Nat Geo_Chinas Great Wall_2of2_Protecting the Dragon
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00:00More than 2,000 years ago, the emperors of China began constructing great defensive walls
00:08to protect their northern frontiers.
00:16Even today, the remains of these ancient ramparts and towers scar the borderlands.
00:23Hundreds of thousands of men literally pounded this mighty edifice out of the earth.
00:32Finally, in the 16th century, they built the greatest fortifications ever created by human
00:36hand, a stone colossus that became the national icon of China.
00:45The Great Wall.
00:58What made the Middle Kingdom build this giant walled frontier?
01:07No one truly knows all the facets of the walls that snake across thousands of kilometres
01:11of North China.
01:19What have these walls to say about the world they were built to protect?
01:24Armies of tourists pay their respects to the stone ramparts north of Beijing that have
01:29given the world our image of the Great Wall.
01:32But what is its true story?
01:50The final years of the 18th century are the golden afternoon of the Chinese Empire.
01:56It's an ancient culture with unique rights and rules cut off from the rest of the world.
02:11But the cocoon the Middle Kingdom has spun for itself has become fragile.
02:15For several months, there has been a British trade delegation in China.
02:20Time enough for 12-year-old Thomas, travelling with the delegation, to learn Chinese.
02:36As an unofficial interpreter, he supplies valuable services to the ambassadors.
02:40Finally, the court officials inform the foreigners that the emperor is ready to receive them.
02:46In his summer residence, seven days' ride from the capital, Beijing.
02:58On this occasion, the delegation will finally be able to present an outstanding example
03:02of British craftsmanship to the Emperor of China, the carriages they brought to China
03:08all the way from England.
03:10But when they offer to make the ruler a gift of these splendid vehicles, the Mandarin's
03:14reaction is astonishment and disapproval.
03:27The officials assure them that his sublime majesty would never sit in such a Pananquin,
03:32for no one ever must sit higher than the emperor.
03:35And the coachman not only sits higher, but with his back to his passenger.
03:41We'll see about that.
03:44Come on, gentlemen.
03:47The Englishmen will of course travel to the emperor in their coach.
04:07The English trade delegation, representing King George, is led by Lord McCartney, aided
04:12by Sir George Staunton.
04:15Their mission is to open the Chinese market to the products of the British Empire.
04:27A great procession accompanies the English visitors from the Forbidden City to the Summer
04:31Palace.
04:39Three days out of Beijing, the Mandarins and officers take the delegation over the
04:43Gubeikou Pass.
05:07McCartney and his colleagues are treated to a sight that few Europeans have ever beheld.
05:19The Great Wall.
05:27Nothing will keep the Englishmen in their coaches.
05:29They scramble over the wall, overwhelmed by their admiration for the architects and builders
05:34of this structure.
05:46But Lord McCartney notices that his Chinese escorts remain completely unmoved.
05:53He later wrote,
05:54The Mandarins appeared rather uneasy and impatient at the length of our stay upon the wall.
06:01They were astonished at our curiosity, though few of them had ever visited at all.
06:10Lord McCartney was otherwise less than impressed by Chinese cultural achievements, but overwhelmed
06:16by this most stupendous work of human hands.
06:20He continued,
06:22This wall was built above two hundred years before the Christian era.
06:26China must have been not only a very powerful empire, but a very wise and virtuous nation,
06:31to establish at once what was then thought a perpetual security for them against future
06:36invasion.
06:38The accounts of these first European tourists have influenced our image of the Great Wall
06:43ever since.
06:45But these British visitors had no idea that the stone colossus they were admiring was
06:49only about two hundred years old.
06:52This huge structure had been built in the 16th century to stand guard over the heart
06:56of the Middle Kingdom, after the Gubeiku Pass had been the gateway for an invasion that
07:01shook the empire to its core.
07:09The story begins in Beijing.
07:14This is where the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty lives, in the Forbidden City.
07:19This is the centre of the world.
07:21From here, the Emperor rules over all under heaven.
07:31In splendid audiences, the Son of Heaven demonstrates his power.
07:36Hundreds gather in front of the Hall of Perfect Harmony to pay homage to their ruler.
07:42Like everything else that happens at court, this ceremony follows a strict ritual.
07:58A state without ritual is a plough without a blade, they say.
