The Great Wall
The text The Great Wall, by John Man, is about the world’s longest man made structure. Ranging from eastern to western China the length of the great wall remains unknown because the wall does not form a single continues line. There are several gaps and it’s been destroyed and rebuilt during different dynasties. Measurements vary between 2,694 and 6,000 kilometres from the western desert to the sea (Man, 5). The section that was built in the Ming Dynasty is about 25 feet tall and 16 feet wide. In Chinese, the symbol for “wall” is ambiguous; it can mean both “Long City,” and “Long Walls.” Construction of the Great Wall began around 214 BC and it was maintained until the 16th century. The Wall that was built in the Qin Dynasty is the most famous one because it was the first and oldest section that still remains today. The latest or the most current segment was built in the Ming Dynasty. There is much more to it than just a barrier; the wall itself contains fortresses, barracks, guard towers and beacon towers (Man, 5).
Though the Great Wall is a national symbol of identity for the Chinese, the reason for its construction is commonly unknown. Most people believe that the wall was built to create protection from the barbarous nomads in northern China who were attacking them, but this was not the case. John Man in The Great Wall argues that the nomad “attacks” were a justification for the destruction of the tribes. The nomads were not the ones to initiate violence; it was the Chinese that provoked and attacked the nomads for land. The Wall was never the barrier it seemed or was claimed to be because nomads could still easily go over or through it while the Chinese empire ruled and influenced both side of the wall (Man, 8). So it was useless against the Mongols in the north. It was Chinese expansionism that eventually forced the evolution of pastoral nomadism and Chinese expansionism that created the threat (Man, 21).
