China---Part 1

Great Wall of China 

Sin Re 

   The history of the Great Wall of China linked back to when fortifications built by various states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were connected by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect his newly founded Qin Dynasty against invasions and attacks by nomads from Inner Asia.

   I feel that the Great Wall of China is a very meaningful symbol of the perseverance of the people of China. It is because to build such a magnificent object, much perseverance and good planning is needed. Because of this fact, I have a newfound respect for the Great Wall of China and the people of China. For the Great Wall to be built, teamwork is also much needed and much communications must be made. People have also sacrificed themselves to build the wall which was the first line of defense of the country. The wall is also an ingenious idea as it is indeed effective in protecting China during wars. 

   Even though we learn many negative points about the people in China, the Great Wall of China provides us with a platform to view the people in a different light and realise that the people in the past are not so different from us and everyone still has negative and positive points that make up their failures and successes, both that are recorded and kept to allow future generations to gain knowledge and learn from. In this way of thinking, all people of the past play a great part in how sucessful we are able to be as the same mistakes will always be repeated, only in different situations, if the lessons are not learnt. Therefore, we should always learn history with the mindset of learning from the experiences of other people and not be so quick to judge them and if they can be our learning figures and we can pick up values to improve ourselves.

Regina

The Great Wall of China was built by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect his newly founded Qin Dynasty against incursions by nomads from Inner Asia. Later dynasties differed in their approach to Qin's precedent. The Han, the Northern Qi , the Sui , and particularly the Ming were among those that rebuilt, re-manned, and expanded the Walls, although they rarely followed Qin's original routes. Conversely, the Tang, the Song, the Yuan, and the Qing mostly left the Walls to rot, having resolved the Inner Asian threat through military campaigns and diplomacy (the Tang, Yuan, and Qing), or were simply{\] took weak to build walls (the Song). I think that the Great Wall of China was a magnificent project, both literally and figuratively. The Great Wall of China was a project to protect China and nevertheless, it's length is about 21,196 km. From the main purpose to build this wall in the first place, I can thus conclude that Qin Shi Huang was very protective of China. However, the few dynasties which have chosen to left the wall to 'rot', can also imply that it is because they think they are the strongest and thus confident that even without the wall, the dynasty can successfully function, thus, no need for the rebuilding of the wall. This will also enable us to link it to the Sino-Centric Worldview. In my opinion, this project was something very significant to China as it stands as one of the seven wonders in the world. After learning more about the Great Wall of China, I can understand more clearly of the initial intentions of building the wall and it also allows me to be able to link it back to their current worldview.