The Great Wall

The Great Wall is difficult to comprehend -- to photograph, impossible.  At one time it stretched 12,700 li ( a li is a third of a mile) across the border between China and the Hun territories in the north. I've read that if you dismantle it and rebuild it, it could go around the entire world; probably if you stretched it by molecule it could reach Andromeda. Different guide books give different dimensions, poetically the Chinese call it the Wall of 10,000 li. The point is, it's big. It isn't one place but many. It's size is better seen on a map or from an aerial photograph. Its beauty is caught in glimpses through the mountains and clouds, its human cost is experienced through climbing it step by step.

It started as earth works thrown up for protection by different States. The individual sections weren't connected until the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Qin Shihuangdi, First Emperor of Qin began conscripting peasants, enemies, and anyone else who wasn't tied to the land to go to work on the wall. The tradition lasted for centuries. Each dynasty added to the height, breadth, length, and elaborated the design mostly through forced labor.

There is a traditional story about Meng Jiangnü. Shortly after she and her husband were married he was conscripted to work on the wall. Meng Jiangnü worried that he would suffer from the cold in the north and began to make a padded cotton jacket. After it was sewn she began the long walk from her home in the south to the site of the Great Wall. When she got there and finally found the other men from her village, she was told that her husband had died. She went to the wall and began keening and mourning with such pathos that 20 li of the wall collapsed and in the pit at the center, she found the body of her husband. Meng Jinagnü threw herself into the sea to join her husband. Her suicide personalizes the losses due to the Great Wall.

It was during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) that the Wall took on its present form. The brick and granite work was enlarged and sophisticated designs were added. The watch towers were redesigned and modern canon were mounted in strategic areas. The Portuguese had found a ready market for guns and canon in China, one of the few items of trade that China didn't already have in abundance. The Ming Emperors, having overthrown the Hun dominance and expelled their Mongol rulers of the North devoted large portions of available material and manpower to making sure that they didn't return.

Throughout the centuries, armies were garrisoned along the length of the Wall to provide early warning of invasion and a first line of defense. Great piles of straw and dung used to build signal fires have been found during excavations. There must have been small garrison towns spotted along the length. There weren't many farms or trade towns to provide ease, relaxation and food. The supply trails were over mountains along narrow paths. To bring supplies to the top, ropes were slung over posts set in the Chinese side of the wall and baskets were hauled up hand over hand. Supplies must have always been short and chancy, particularly in the winter.

The Wall served well. Only when a dynasty had weakened from within were invaders from the north able to advance and conquer. Both the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368) and the Manchurians (Qing Dynasty,1644-1911) were able take power, not because of weakness in the Wall but because of weakness in the government and the poverty of the people. They took advantage of rebellion from within and stepped into the void of power without extended wars.