08:03And like the Pole Star in the heavens, the Emperor stands at the centre of the earth.
08:08He is the head and the centre point of the Middle Kingdom.
08:21And hardly any other ruler of the Ming Dynasty embodies this principle more than Emperor
08:26Jiajing, who sat on the Dragon Throne since 1522.
08:43At that time, China regarded all foreign peoples as barbarians.
08:55Diplomatic contacts and trade relations with other peoples are considered entirely unnecessary.
09:02The Middle Kingdom is sufficient unto itself.
09:06Even the right to pay tribute to the Emperor is an honour that only the Emperor himself
09:10can grant.
09:20A delegation of Mongolian nomads appear before the officials of the Middle Kingdom.
09:26They have a message for Emperor Jiajing.
09:28But for the last time, the Mongols ask the Emperor for permission to pay a tribute.
09:42They bring valuable gifts, in the hope that the Emperor will present a gift in return.
09:48Only when this ritual is completed can trading begin.
10:02The delegation has come from Hohhot, headquarters of the Mongol prince Altan Khan.
10:09Hohhot is just 400 kilometres from the Forbidden City.
10:21Altan Khan lives in a palace he's had built on Chinese lines.
10:25He's a great admirer of Chinese culture, and he's broken with the tradition of his forefathers
10:30in another way.
10:32He's the first Mongol leader since Genghis Khan to build a permanent, fortified city.
10:48But his people still live in yurts, the traditional round tents of the nomads of the steppe.
11:02They live entirely from their livestock, wandering over the steppe.
11:06They pitch their yurts wherever they find grazing land for their herds.
11:20For the weakest of the nomads, the children and the elderly, the long winters are a struggle
11:26for survival.
11:27Many don't make it through.
11:29The Chinese to the south know all about their suffering.
11:36Chinese sources report, in spring they often beg our patrols to buy their cattle, one ox
11:42for a pickle or so of rice or beans.
11:46Some would bring hides or horsehair, hoping to stave off starvation for one more day.
11:58For the nomads, there's no way out.
12:01Only trade with their Chinese neighbours, who possess limitless rice and grain, could
12:05bring an end to their hardship.
12:21But in the imperial palace, behind the walls of the Forbidden City, no one is interested
12:26in the barbarians' troubles.
12:28Here in the centre of the world, the ruler's priority is to carry out the prescribed rituals
12:33that will guarantee order in the universe.
12:46Even having to consider Altan Khan's request for trade relations is an affront to the emperor.
12:52The idea of trading on equal terms with the Mongols is completely unimaginable.
13:03The emperor had already demanded that the character representing barbarians had to be
13:08written as small as possible on all official documents.
13:14A price is put on Altan Khan's head, and future Mongolian ambassadors will be executed.
13:28But the Chinese peasants in the border region know exactly what their emperor's policy
13:44will mean for them.
13:46Now the nomads will take with force what the emperor has denied them.
14:13The peasants don't have long to wait.
14:22Mongol horsemen stream across the empire's northern borders.
14:25The wheel of history which has revolved around violence and plunder for more than 1,500 years
14:31is turning again.
14:57Because the Mongols' spare will starve in the ravaged fields.
15:10In the Forbidden City there were two schools of thought.
15:13They had different views as to how to put an end to the raids.
15:17One side argued for trade relations.
15:19The other wanted a military response.
15:22But a military response carried the risk of defeat.
15:26Since they couldn't agree on trade or on war, they made a compromise.
15:40Thus was the decision explained that the emperor finally announced.
15:45Barbarians prefer aggression.
15:47We are more suited to defense.
15:56On the command of the emperor, General Weng Wanda, leader of the border troops, reports
16:01to the Forbidden City to receive his orders.
16:17General Weng Wanda is appointed supreme commander of the capital's defense forces.
16:23His mission is to reinforce the garrisons of Datong and Xuanfu, and to secure the capital
16:28with a long war.
16:38Weng Wanda's fortifications to the northwest of Beijing form part of a much larger defense
16:42system, the nine border garrisons.
16:46Strung out like beads on a chain, they run from the easternmost to the westernmost point
16:51of the Chinese empire.
16:53The last outpost in the west is the fort of Jiayuguan.
17:00Jiayuguan means pass to the beautiful valley.
