多月前，我收到英国驻华使馆的特别邀请，请我陪同一些非常重要的大人物登长城，并给他们讲我所知道的长城故事。
Naturally I accepted.
我欣然地接受了。
I was then told who the VIPs might be….none other than the Prime Minister, Theresa May, and her husband, Philip May. I was especially interested because our ‘PM’ studied geography (at Oxford) while her husband studied history (at Oxford)…where they met.
后来我被告知这些重要人物就是特蕾莎.梅首相和她的丈夫菲利普.梅先生。我特别感性趣的是，我们的首相和她的丈夫是在牛津大学学习时认识的，而且一个学的是地理，一个学的是历史。
After a planning meeting I accompanied some staff members from the embassy and some team members from the PM’s team to the Wall for a reconnaissance. It soon became clear that the time needed to get out and back from the Wall, as well of course as up to it, along it for at least a few hundred metres and back down again soon added up to almost 4 hours…..even with the police traffic assistance en route.
在计划这次会见时，我首先陪着英国驻华使馆的官员，和来自伦敦首相团队的成员去做了调研。很清楚，即使是交警开道，没有交通堵塞，往返长城，加上登长城，在长城上走哪拍是一小段，算下来也得4个小时。
Given the PMs pressing schedule of meetings with state leaders in Beijing, and her need to run a government from the far side of the world, it was decided that, on this February visit at least, a visit to the Wall by the PM wouldn’t be possible. However, it was thought that Mr Philip May, being a keen walker along with his wife, would particularly enjoy and should visit the Great Wall — on his very first visit to Beijing.
首相的访问日程已经排得满满的，额外再花这几个小时登长城可能性很小。然而，考虑到经常与梅首相一起徒步的梅先生还是特别乐意一到北京就去造访长城。
So, it was all systems go for Mr May’s visit.
所以，决定让我陪同梅先生。
Probably the most difficult part of my task was to give Mr May the most comprehensive ‘view’ of the Great Wall to bring alive the actual view of the Wall itself, at Mutianyu. From the time of him arriving by car at the foot of the Wall, about 200 metres from the cablecar station, to our planned return, we had about 30-40 minutes…..
我们去了慕田峪长城。我任务的难点是，如何把中国万里长城这样一个悠久历史和巨大体量的复杂的工程，在很短的时间里，用简洁而生动的语言概括出来。从他乘车来到长城脚下，离缆车200米处开始，到我们离开，一共用了大约30-40分钟。
Fortunately, as soon as Mr May arrived I was I'm immediately introduced to him. I had done a little research and discovered that we were virtually neighbours back in the 1960s and 70s where we grew up….
幸运的是，梅先生的车一到，就有人立即把我介绍给他。之前，我也做了一点功课。我发现，实际上在上世纪60-70年代，我俩还是“邻居”。
I was born in Wallasey. He was born in Heswall. The two towns are just 15 kms apart!
我出生在Wallasey，他出生在Heswall。这两个镇仅相隔15公里。
I first explained why William Lindesay, from Wallasey, was about to tell him the Great Wall story…..of course I told the Hadrian’s Wall story and about my adventures on the Wall in 1986 and 1987.
首先，我先解释为什么一个来自英国Wallasey的我给他讲中国长城的故事......我从长跑英国哈德良长城，后来在1986和1987年我来华的独步中国万里长城讲起。
By the time we were sitting in the cable car I was introducing the basics of the story…..how the Wall arose because of the conflict between the settled Chinese society of the south and the nomadic society of the north.
到我们坐上缆车里之后，我开始概括地讲长城的历史......为何修建长城，如何修建长城.....
Once up to the platform just below the Wall came the gasps. What a beautiful day! I told Mr May that of all my 30 years or so in Beijing, this last winter has been the best for weather and air quality.
当我们走下缆车，上到登城的平台上时，啊！今天的天气太给力了！我告诉梅先生，我在北京生活了30年里，这是我体验到最好的天气和最好的空气的一个冬天。
We didn’t go straight up the steps onto the Wall from there. no, we took a beside-the-Wall path, for two good reasons. One, by taking that path, one sees the huge blocks of the containing wall close up, with their chisel marks. In this way you can quickly grasp the scale of human effort that went tin the building of the Wall…and that produces the ‘wow’ factor. the second reason for taking that path is that it allows one to avoid passing through the so-called ‘graffitt’ tower. I didn't want to expose our VVIP guest to such an ugly sight, even though I know the management have established the tower’s interior walls, covered in white sheets, for people to scrawl what they want to….
我们没有直接从缆车平台到长城上，而是先沿着长城旁边的小道漫步。原因有二个。其一，走在这条小路上，可以清楚地看到支撑长城的巨石上面的凿痕。这样使人可以很快感受到长城修建的不易，会使人“哇—”惊叹不已。其二，从这条道走还可以避开那个“涂鸦楼”。尽管这里的管理人员已经费尽了苦心，在楼里面盖上了白布，让那些想涂鸦的人有的放矢……
The view to the West, towards ‘yingfeidaoyang’ was superb, crystal clear. I told my guest that the Wall extended west and east far far beyond where we could see, and how its geography makes it a wonder among the wonders of the world.
站在慕田峪长城往西看，“鹰飞倒仰”清晰可见，尽收眼底。我给客人解释：长城从这里往东西两个方向，还会蜿蜒前行得很远很远，一望无尽。长城之所以是个世界奇迹，正是因为它在地理上的长度和体量。
Mr May was absolutely fascinated with the Wall and was equally amazed that a fellow Briton, from a neighbouring town, had spent half his life here.
梅先生对我能在中国一呆就是半辈子的惊奇，不亚于对中国万里长城的惊叹。
I had prepared two my books to present to Mr May, one signed to ‘Philip & Theresa May’ and the other to ‘Theresa & Philip May’ — for equality!
我事先准备了两本书送给梅先生。我在第一本的扉页上写的是“赠给：菲利普和特蕾莎.梅“，另一本是：“特蕾莎和菲利普.梅”——这样是不是显得平等呢！
Mr May kindly gifted me a large notebook with a silver number ’10’ embossed on the front cover, something that Tommy promptly took a liking to when he saw it. It’s now on his desk.
梅先生也好心送我一本印有数字10号的黑色笔记本。我想汤米可能会喜欢这个来自唐宁街10号的礼物。现在它就躺在了汤米的书桌上。
It was a memorable visit and as we bade farewell I expressed the hope of having the pleasure of accompanying Mr May and the PM to the Wall, perhaps a different section, on their next visit.
陪同梅先生登长城，真是一次难忘的经历。当我们互相挥手道别的时候，我希望下次有机会能再陪伴梅首相和梅先生一道参观中国另一段长城。
昨天（2月1日）我（右）陪同梅首相丈夫梅先生登慕田峪长城。
赠送给特蕾莎.梅首相和丈夫菲利普.梅我的《万里长城百年回望》。该书由五洲传播出版社出版。
赠送给梅首相及其丈夫我的《50件长城文物》。该书由企鹅出版社出版。
梅先生送给我唐宁街10号笔记本。
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