V Section of the Great
Wall
16 November
2006
In the beginning,
there were walls, but not the Great Wall.
The walls were initially built by the
three warring states - Yan, Zhao and Qin
- as their defensive fortifications. It
is only after the
unification of China, that the First
Emperor Qin had the walls joined together
in order to fend off the invasions from
the Huns.
Stretching from
east to west of China across deserts,
grasslands, mountains and plateaus, it is
the largest man-made structure in the
world and the longest wall ever built on
the planet. A technological wonder and
architectural marvel, it blends into the
natural setting in a majestic manner and
on a massive scale.
Crowned a chain of
the undulating hills, the Great Wall
looks like a giant dragon with neither
its head nor its tail to be seen. In a
way, it is the historical sequence of
China being manifested in a physical
form: at some points it has soared so
high almost touching the sky; while in
other sections it would sink deeply into
the shadowing bottom of the valley. It is
never a smooth run. But, it is
successive.
And that is
precisely the temperament of the Chinese
civilisation.
With this in mind,
when you travel eastwards from Miyun
county town (密云县城) to arrive at a
small village called Quanshuihe Cun (泉水河村) in the valley of
Mt. Blue Dragon (青龙山), you can
positively say that you’ve been near
the lowest point in Chinese history. A
narrow trail from there will lead you to
a one-metre wide gap, and once you
squeeze past the gap, you’ll find you’ve
already on the Great Wall – that’s
right, without climbing a step.
Qiangzi Pass
leading to the V section on the Great
Wall
It is there the
Ming soldiers fought bloody battles
against Manchu invaders. The Ming lost,
so did nearly everything that it
represented.
But not for long.
When you look left and right, you’ll
know why: beyond this point, the sections
at the both sides rise up to reach a
lofty height in the sky.
And that is why
the Chinese people hold the Great Wall in
high esteem and incorporate it into the
national anthem, for it symbolising
China's backbone, unfolding its past and
foreshadowing its future.
China
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