Introduction
The Great Wall of China is an internationally identifiable emblem and is a pervasive parable that is used to demarcate modern China’s national character, political attitudes, history and culture. The Great Wall is an immense man-made structure that has stood the test of time and much like the centuries’ old Chinese culture. It has also come to symbolize the rich history of the Chinese people and indication of their strength and ability as a nation. The Wall inspires admiration from other nations and also functions as a basis of national pride for the Chinese, as demonstrated by President Obama’s quote; (Huang, 2006)
‘It’s magical. It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on Earth is not that long and we better make the best of it.’
The Great Wall has come to signify archetypal Chinese attributes in modern-day society and is central to how China characterizes itself. However, it is not a single ‘Great Wall’ rather it is a set of walls, built intermittently over thousands of years by different dynasties for varying purposes. The idea of a singular Great Wall is a misnomer which developed after centuries of different cultural elucidations. The history of the Great Wall is a history of cultural encounters that have shaped modern ideas about China within the country itself as well as outside. (Huang, 2006)
Though walls were built for defense and territorial claim prior to the seventeenth century but they were of no real worth as a tool for governance or as a cultural testament. In addition to this, the historical sentiments towards building walls resulted in negative mythology and historical texts. The Jesuits paved the walls as a geographic feature of China in the popular European outlook and in the way t...
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...their lives as well as their homeland. Nomads came and burn all the villages and take out all the food and money with them. This was the alarming situation for the king and he says that there should be a defensive wall around the borders to protect the Chinese emperor or its exemplary states against the interference by several nomadic groups or by military imposition by various wars like forces.
The purpose is to protect the middle kingdom from Mongolians as well as from enemies who had the intention to attack China. It was important to have a defensive material to stop the enemy from the border point so that they couldn’t enter in to the premises of China. To warn the other soldiers about the enemies attack they have signals like smoke in the day and fire in the nigh to be alert. This was the purpose of making signaling towers which are build upon the hill tops.
The founder of the Qin dynasty was Qin Shi Huangdi, a title meaning “First Emperor.” He was a brutal ruler, but he brought about many changes. However, in addition to all the new, some old ideas were continued from the Zhou, such as the emphasis on the wheat and rice staple foods, and the philosophies, Confucianism and Daoism. The old continuities tended to have been deeply embraced by China, and, just as the Zhou did, the Qin would create some ideas that lasted, and some that did not. Qin Shi Huangdi enforced a tough autocratic rule and, as a result, opposed formal culture that could make people counter his rule. This meant that he burned many books and attacked Confucian ideas in order to keep the people from generating rebellious ideas. When the Qin dynasty fell, so too did the opposition towards education, because it took away from the civilization culturally. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was very short and had little time to fully develop its systems and ideas, it did pump out a vast quantity of new and lasting concepts, such as the Great Wall and a central government. One of the biggest contenders for the most well-known feature of the Qin dynasty is the Great Wall. This architectural masterpiece extends over 3,000 miles, and was mainly a
The air is cool and crisp. Roosters can be heard welcoming the sun to a new day and a woman is seen, wearing a clean colorful wrap about her body and head, her shadow casting a lone silhouette on the stone wall. The woman leans over to slide a piece of paper into one of the cracks, hoping her prayer will be heard in this city of Jerusalem. Millions are inserting their prayers into the walls of Japanese temples, while an inmate in one of a hundred prisons across the United States looks past his wall toward the prayers he did not keep. Billions fall asleep each night surrounded by four walls and thousands travel to China to witness the grandest one of all. Who builds walls and who tears them down?
(Doc. E). The wall was not one big long wall. It stretched three hundred miles to the west and there was a watchtower beyond the wall end. But there were still places that were not protected by the wall. The Xiongnu could just walk around the wall and them come in and invade.
