In What Ways Have the Walls Identified China?
….Our modern understanding of an ancient ‘great wall of china’ sharply contrasts with the
reality of differing types of walls that existed in Ancient times: it was not until the 16 th
century that construction of one great wall began.
Popular and traditional histories claim that by the end of the second ruling house of the Han
Dynasty there were more than 6,000 miles of fortified walls. Their purpose, these histories
broadly claim, were to defend against Nomadic invasions. However, as modern scholars
have convincingly argued, namely Arthur Waldron, if an ancient Great wall had existed it
almost certainly would have had a single fixed name, just as mountains, rivers, and temples
did. 1
Thus for us to understand and explain the varying ways in which the walls identified China,
this essay will examine the sporadic periods of wall building and the varying of motives
dependent on the dynasty which built them.
Each bout of wall building identify china according to the background of the strategic and
political challenges of the dynasty that built it, and we should not- as traditional histories
have- link them all together into one single mythical structure to provide China with a
single, autonomous identity.
Not only did the walls themselves differ through the ages: aesthetically, their route, who
they were built by (nomads or Chinese) but until the 16th century, the building of walls had
no singular motive or purpose.2
Although the idea of a “great wall” in modern terms has served as a means of providing
China with an ancient and unified identity, in reality wall building meant something very
different in Ancient China than what we have come to think of it as representing today. To
understand the ways in which the walls identified china at different points in history, we
must start at the origins of wall building, and not read backwards into history by merely
examining the impressive wall that stands today.
In addition to archaeological evidence, the Chinese language itself reflects the differing
purposes of walls. In ancient texts we see the terms Chang Cheng (long wall), Yuan (a
rampart less elaborate than a wall), Sai (frontier), Cheng (the wall of a city), Chang (a
barrier) were all terms used histories to describe what we now consider to be The Great
Wall. In Modern Chinese the phrase Wanli Changcheng (wall ten thousand li long) does,
unlike the classical terms mentioned, convey exactly the same idea as “the Great wall” does
1
Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall Of China: From History to Myth, p.27
Waldron, The Great Wall, p.28
2
in English. However, its wide use, as an equivalent of the English phrase, is a modern
phenomenon, and its meaning has been modified by its modern uses.
Through examining the use of language, we can see that in the past, Chinese thought about
walls and border defences very differently than they do today: the generic terms used
reflect a type of defence and do not reflect a singular historical work. As a result the concept
of a single “great wall” appears to be both misleading and relatively modern.”
Before the 16th century, walls in china were of modest scale - they followed no single route
and changed according to the defence needs of the dynasties that built them.
Therefore the walls identify specific periods. They should be studied against the background
of the strategic and political challenges of the dynasty that built it, and not all linked
together into one single mythical structure.3
The walls have come to embody what China today wants to perceive itself as and for others
to see it as: a centralized and autocratic state. By placing the “great wall” in ancient
historical context, it creates a consistently powerful and organized Chinese identity. In
reality, what the walls really reflect are fluidity and change in China’s identity from ancient
to modern times: the inconsistences in politics, economy, society, and cultural makeup that
naturally arise when rule changes hands….
Please contact Lauren Neal for permission to cite any of this extract or to read the essay in
full.
3
Waldron, The Great Wall, p.28