Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 73

New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voayages
Creative Primary School, Wong, Danica - 11
“Do you want to go to the exhibit Ms. J mentioned?” asked Holly. “She said it’s going to open tomorrow,”
Collin said, “I’ve always wanted to see it! It must have lots of information about Chinese history.” Francis
mouthed “nerd” behind Collin.
The next day, they went to the museum together.
“Wow! There are so many people!” exclaimed Holly. Collin said, “For your information, there are an
average of 5,000 people coming here every day.”
“Please just shut up for once. I don’t want you spouting nonsense that no one wants to hear,” Francis
remarked. “How about you keep quiet first?” Collin replied back.
“Guys!” called Holly.” Calm down! Let us all just have a nice day at the museum.” “Fine.” they both
answered in unison.

They entered the museum and saw a huge sign saying, “Chinese History Exhibit - THIS WAY” followed
by an arrow. They went towards the direction the arrow was pointing at and found themselves in a hall full
of exhibition boards.
“The Chinese certainly have a long history,” said Francis. “The Chinese …” blabbered Collin. While Collin
was rambling about the Chinese history, Francis and Holly were looking at the exhibition boards.
“Silk was invented 6,000 years ago... That’s a long time ago!” Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she
spotted an Exhibition board. It was about Ming Treasure Voyages.
After a while, they decided that they would buy books from the museum shop. Since Holly was interested
in the Ming Voyages, they bought some books on this topic. After that, they went home.
When they were at Holly’s home, they sat down and started reading the books. “The Ming Treasure
Voyages carried treasure for the captain and sailors to give away as gifts,” explained Collin. “And I thought
all pirates were scary and mean,” said Francis.
Suddenly, a book started shuddering and glowing. “What in the world?” shouted Francis. “THE MING
VOYAGES” was a thick book with golden lines tracing the title. They gathered around the book and
opened it. Suddenly, a flash of light came out of the book. They felt their bodies shivering.
*********************
“Where in the world is this place?” said Francis with his body still shaking. They were all dressed in weird
clothing. Then, a person came and said to them in a weird language, “Stop slacking! Start working!”
Surprisingly, they understood what it meant.
“What language is he speaking?” whispered Holly. “It’s Chinese,” answered Collin. “Strangely, it appears
we can speak the language.” They got up and started working. Their job was to prepare meals. They had to
clean as well. They cooked as they spoke. “Where is this place anyways?” questioned Francis. “We might be
on a Ming Treasure Voyage.” replied Holly. “The book we opened was about the Ming Treasure Voyages
too.” Collin said. “This ship is similar to a picture of the voyages I saw in the book. We must have been
travelled through time back into the early 1400’s, where the Ming Treasure Voyages set sail from China to
other countries.” “So I guess that explains the weird and ridiculous clothing,” joked Francis. “Very funny,”
said Collin. “We still need to find a way to get back home.”