A Walled Civilization

circular walled courtyards in Fujian Province

I’ve been to many relics of different walls: Qin Dynasty Great Wall, Ming Dynasty, Great Wall, Xi’an City Wall, my home town village wall etc, I can say in China almost everywhere you could find a wall.

6,000 years ago, our ancestors settled down thanks to the discovery of agriculture, fertile land along the Yellow and Yangtze River Valleys nourished the lives of several matriarchal villages which were encircled by huge ditches, which served as the best protection against wild beasts and seasonal floods. The earliest protection around the ancient communities started from this kind of circular ditch which later evolved into the moat.

xi'an city wall and moat

From the very beginning we can tell that the settled agricultural society requires a fortress around to defend its blessed peace and tranquility. Based on the fact that Chinese civilization had always been an agricultural one, we find the key why in China, you find wall everywhere. Chinese had never tried to disturb others, we didn’t have any desire to developed the technique of ship building for sea-faring because we had everything abundant for maintaining the huge and prosperous empire.

Today, when we are appreciating the beauty of an old courtyard, old city wall, old great wall, we can still feel a secured respect for this great country, this great civilization is still well protected by a wall, an invisible wall–the Great Wall in the hearts of all her people!