Seems like there are lots of subjects I’m tired of hearing about lately. One is “the wall.” I’m tired of hearing about the wall, the big beautiful wall that the President wants to build along the US/Mexican border.
He obviously doesn’t believe it, but he’s not the first to come up with the idea of a wall for protection. Athens, the Roman Empire, Denmark and Korea have all built walls in the past. But if the President is really serious about the wall, he’d do well not to antagonize China and talk to them about a wall. The Chinese know some stuff about walls.
Of course, I’m referring to The Great Wall of China… it was built to protect China from its enemies and invaders from the North — primarily the Mongols, a tribal group that would regularly conduct raids into China. Despite the wall (President take note) the Mongols eventually conquered China. It should be noted that the Wall also kept Chinese citizens from leaving China. The Great Wall of China is an awe-inspiring feat of ancient defensive architecture. It is the world’s longest wall (President take note.) The Great Wall winds its way from west to east: across deserts, over mountain peaks, deep into ravines until it reaches the sea.
The Great Wall of China was not built all at one time (President take note.) In the 7th and 8th century BC, battles were frequently fought among the various Chinese states and in order to defend themselves they began to build walls and towers on the borders. It was the state Chu that built the first wall. The Qin Dynasty united the different states into one empire and to defend against the incursions from northern invaders, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered all the walls joined up… thus the Great Wall came into being.
Since the time the walls were joined, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, modified and extended throughout Chinese history for over 2,000 years by millions of Chinese people drafted for the task. Most of the Great Wall that we usually see in photos today was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644.) The “official” length of the Great wall is listed as 5500 miles, but the length of all all the pieces of the the Wall built over thousands of years is estimated to be about 13,170 miles.
Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space (with the naked eye.) It has also been called the longest cemetery on Earth — over a million people died building the Wall and archaeologists have found human remains buried under parts of the Wall. One of the best known of all the legends about the Great Wall is the story of “Men Jiangsu’s Bitter Weeping” whose husband died building the Wall. Her weeping was so bitter that a section of the Wall collapsed, revealing her husband’s bones so she could provide him with a proper burial.
Today, over 10 million people visit the Great Wall of China every year.
In 1972 I visited The Great Wall of China… at that time only a small portion of the Wall was open to visitors and I was “escorted” by a member of the Chinese Diplomatic Service Bureau. The Chinese have a lot of “sayings,” and while we were traveling out to the Wall site, my “escort” told me that the Chinese have a famous saying, “He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man.”
I guess you know what that makes me……
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