BikingtheSilkRoad:Six-year-oldSophie’sFantasyTour, published by New World Press in English recounts a child’s epic ride along the ancient route
At the age of 6, Sophie Chen biked 2,100 km along the ancient Silk Road from Xi’an in Shaanxi province to Turpan in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Fascinated by the Monkey King stories from Journey to the West that her mum told her, Chen was surprised to discover from her father, a professional outdoor explorer, that there is a Silk Road that the Monkey King traveled.
At that time, she had just finished kindergarten, but in the following summer vacation, asked her father, Jack Chen, to take her on a bicycle journey to follow her superhero.
The father hesitated at first, but finally agreed.
“I was thrilled to see the Monkey King sculpture at the Flaming Mountain, and I loved the delicious grapes and raisins at Turpan,” says Sophie, recalling the 76-day cycling journey of eight years ago.
“And naturally, I relate better to Silk Road-related history and geography in school,” she says.
Speaking about her daughter, her mother Wu Tsui-hua says: “After the journey, she just doesn’t give up easily.”
Sophie, now 14, is in Beijing to release an English version of the book she co-wrote with father, Biking the Silk Road: Six-year-old Sophie’s Fantasy Tour, published by New World Press.
The book is the daughter’s travelog, followed by father’s notes, comments and information on long-distance biking.
With 400 original photos and daughter’s cartoon illustrations, the book is an interesting dialogue between two generations.
“This book will help readers understand the Silk Road through its unique landscapes and local people, as well as a father’s viewpoint,” says Dong Jing jing, the book’s editor, adding that it is good read for children as well as adults.
From the daughter’s perspective, t he book vividly records the visual and emotional experience of the journey where the girl imagined camels in the shape of her favorite McDonald’s logo, and the Yellow River as milk tea.
And the father’s role was to “protect the bubbles of imagination” and to tell when to persist and when to give up, and to educate and to advise.
As Sophie writes in the book: “Apart from the horn noise which I really hate, there were other challenges for me. For example, I hate the hot weather in the Gobi Desert. If you ask me whether I want to ride a bike along the Silk Road again, I will say, ‘Yes, if we can avoid the Gobi Desert’.
“The road in the Gobi Desert was not even there sometimes. I was so tired that I hoped Papa could drag me along. But he often rode ahead, not waiting for Mama and me, which made me cry many times,” she adds.
Speaking of the challenges, Jack says that they encountered broken glass and floating husks in the farming areas, besides the strong wind and the scorching sun.
“Every time I saw her little figure riding, and saw her skin tanned by the sun I would feel sad and proud,” Jack writes.
He also says that during the journey, most elderly Chinese they met believed the girl was suffering being on the road. However, many younger parents seemed to better understand the journey’s educational significance.
“A tough journey can open a child’s mind and exert far- reaching influence on him or her,” he says.
Dong, the book editor, says: “In this sense, Sophie is a very lucky girl.”
Now, Sophie is in her second year of junior high at Taiwan’s Taoyuan, while her mother keeps a cafe to sustain the family.
As for her father, he works as a professional guide for bike journeys and other outdoor exploration activities.
At 25, Jack completed his first solo global biking expedition, spending some 400 days from 1998-99 on the road.
Then, from 2011 to 2014, he went on a second global bike tour, this time, taking 100 elderly people with him.
“They were old, and some of them were ill, but they wanted to accomplish their dreams of touring the world, and I believed that if we slowed down we could make it and we did.” Chen says.
What made him slow down was the earlier trip with his daughter.
“I used to value speed first and ride 100 km per day. But when I was riding with my 6-year-old girl for the first time, she slowed me down to like 20 km per day, and gave me the time to appreciate culture and scenery along the way,” he says.
Besides, the journey offered him a fresh view on parenting, and gave the family what soldiers often call the “comrade link”.
“My wife and I realized that we have only a little more than 10 years to watch our children closely.”
Before the Silk Road journey, Jack took Sophie on shorter bike journeys.
Now, after the journey, the family still does long-distance biking in the summer
At 11, Sophie crossed the United States; at 13, she reached the top of the 5,895meter Mt. Kilimanjaro and also biked along the midAsian section of the Silk Road.
For the coming summer, it will be Europe.
“The Earth is vast and I just want to take my child to see as much of it as possible,” says Jack.
Jack Chen, outdoor explorer
Contact the writer at meijia@chinadaily.com.cn