- 2 days ago
The history, challenges, and cultural significance of the Great Wall are explored. In addition, other significant Chinese artistic endeavors are highlighted including the Terracotta Warriors and Forbidden City.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.
00:09The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations,
00:15but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
00:23The only man-made object on Earth the astronauts could see from outer space
00:28was the Great Wall of China.
00:38Although it is one of the most astounding accomplishments of man,
00:41it failed to keep out wave after wave of barbarian invaders.
00:47Startling new archaeological discoveries in China may shed light on why it was built
00:53and on the character of the emperor who completed it.
00:58The Great Wall of China.
01:08This huge stone serpent winds across nearly 2,000 miles of rugged mountains
01:13in the People's Republic of China.
01:18It is the longest structure in the world.
01:21The vast land of China has always held mystery for us.
01:28Her customs, her language, and her way of life have differed vastly from the rest of the world.
01:35Her very remoteness has lent an air of mystery.
01:38We have admired her ancient culture and her appreciation of beauty.
01:44In Search Of is the first major film unit allowed into the People's Republic of China,
01:51seeking answers to some of her secrets.
01:54An ancient ruler who could be the key to some of the puzzles is Emperor Shi Chuandi.
02:03He became China's emperor in 221 BC.
02:08In Chinese, last names come first.
02:14The word China comes from the family name Shi.
02:18So the land of Shi became China.
02:21Even before Shi, however, China had rulers who lived behind this land of walls.
02:30Each one built sections of the Great Wall in hope it would keep out the barbarians.
02:36The great Tartar leader, Genghis Khan, a brilliant military strategist,
02:41had little trouble crossing the Great Wall.
02:43Nomad scouts from the Khan's Gobi Desert hordes reported that the Chinese government was weak.
02:51There were traitors to open the gates and the Mongol hordes swept through to conquer China.
02:58The irony was that after two generations, the new conquerors were totally absorbed by the Chinese.
03:06Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis and the most familiar name to us through the tales of Marco Polo,
03:12lived in the height of luxury and ruled over the most splendidly opulent court in Chinese history.
03:20A later emperor, Yung Lo, ordered the city of Peking built with high walls
03:27and made it his capital because of its proximity to the Great Wall.
03:32The ancient Chinese believed that they were the only civilized people in the universe.
03:37All others were barbarians.
03:38In early times, many local rulers had built sections of walls for the protection of their area.
03:44But in 207 BC, one man came to power who was to be one of the most dominant figures in early Chinese history.
03:51He not only filled in the gaps and completed the Great Wall of China,
03:55but he conquered all of the local rulers and consolidated China for the first time.
03:59His name is Shi Chuangdi. He was China's first emperor. His accomplishments were many.
04:07A skilled general, he put down all opposition by defeating all local monarchs.
04:12He built roads connecting his capital with the far corners of his empire.
04:27He standardized writing, coinage, weights and measures throughout the land.
04:32At the University of California at San Diego, we spoke with Professor of History, Dr. Mpikowicz.
04:41Virtually everything that he did tended to bring China closer together as one unit.
04:45It put an end to feudalism.
04:48And that's the reason why China today, although it's the size of Europe, is one country.
04:53We sometimes don't think why Europe, for example, is so many different countries and China is only one country.
04:59It's because of what this man did in 221 BC that China is one nation.
05:03To call him a Chinese Caesar perhaps is underestimating it.
05:07The Great Wall of China defined the emperor's territorial limits.
05:12The 2,000 miles of wall was purposely built along the most difficult mountain ridges of northern China.
05:22This huge stone casing, filled with tamped earth and rock, is larger in bulk than the combined pyramids of Egypt and Mexico.
05:33It rises to precipitous heights and plunges into deep gorges.
05:43It is one of the wonders of the ancient world.
05:47Some parts of it are so remote, they are seldom seen by man.
05:54Old sections of wall were linked together from the Pacific Ocean to the vast westward stretches of the Gobi Desert.
06:03It meets the eastern terminus for camel caravans on the fabled Silk Route from the Middle East.
06:10The path followed by Marco Polo in his famous travels.
06:13Chinese travelers of the period were terrified that they would die beyond the Great Wall.
06:16They were afraid their spirits would be unable to pass through the wall to find rest in their homeland.
06:20Chinese travelers of the period were terrified that they would die beyond the Great Wall.
06:30They were afraid their spirits would be unable to pass through the wall to find rest in their homeland.
06:37The emperor's most astounding accomplishment was the completion of the Great Wall.