The title of Ray Huang’s book 1587: A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty Decline suggests that this book is a work based on a single year in which little occurred. But in reality, Huang’s look at the events of 1587 demonstrate the complex workings of the leadership during the decline of the Ming dynasty, giving the reader an insight into the societal structure, the governmental process, and the mistakes that occurred systematically to enhance the progression towards the seemingly inevitable downfall. Though nothing of historical significance occurred during the year 1587, Huang is able to demonstrate the way in which the existing culture and the smaller, more systematic elements of political leadership can be understood within the context of a seemingly unimportant period of time.
In 1984, President Deng Xiaoping recognized that the great Wall was a symbol of national heritage and cultural value and in 1987, UNESCO declared a section of the Great Wall at Badaling, a World Cultural Heritage Site.
To begin with, the wall created even more security for the people of china. For example, the wall acted as a boundary between China and the Xiongnu (document C). Without the wall it wouldn´t act as a shield and the Xiongnu would attack them. In addition, China was safe from the Xiongnu
In the minds of Chinese people, Deng Xiaoping is considered as one of the most powerful leader of the People’s Republic of China from late 1970’s until he died in 1997. His noteworthy efforts to bring back China’s prosperity following the consequences of the Cultural Revolution resulted in the country’s economic, cultural and social expansion. The outcome of his passion and belief in the potential of China is still noticeable today.
The great Pyramid of Giza, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, all of these world wonders have amazing histories. Although the Great Wall had its pros and cons, so was it worth it? The Great Wall of China goes way back in history, it was built centuries ago by the Ming, Han, and Qin dynasty. You may think the wall is great, but the wall’s benefits did not outweigh the costs because it wasted time, brought misery, and gave endless work.
The construction of a wall is often a sign of decline in a civilization. This statement remains true for Asia. Unfortunately Qin Shi Huang’s lack of a real strategy from to prevent further attacks will soon give way to the fall of Asia and it's long lasting empire.
The Great Wall of China is something that has stood for a culture for over two thousand years! It is a magnificent physical structure and cultural icon that represents an immense undertaking that shows a culture to the world.
The Great Wall of China, one of the world’s eight wonders, is one of the most famous feats of human architecture in the history of the world. This ancient marvel is not only a great spectacle, but is also significant in the shaping and molding of the China everyone knows today. The Great Wall of China allowed China to possess some of the longest lived governmental structures in the world by providing a means of protection against hostile nomadic groups and other warlike peoples. This allowed the lifespans of the dynasties-- lines of hereditary rulers who rule over a country for a long period of time-- inside the wall to be prolonged. This massive structure is therefore a key part of China’s history, influencing nearly every dynasty that ruled the region, since the rise of the first emperor.
What will you do when you meet a wall that block your way? There are only two ways, either finding a way to go through the wall or staying still. In fact, this is life, when a barrier cut down the road, there comes to two choices, taking an action or doing nothing. In poems ‘where there’s a wall’ by Joy Kogawa and ‘Paxis’ by Sharon. They both talk about the ‘walls’ in their life. On the one hand, in ‘where there’s a wall’ Joy tells about her experience inside the internment camp where there is no freedom. On the other hand, Sharon in ‘Paxis’ observes how human being act meaninglessly under control of outside world. He expresses his sorry and wants to encourage people to fight their own future. Joy and Sharon try to tell people, life can be full
...air and did not benefit China were signed just so the fighting could cease, and nomads and other enemies were paid just so peace could be obtained. In fact, the weakness in the military was an important reason that the Northern Song Dynasty came to an end. Around the beginning of the 12th century, a group of nomads succeeded in conquering the capital and also the emperor, which marked the end of the period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Without the Great Wall of China, the Chinese empire would have fallen due to Mongolian attacks, which is true, but there is a great difference between the Great Wall and the Berlin Wall or the mending wall. While the Great Wall was used to defend China, the Berlin Wall was used to oppress the people of east Berlin, and while the Great Wall was a symbol of hope for China, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of communist oppression to the world. The mending wall was not used for protection, nor physical oppression. It was used to mentally oppress the narrator and to damage his rocky relationship with his
The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire.