长城: The Greatest wall of them all

慕田峪 Mutianyu, 34ºC, hazy

Some say they can see it from space. A classmate disappointed my today by explaining that this was a misnomer. However, our trip to 慕田峪 Mutianyu, one of the steeper parts of the Great Wall was far from disappointing. After a two hour bus ride out there, we made the hike up the hillside to reach the wall itself. Vast. Expansive. Long. Great. It was everything I remembered from visiting 八达岭 Badaling, a different section of the wall, in 2006. Yet, this time, I pondered what its real purpose had been, whether it had succeeded in that, and whether it was an exploit worth the human lives it must have cost.

Built in the 5^th century BC and maintained until the 16^th century, the Great Wall was originally built to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from aggressive nomadic tribes. It spans some 5,500 miles from Shanhaiguan in the East to Lop Nur in the West. Some estimate that as many as 3.5 million people were involved in the Great Wall over the years. The Ming Wall, one of the most treacherous sections, is said to have cost one life for every foot of its construction. Whatever the true cost, this monstrous construction is sure to have cost tens of thousands of lives, and while it may have guarded against small uprisings in the north, it was not enough to stop the Mongols hordes from reaching and razing Beijing in 1215.

Now, the Great Wall stands as one of the most incredible feats of mankind. It is a construction of which China can be proud, and at which the world can marvel.