06:47It was, however, constructed at enormous human cost.
06:52Many peasants who built it froze to death in the severe northern winters of the land.
06:59Hundreds of thousands of conscripted workers died from extremely harsh treatment at the hands of the emperor's guards.
07:06Beneath the massive stones lie the remains of those laborers who perished, earning it the name of the longest graveyard in the world.
07:19The emperor's harsh measures were not only felt by the laborers, but also by scholars and intellectuals.
07:27Their thinking had been formed by the great teacher Confucius.
07:31They were pledged to respect tradition.
07:34Shi Chuang Di wanted just the opposite.
07:38He was determined to break with the past completely.
07:42He was known to have carried out a cultural revolution.
07:45Although it wasn't called a cultural revolution at the time, it was in fact a movement to erase the history of China in the period preceding his rise to power.
07:55He burned books. He buried scholars alive, quite literally.
07:58One of the methods used to kill scholars, and I think there were some 460 scholars killed in a four or five year period.
08:05One of the methods of killing scholars was to bury them up to their neck and then to take an axe and lop their heads off.
08:11One of his concerns is that he still had rivals in these former kingdoms, these feudal kingdoms, who could threaten his rule.
08:19And so he decided for the first time in Chinese history to simply collect all of his enemies.
08:25A hundred and twenty thousand families were assembled in his capital.
08:30He built palaces for them. He built homes for them.
08:32But he could keep an eye on them this way.
08:35And this is the kind of grand scale in which he always did things.
08:37As time passed, he became fearful of reprisals.
08:42He would travel incognito across the empire with a small group of trusted followers.
08:48Unannounced, he would inspect progress on the Great Wall, arriving and disappearing quietly.
08:57The Great Wall became an obsession. It was more to him than a structure of defense.
09:08It was a statement that defined the line between his china and the outside world.
09:13Standing on these ancient stones, hearing the eerie sound of the winds blowing along the wall, it is easy to imagine the scene of 2,000 years ago.
09:26Stone fortresses were built at intervals as living quarters for guards who were on constant duty.
09:38They watched for barbarians threatening from the north.
09:42The fear of death haunted the emperor's dreams.
10:04He built many palaces for himself across his empire.
10:07At his treasured hot springs, the long, cool vistas of crepe, myrtle and willow designed to soothe and calm the mind brought little solace now.
10:20He scurried from palace to palace, sleeping under a different roof nightly.
10:31Drawn sword by his side, he was haunted by his enemies, living and dead.
10:40Even the roof demons confirmed the fear in his heart that assassins were everywhere.
10:45There were many attempts made on his life, as reenacted in the summer palace by members of the Peking theater.
10:55Terrors of the Peking theater.
11:00Hey!
11:05Hey!
11:07Heavenly wee!
11:08Oh, my God.
11:38Oh, my God.
12:08One day, as his search for immortality continued, a magician asked for an audience with the emperor.
12:15The magician spun tales of a wondrous place to the east, where sages knew of a liquid potion which granted immortality.
12:22The emperor insisted on all the details of the miracle potion.
12:28The magician complied and even provided directions to the mysterious land.
12:39Shortly thereafter, the emperor embarked on his journey.
12:42It was ironic that during his travels, while trying to find eternal life, he died at the age of 49.
12:53During his lifetime, he exerted tremendous effort seeking immortality because of an inordinate fear of death.
12:59Even at the early age of 13, Shi Chuangdi began construction of his own tomb so that he would be ensured protection in the afterlife.
13:08Using 700,000 laborers, the emperor spent 37 years building a lavish subterranean palace to protect him after his death.
13:19His grand design was an enormous map of China.
13:23Each city was represented in miniature, complete with rivers of mercury.
13:29The emperor himself was to be laid in a coffin on a huge dragon boat.
13:33Statues of members of his personal army were placed to guard the emperor in death.
13:40Legend has it that over 24,000 clay soldiers were buried with him.
13:46The legendary location of this tomb was said to be under a huge artificial mound called Mount Lee in the province of Senshi.
13:55Stories had been passed down that an army of clay soldiers had been buried near the tomb, but none had ever been found.
14:03Then, in 1974, in this quiet rural setting, a great discovery was made.
14:12Some workers digging a well near Mount Lee were amazed when they unearthed strange clay figures.
14:20Could these be part of the fabled buried army of the emperor Shi Chuangdi?
14:25In a peaceful rural area of Senshi province, 500 miles west of Peking, these farmers planted and harvested grain.