17:04Only the 5,500-meter peak of Mount Qilin stands higher than the powerful fortress.
17:15According to legend, the master builder of the fort calculated the construction materials
17:19so precisely that when they finished, just one brick was left over.
17:27It's still there, on the side of a tower.
17:42Close by, the first tower of the Ming Wall rises up, a lonely outpost on the edge of
17:47the steppe.
17:48In the south, the wall abruptly ends on the cliffs of the river Beida.
18:07On the other side of Jiayuguan Fort, the wall continues eastwards.
18:14Over the centuries, wind and weather have torn gaps in the wall.
18:25For here, it's not made of stone, but of rammed earth, a material used for buildings and walls
18:30in China since time immemorial.
18:41Parts of the wall run parallel to an older set of earth defenses, built around the year
18:451000.
19:00When General Weng Wanda's task is completed, the northwest of China is completely sealed
19:06off.
19:07The capital, Beijing, is protected by its own ring of walls.
19:15The Ordos, the northern region enclosed by a huge curve of the Yellow River.
19:23It has always been the gateway for the nomads into China.
19:31Here too, though wind and weather have done their worst, the wall and its towers can still
19:35be made out on the crags above the river.
19:50The garrison forts were the outposts of this defensive outer wall.
20:04Today, their use is strictly non-military.
20:07Their six-meter-thick earth walls provide shelter to the farmers' herds.
20:17But nearly 500 years ago, they faced their greatest military test.
20:31In March 1549, Shuangfu, the Chinese are fighting off another Mongol raid.
20:47General Weng Wanda defends the city.
20:59The earth shakes as Altan Khan's army passes the fortress.
21:16Showdown at the Great Wall.
21:33The Chinese general signals an attack.
21:53Weng Wanda's tactics have blocked the Mongol retreat.
21:56Though battered, the wall is not beaten.
22:07The Mongol horsemen have suffered severe losses.
22:10What future now for Altan Khan?
22:17In the middle of his retreating hordes, he sends a message to the Chinese defenders.
22:34Is it an admission of defeat?
22:36Did this raid cost too much?
22:41But Altan Khan's message contains a naked threat.
22:48If trade is not allowed, his men will be in the streets of Beijing.
23:00The Ming Dynasty's Great Wall still has the reputation of being impenetrable.
23:07The sums were invested and millions of people were recruited to build it.
23:12The soldiers manning it were excellently trained, excellently equipped.
23:20And yet the Mongols didn't give up.
23:23Somewhere on such a long frontier, there had to be a place where they could break through.
23:31That place would be the Gubeikou Pass, north of Beijing.
23:53The Chinese don't expect an attack at the Gubeikou Pass.
23:58It's a forgotten corner of the mountains defended by a handful of troops.
24:03The gigantic fortifications so admired by Lord McCartney have not yet been built.
24:20The attack of the Mongolian forces is a complete surprise.
24:40It's almost too easy.
24:42The road to Beijing lies open.
25:10And Altan Khan keeps his promise.
25:14It's just 80 kilometres to Beijing.
25:24Officially Beijing is defended by a force of 140,000 men.
25:28But less than half of these are actually under arms.
25:34Liu Eng's victory at the gates of the fort has made the Chinese complacent.
25:48At the sight of the advancing Mongol hordes, the defenders run.
26:06Altan Khan's men tear through the suburbs of Beijing, plundering and burning.
26:13For three days they advance.
26:32At last, even the Emperor, deep inside the Forbidden City, can no longer ignore them.
26:40And within the walls of his ordered universe, Emperor Jiajing watches chaos overtake the
26:44outside world.
26:47There's nothing he can do.
27:00On September 30th, 1550, Altan Khan draws up his troops before the Anding Gate, the
27:06place where the Chinese traditionally hold their victory parades.
27:26He has reached his goal, the very heart of the Empire.
27:38A prisoner of war is sent with a message to the Emperor.
27:42Will it be a demand for his abdication?
27:44An ultimatum for the handover of the city?
27:47Does Altan want control of the whole Empire?
27:56The contents of the message cause confusion in the palace.
28:04Altan Khan once again requests the Emperor's permission to set up trading posts on the
28:09northern borders.
28:12But the sublime ruler has no intention of agreeing to the request of a barbarian.
