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Culture of the Great Wall of China |
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In north China, there lies a 6,700 kilometers long ancient wall which is now well-known as the Great Wall of China. She starts at the Jiayuguan Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture.
Lots of beautiful stories about the Great Wall took place following along the construction, and since that time these stories have spread around the country, such as Meng Jiangnu's story. |
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Another story about the Jiayuguan Pass tells of a workman named Yi Kai Zhan in the Ming Dynasty (1368 B.C.~ 1644 B.C.) who was proficient in arithmetic. He calculated that it would need 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass. The supervisor did not believe him and said if they miscalculated by even one brick, then all the workmen would be punished to do hard work for three years. After the completion of the project, one brick was left behind the Xiwong city gate. The supervisor was happy at the sight of the brick and ready to punish them. However Yi said with deliberation that the brick was put there by a supernatural being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore the brick was kept there and never moved. It can still be found there today on the tower of the Jiayuguan Pass. |
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In addition to the stories about the construction of the Great Wall, there are also some stories about current scenic spots. A well known one is the story of the Beacon Tower. This story happened during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th Century B.C. ~ 711 B.C.). King You had a queen named Bao Si, who was very pretty. King You liked her very much, but Bao never smiled. A man gave him a suggestion that setting the beacon tower on fire would frighten the King's subjects, and might make the queen smile. King You liked the idea. The subjects were fooled and Bao smiled at the sight of the chaos. Later enemies invaded Western Zhou, King You set the beacon tower on fire to ask for help but no subjects came to help because they had been fooled once before. Therefore, King Zhou was killed by the enemy and Western Zhou came to an end. |
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Beautiful stories about the Great Wall help to keep alive Chinese history and culture. In each dynasty after the building of the Great Wall, many more stories were created and spread. |
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