14:37When the clay soldiers and horses were discovered in 1974, scientists realized this might be part of the legendary buried army of the emperor Shi Chuangdi.
14:51If so, it would be one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time.
14:55Some clay miniatures had been found in royal tombs before.
15:06They represented guards, wives, and servants placed there to care for the monarch after death.
15:12The figures found near the emperor's tomb, however, were life-size, and there appeared to be an entire army of them.
15:21When the enormity of this discovery was realized, a huge structure was built over the site of the buried clay army.
15:39After further investigation, archaeologists found the army was larger than it first imagined.
15:44The emperor's subterranean legions occupied an area of over three acres.
15:51More than 600 life-size figures have so far been uncovered, and test digs indicate there will be at least 5,000 more.
16:01Over a period of six years, hundreds of skilled men and women have continued the painstaking work of restoration.
16:08One of the original archaeologists at the site discusses the significance of this extraordinary find.
16:18It was on this very spot that the well diggers discovered the first clay figures beneath the earth.
16:25As archaeologists continued to dig, they were profoundly moved by what they saw.
16:31An entire army, battle lines formed, ready for attack.
16:38Rank upon rank, they stood, silently waiting.
16:45They had stared into the darkened silence as 22 centuries slowly ticked away.
16:52The only sound?
16:54The snap and sag of a pottery neck as it slumped against the ground in some earth tremor.
16:59Each face is unique.
17:11Perhaps each one is the portrait of a long-forgotten warrior.
17:15The logistics of creating this vast assemblage were staggering.
17:33An artist imagines the scene as it was over 22 centuries ago.
17:40Thousands of skilled craftsmen spent their entire lives on the project.
17:46Each figure was carefully modeled in clay, oven-fired, and then placed in formation.
17:52It was often the practice to bury live members of a monarch's personal guard with him at his death.
17:59If these are indeed the likenesses of Xi's guards, their loyalty to the emperor may have rested in the knowledge that they would not be required to die with him.
18:09A museum has been built adjacent to the site where these remarkable examples of ancient Chinese art can be seen and admired.
18:27Details such as the bronze bridles found on some of the horses can be studied.
18:31A high degree of artistry, even on such a massive scale, was far above that believed possible for this early period.
18:42The armor worn by the men and the different dress and hairstyle denoting rank or occupation were carefully reproduced by the artisans.
18:55Much can be learned here of the Xi dynasty and of its emperor who built the wall.
19:01Perhaps his vast clay army was yet another kind of wall.
19:08The controversy over the emperor, Xi Chuangdi, continued for centuries.
19:13The positive view stresses his unification of China.
19:16The negative view of the emperor points out the tremendous cost in human lives of his vast projects and his repression of scholastic learning.
19:24There can be no doubt, however, that shortly after his death, China was in turmoil.
19:29A commoner named Shen stepped from the ranks of the soldiers and inspired a revolt against the weak son of late emperor, Xi Chuangdi.
19:40This soldier became the first emperor of the Han dynasty.
19:44The Xi dynasty fell, but the great wall of China has remained for 2,000 years.
19:58Often neglected, in some places it is little more than a pile of rubble repaired many times to a semblance of its former condition.
20:06Today, the many walls in China are merely decoration, attracting visitors from around the world.
20:15The greatest of these walled palaces is the forbidden city of Peking.
20:20It is the most perfect example of the individual isolation of early Chinese rulers.
20:26Only the emperor or empress, their close relatives, servants, and high officials were ever allowed through these gates.
20:42The great wall today represents a eulogy to emperor Xi for the many positive accomplishments of his rule.
20:52It is also a huge stone epitaph upon which is written the horrors that he perpetrated.
21:00Perhaps it is a timeless comment on the futility of isolation.
21:04Late in the evening, when the last visitor is gone, and the wind blows again from the north,
21:13the sounds of the dead seem to cry out to us in the whining and sighing of the winds along the parabens.
21:27One might ask the question,
21:29Did the great wall keep the world out, or did it imprison the Chinese within?
21:36As with many other great works of man,
21:39was it worth the thousands upon thousands of lives it cost to build?
21:47Coming up next, In Search Of continues with an expedition into the sacrificial past of the great Mexican pyramids.
21:54Then, 20th Century with Mike Wallace reports on the winners and losers of America's ever-expanding gambling mania.
22:01And later tonight,
22:03History's Mysteries goes hunting in Sherwood Forest for the true story of Robin Hood.
22:08At 8, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.
22:11Retro Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial Trial T
Be the first to comment