Shortlisted
The Great Wall of China
Shi Qi (Kiki)
he Great Wall of China is a marvellous man-made structure. It is like a dragon resting on the mountain
tops of northern China. When you step on the neatly lined bricks, you can feel the great architecture
and wisdom of ancient China. The great wall is a masterpiece.
wall lie hund
Huang, Group 2: Non-Fiction, Xi'an International School
However, have you thought of the price paid to build this structure? Under the steps of the great
reds of thousands of bodies. The construction of the great wall started in the Qin Dynasty (around
221 BC). The emperor, at that time, made 1 million citizens (20% of the whole country) working on the project.
At that time there were no machines, so every single brick was carried by hand. Now, imagine that one brick
weighs about 15 kg. Imagine carrying something that weighs 15 kg up a steep mountain without the help of
machinery. Wind, earthquakes, even just a tiny slip could bring them down (“Qin Dynasty Great Wall,”
Travelchinaguide.com Dec. 2, 2012).
T
As I said, the building project started at the beginning of the Qin Dynasty. The emperor, Qin Shi Huang,
wanted to protect his newly formed empire from the Xiongnu armies that often invaded it. He ordered the short
walls built by other kingdoms to be joined with sections of his walls to form Qin’s great wall.
The Han dynasty, Southern and Northern dynasties, Sui dynasty, and Jin dynasty all helped a little with the
construction, mainly to defend themselves from the invaders from up north. They pretty much added a little here
and there on Qin’s great wall. After all those dynasties, a great big chunk of wall was added on to Qin’s great
wall.
The Great Wall we see today, however, was built mainly by the Ming dynasty. This ambitious building
project took over 100 years to complete. Every single emperor in this dynasty was busy working on this project.
They could spare no effort for other projects when they were constantly invaded by northern nomadic tribes.
The design of Ming dynasty’s Wall was well thought out and planned. For example, the wall in Beijing was
built in a style of double lines, inner and outer, to improve its defence capabilities. Also, watch towers, signal
towers, and fortresses where built as additional reinforcements (“Ming Dynasty Great Wall,”
Travelguidechina.com,
/, Nov. 25 2012.)
During this long building project, many people made up stories about the Great Wall. Let’s take a look at
the sad legend of Meng Jiang Nu as an example.
Once upon a time in the Qin dynasty there lived two old, childless couples, one the Meng family, the other
was the Jiang family. One year, Mr. Meng planted a gourd in his yard. The gourd vine grew over to Mr. Jiang’s
yard and bore a gourd there. When the gourd was ripe enough to eat, the two families started arguing about who
should have the gourd. When they finally agreed that they should split the gourd and did, they saw a baby girl
inside it. They were so happy that they named the baby Meng Jiang Nu (Meng for the Meng family, Jiang for
the Jiang family, and Nu as in “woman”). They raised her together.
When Meng Jiang Nu was old enough to get married, she decided on a young man named Fan Xiliang.
Just on their wedding day, a few soldiers came and took Xiliang away to build the Great Wall. The life of a
labourer on the Great Wall was full of starvation and depression. When a year passed without any news from
Xiliang, Meng Jiang Nu went to search for him. But when she arrived at the Great Wall, she was told that
Xiliang died building the wall. Upon hearing this, she started wailing loudly and hit the wall. A big part of the
wall fell over, uncovering countless bodies of labourers. Finally, she found her husband’s body among the
others. She clung to the body and wept.
The Qin emperor was furious when he was told that Meng Jiang Nu had broken the wall. But when he saw
Meng Jiang Nu, he was so enchanted with her beauty that he was determined to marry her. She agreed on three
conditions - first, to give her husband a grand funeral, second, to have the court mourn for her husband, and
third, to go to the seashore. The emperor agreed despite the fact that he hated mourning for commoners. When
Meng Jiang Nu got her third wish, she scolded the emperor and jumped into the ocean. Nobody saw her again
(“The Great Wall Stories and Legends,” Greatwallchina.info,http://www.greatwallchina.info/The-Great-Wall-
Stories-and-Legends.htm, Dec. 8, 2012)
Even though the story of Meng Jiang Nu is only a legend, surely similar stories happened. The Great Wall
of China protected its people, but did it also prevent the Chinese from invading the northern tribes? Was it really
worth all those lives?
When you walk on the steps of the Great Wall, do you think about the skeletons beneath you? We greatly