28:30To regain control of an extremely delicate situation, the Emperor summons his high officials.
28:39They decide to take refuge in courtly protocol.
28:52The court will inform Altan Khan that they have a number of reasons to doubt that his
28:56message is genuine.
28:58Number one, it is not in the script of the barbarians.
29:02Number two, the message did not reach the Emperor by the appropriate means.
29:08The sublime ruler therefore demands that Altan Khan withdraw his forces at once, and
29:13that he make another formal request for trading relations via the garrison at Xuanfu.
29:33The court's tactics worked.
29:35Altan Khan withdrew from Beijing.
29:40His decision still puzzles historians today.
29:52There is one possible, very interesting explanation for this, that Altan Khan really didn't want
30:01to conquer China.
30:02He really did only want to establish trade relations.
30:07Now, 400 years before, Genghis Khan had had a quite different goal.
30:14He wanted to take over all the land south of the Yellow River.
30:19He wanted to control the Middle Kingdom, and he succeeded.
30:33A mere months after Altan Khan's attack, the Chinese open up trading posts at some of the
30:37northern forts.
30:44Recently, the remains of a trading station were found at Yulin garrison.
31:00Historians uncovered the foundations of a gate here in this wall, through which the
31:04merchants could pass in and out.
31:09But the new freedom of movement didn't last long.
31:16By the next year, the markets were closed down.
31:26And that was when construction began on the greatest defensive structure China and the
31:38world had ever seen.
31:52Between 1550 and 1644, the Stone Dragon came to life.
31:57China's Great Wall was completed.
32:13And the wall became a monument to the closed world view of the Ming Empire.
32:18The Ming closed their own universe and excluded everything that was foreign.
32:29To the north of Beijing, it curves majestically through the mountain ranges.
32:35It follows the natural line of the mountain peaks, reaching breathtaking heights before
32:40plunging into the deepest ravines.
32:47At its eastern end, in Shanghai Guan, it strides straight into the Yellow Sea.
32:52From this head of the dragon to the first earthen tower in the west, the Ming Wall is
32:57more than 6,000 kilometers long.
33:11The sometimes bizarre route taken by this wall has led many experts to believe that
33:16more than just defensive considerations went into its planning.
33:20For generations, the Chinese had believed in the practice of Feng Shui, the teachings
33:26of wind and water.
33:35Feng Shui experts were probably consulted and obeyed before the building of the wall
33:40to make sure that the forces of nature would work in its favor.
33:46But when it came to the construction itself, spiritual aspects took second place.
33:55It was all about quality, efficiency and speed.
34:02An army commander was in charge of each building detail.
34:08He was responsible for seeing that they keep to the timetable, if necessary, with the use of force.
34:17Most of the workers were recruited from the army or were pressed into service as civilians.
34:34The speed and harshness with which the plans were executed put a terrible strain on both men and the supply of materials.
35:04No one knows how many victims the wall claimed.
35:18We're told that a three-kilometer section of wall was completed in 600 days by just 3,000 men.
35:30The older walls, of compressed earth, could use materials that lay at hand.
35:35But the materials for the Ming wall of the 16th century had to be manufactured.
35:40This meant an extensive network of quarries, kilns and the supply routes to connect them.
35:50Countless brickworks were created for the greatest building site of the empire.
35:54The costs of this gigantic project became a heavier and heavier burden on the state.
36:19The bearers carried the bricks from the kilns to the construction sites in the mountains.
36:23Some traveled 80 kilometers.
36:31It took just a hundred years to build the greatest defensive fortifications the world had ever known.
36:44But the Great Wall is not a single wall at all.
36:47It's actually a system of several defensive lines.
36:52Watchtowers are strung out along the main wall.
36:55When the enemy is spotted, they light an alarm beacon.
36:58In the meantime, the 50 to 100 men in each tower hurry along the top of the wall to the point of the attack.
37:05Meanwhile, reinforcements arrive from the garrison towers, which hold up to 10,000 battle-ready soldiers.
37:24At least that's the theory.
37:26The reality was rather different.
37:29For months on end, the border guards were banished to the frozen mountain regions exposed to the cruel weather.
37:39Building the wall had brought the Ming dynasty to the edge of ruin.
37:51And discipline among the soldiers was poor.
37:54Whether mercenaries or draftees, they would go months without pay.
