Currently in the cinema is the movie “The Great Wall”
starting Matt Damon. The movie is about a European mercenary group, while
searching for gun powder, ended up joining forces with Chinese soldiers
fighting alien monsters on the famed Great Wall of China. Fighting alien
monsters on the Great Wall is certainly the stuff of Science Fiction but the
Great Wall is very real and has over two thousand years of history. The wall
was built to keep various nomadic groups from entering China. The wall had been
rebuilt many times, the version we see today is from the Ming dynasty (1388-1644).
Towards the end of the Ming dynasty the Great Wall failed to defend China from
being over taken by foreign invaders. In the 14th century, the new Ming dynasty
had sought to strengthen the Great Wall so as to keep out the Mongolian tribes
from Northern China. By the 17th century the Ming began to face pressure from the
Manchus. In 1644, the Ming general Wu Sangui opened the gates of the Great Wall
thus enabling the Manchus to march onto the capital at Beijing. Any wall, no
matter how strong, can be undermined by just one single traitor. In the case of
Wu, he and his frontier garrison was sandwiched between the Manchus and Chinese
rebels intended on bring down what remain of the Ming dynasty. Wu chose the
Manchus and this event heralded the start of the last dynasty of China – the Qing
dynasty.
The Ming dynasty lasted three centuries and for a
significant portion of those 300 years, the Ming emperors poured great
resources onto the rebuilding and the maintenance of the Great Wall. There is
no doubt that the emperor’s mandate from heaven hinged very much on his ability
to protect his empire and ensure continued prosperity for his subjects. But was
the Great Wall the only solution available to the Ming emperors? The return of
the once British colony of Hong Kong to mainland China is often a reminder of
the backward and chaotic world of the Qing dynasty. And yet it was the Qing
reformer Liang Qichao that reminded the world of the long forgotten Chinese
explorer Zheng He. Admiral Zheng He, under the sponsorship of the Yongle
Emperor, made expeditions to Brunei, Java, Thailand, India, the Horn of Africa,
and Arabia. According to Wikipedia his first expedition consisted of more than
300 ships carrying more than 28000 crewmen. Zeng He commanded seven expeditions
before the expeditions were stopped by Xuande Emperor (Yongle Emperor’s
grandson). One has to wonder what China would be like today if Xuande chose to
continue his grandfather policy. Instead of an insular Ming dynasty that hid
behind the Great Wall, the Ming could have created a second silk road through naval
power. Such a corridor would not only exchange goods but also ideas that could
have benefited China and beyond.
Sadly the Ming dynasty were not the only ones who believe
that shutting out the world is the only way to protect ones culture and
prosperity. The Qing dynasty was to repeat the same mistake in setting up the Canton
System to restrict trade with foreigners. Yet out of this backward looking decision the
British brought about the colony of Hong Kong. Today with China being the
world’s economic engine it is easy to forget that for several decades many on
the mainland look enviously at Hong Kong economic growth. All this only changed
in the late 1980s when Deng Xiaoping turnaround Mao’s economic disasters and
open up China.
Modern day Japan with her efficient Shinkansen (bullet train)
also had her experiment with close borders and trade barriers. In the late 16th
century, Japanese contact with Europeans has brought about new goods, new
technologies and ideas (Christianity). By the late 17th century a significant
portion of the population of Kyoto (Japan ancient capital) had converted to
Christianity. The scale of this conversion is even more amazing when one see
the enormous number Buddhist temples in Kyoto today. This exchange was even encouraged by the then
leader of Japan Oda Nobunaga. However Nobunaga’s successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was suspicious of the Europeans and the Sakoku Edict was put in place[i]. The edict first
decree forbids (violators are executed) Japanese from leaving Japan and forbids
(violators are executed) Europeans from entering Japan. The second decree forbids
Catholicism and the third decree severely restricts trade with foreigners.
Have the world learn anything from these historical withdraw
into isolationism?
Mexican wall will only bring down North America. It will
make America Great-ly stupid