37:58They waited in vain for the promised waterproof clothing.
38:01There was no real supply chain.
38:10And yet taxes were constantly being increased throughout the empire.
38:21This money regularly disappeared long before it got to the frontiers, into the pockets of corrupt officers and officials.
38:29The completion of the wall brought with it the financial and spiritual bankruptcy of the Ming dynasty.
38:39In 1644, a rebel army led by a peasant, Li Si Cheng, plundered and pillaged its way towards Beijing.
38:57And there's a second threat to the creaking dynasty in Beijing.
39:00On the steppes, a powerful enemy is gathering.
39:03A hundred years after Altan Khan.
39:06The Manchu.
39:17At the eastern end of the wall, at the dragon's head, an army of Manchu horsemen has gathered.
39:27Close by is the fortress of Shanghai Guan.
39:34Calligraphy decorating the east tower announces its proud name, the First Pass Under Heaven.
39:43This fortress protects the plain between the mountains and the dragon's head at the edge of the Yellow Sea.
39:55In 1644, the First Pass Under Heaven is the scene of a fateful decision that will shake the Middle Kingdom to its core.
40:14The commander of Shanghai Guan is General Wu, one of the last army commanders still loyal to the Ming dynasty.
40:25The advance guard of the Manchu are camped in plain sight, but they make no attempt to take the fortress.
40:32They're waiting.
40:38By May 1644, the situation in the empire is hopeless.
40:42Li Si Cheng, the rebel leader, has taken control of the forbidden city.
40:45The emperor is dead.
40:49But General Wu has refused to go over to the rebels.
40:53It may still be possible to throw them out of Beijing and save the dynasty.
41:23Then General Wu receives news from Beijing.
41:45It's about the rebel leader Li Si Cheng.
41:57Li Si Cheng has taken General Wu's father hostage.
42:00He demands that the general swear allegiance to him as the new ruler of the forbidden city, or his father will die.
42:08Then the ambassador hands General Wu a letter, supposedly from his father.
42:22The old man begs the general to obey the new ruler at once and so save his life.
42:27His obligations to his own father must override his loyalty to the Ming dynasty.
42:37And a gift from Li Si Cheng should make his decision easier.
42:47How would the general decide?
42:51Did he have a choice at all?
43:05On May the 27th, 1644, at dawn, General Wu opens the gates of his fortress to the invading Manchu armies.
43:14Rather the Manchu ruling the empire than a peasant on the dragon throne.
43:27The Manchu expel the rebels from the forbidden city and they take power for themselves.
43:34They found a new dynasty that will rule the Middle Kingdom until the year 1911.
43:39They call themselves the Qing, the Pure Ones.
43:55One hundred and fifty years after the gates of China were opened to his ancestors,
43:59a Qing emperor receives a British trade delegation for the first time.
44:10Lord McCartney had refused to kowtow, the traditional gesture of humility before the emperor.
44:16In Chinese etiquette, this is an insult.
44:41But that wasn't the only reason McCartney failed to establish trade links with China.
44:51We do not have the slightest need of your country's manufacturers, is the judgment of the son of heaven.
45:01For the emperor, the British envoys are no more than barbarians from a distant unknown corner of the world.
45:08Foreigners who begged to be given the honor of paying him tribute.
45:23The British envoy's mission is a complete disaster.
45:30McCartney had admired the great wall of stone, but he had stumbled on another invisible wall,
45:37a wall that had surrounded the Middle Kingdom for two thousand years.
45:45Nearly fifty years later, Thomas Staunton, who had accompanied the mission as a boy,
45:50gave an impassioned speech in parliament calling for war against China, to enforce England's right to trade.
46:00These barbarians brought down the Chinese empire without scaling any walls.
46:05They came across the sea, from Europe.
46:14China's walls, visible and invisible, crumbled over time.
46:23The Great Wall could not protect the Middle Kingdom from its enemies.
46:27Some overcame it with force, others found the gates were opened for them.
46:33The Great Wall remains a symbol of national power.
46:46North of Beijing, where the stone dragon winds majestically over mountains and across ravines,
46:52this architectural masterpiece will still leave you speechless.
46:58The strength of the Great Wall in people's minds will always be more powerful than the truth of its chequered history.
47:28The Great Wall of China