BEIJING, CHINA – “SHOW ME THE MONEY”

As alluded to in US car ads trying to amp up the image of a vehicle brand long considered a little too staid and boring, “This is not your Dad’s Buick.”  And so it is with Beijing.  The Chinese capitol is no longer the land of Mao jackets, proletariat workers, a zillion bicycles, Chairman Mao’s “Little Red Book,” jingoistic anti-American rants, concrete block low-slung apartments, and minimalist diets.  The city of 23 million has definitely stepped up to the plate with the legendary swagger of Casey At The Bat.

Sure, it is still huge.  Pollution is a stinging (and growing) problem.  Traffic is nasty, with 6 million cars on the road in this locality.  But vehicles are modern.  Major boulevards are ten lanes wide and well maintained.  Shops are plentiful and offer everything you might seek out in London, Paris or Milan.  The architecture is imaginative and modern.

Most of all, there is a relaxed sense of freedom.  Not political freedom, mind you.The Communist Party still has a monopoly in that sphere.  Elections such as they are still remain illusions.  But there is freedom to travel for visitor and residents alike: to walk where you choose, to take a taxi to your destination of choice without guide or accompaniment or permit, some employment mobility, and a relaxation of the heavy-handed Marxist-Leninist dogma that hung over Chinese society for too many years.

Residents have the money to dine out.  They wear western clothes.  They spend too much time on their cell phones like everybody else.  They parade around with tablets, taking photos of everything in sight, including pix of friends and relatives taking photos of each other (they may even outdo the Japanese in this regard).  They have leisure time.  They are now relaxed, approachable, and comfortable being citizens of the world.

When it comes to communism, many can hardly be bothered these days.  Most are too busy thinking about improving their job prospects, their latest consumer purchase, meeting up with friends, or how they can start a business.  It is all about the money these days in China.  When subtly asked about communism and ideology as part of their lives, they shrug: “Oh, that …”

In fact, I heard with more than a bit of levity that the government is threatening to increase the dosage of official Marxist-Leninist propaganda on public airwaves because the Chinese have become “too soft.”  This relaxed state of mind has led to the need for a crackdown on corruption related excess -- economic bounty unfairly distributed -- a periodic purge cycle that is hardly unique to China, except for the executions which are the preferred means of handling these problems.  China remains a bit behind in this arena.

My first stopover (on the way to the Great Wall of China) is the Ming Tombs.  This is a collection of imperial mausoleums built by the Ming Dynasty Emperors (1388 to 1644 AD), collectively known as the “Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty.”   It is located 40 kilometers northwest of Beijing, on the southern slope of Tianshou Mountain.  The site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle (reigned from 1402–1424) based on the principles of Feng shui.

Yongle (the Emperor’s dynastic title: his birth name was Zhu Di) was responsible for moving the capitol of China from Nanjing to Beijing, and then arranging the layout of the city.  He provided for a number of other landmarks and monuments there, including a massive royal palace in 1420 now known as The Forbidden City.  The tombs (as part of a number of other sites around Beijing, includng Qing Dynasty Tombs) have been designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2003.

Feng shui is a Chinese philosophical approach to harmonizing an object with its environment.  It is classified under physiognomy (appearances established through formulas and calculations). The feng shui practice relates architecture to "invisible forces" that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together.  This concept is known as qu (“chi”) in Chinese mythology.

Feng shui has widely been used to orient buildings -- usually spiritually significant structures such as the Ming Tombs but also dwellings and public structures, such that a suitable site and orientation could be determined by reference to prominent local features.  These include bodies of water, stars, mountains, passes, and compass headings.

According to site selection principles dictated by Feng Shui, bad spirits and evil winds descending from the north needed deflecting – thereby dictating that a shield shaped tranquil valley with quiet fields of dark earth and calm waters covering 40 square kilometers would be selected as the final resting place of the Ming Dynasty Emperors.

At present, only three tombs are open to the public. Zhu Di’s tomb (called Changling) remains the largest and most accessible. There have been no excavations of any tombs since 1989.  Plans for additional archeological research and further investigation of tombs have discussed but have been impeded by past events.

The only Ming tomb to have been excavated was Dingling ("Tomb of Stability”). It is the burial site of the Wanli Emperor, Zhu Yijun – the 13^th Ming Emperor and one with the longest reign.  His remains the only intact imperial tomb of any era to have been excavated since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a situation that has resulted directly from the poor fate of Dingling’s attempted excavation.

Digging began there in 1956, after a group of prominent scholars advocated the excavation of Changling (Zhu Di’s larger and older tomb). Despite winning approval from the highest levels of the Communist Party leadership, this plan was vetoed by archaeologists because of the rank and public profile of Changling. Instead Dingling was selected as a trial site to pave the way for eventual excavation of Changling. Excavation of Dingling was completed in 1957, and a museum was established in 1959.

The excavation revealed an intact tomb with the skeletons of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses.  Included were thousands of remnants of silk, textiles, wood, and porcelain.  There was however neither the technology nor the resources to adequately preserve the excavated artifacts. After several disastrous experiments, the extensive collections of silk and other textiles were simply piled into a storage room.  Sadly, it was subject to repeated leakage of wind and water. As a result, most of the artifacts severely deteriorated, necessitating replicas to be utilized in the Dingling museum instead.

Political pressures that had created hasty preparations for the excavation ensured documentation of the process and findings would be inadequate.  Mass political movements sweeping China which resulted in the Cultural Revolution of 1966 soon ensured all archaeological work would be stopped.

One of the key advocates of the Dingling project became the first major target of the Cultural Revolution and was “denounced.”  Fervent Red Guards then stormed the Dingling museum, dragging the remains of the Wanli Emperor and empresses to the front of the tomb, where they were posthumously also denounced and then burned. Many related artifacts from Wanli’s reign were also destroyed.

It was not until 1979, after the death of Chairman Mao Tse Tung and the end of the Cultural Revolution, that archaeological work was allowed to continue and an excavation report on Dingling was finally prepared by those archaeologists who had survived the turmoil.

Lessons acquired from the Dingling experiment have led to a new policy of the Chinese government not to excavate any historical site except in the case of natural disaster. In particular, no proposal to open an imperial tomb has been approved since Dingling, even when the entrance has been accidentally revealed (as occurred with the Tang Dynasty Qianling Mausoleum, famous for its above-ground statues and subterranean murals). The original plan to use Dingling as a trial site for Changling was completely abandoned.

Overall, the Ming Tombs are an impressive complex.  Zhu Di’s Changling Memorial is a place of beauty and calm repose.  The most impressive feature is a massive walled mound which constitutes the actual burial site, located behind his Memorial Hall (called the “Hall of Eminent Favor”).  The size of a city block, this natural appearing and now-wooded peak was actually built up from flat ground, one basketful of earth after another with the accumulated efforts of thousands of laborers over an extended period of time. The actual exact burial spot of Zhu Di within this artificial hill remains unknown.

I also had occasion at Changling to be reminded of Zhu Di’s trusted eunuch, Admiral Zheng He.  Before his passing two years ago, my Father had given me a copy of British author Gavin Menzies’ controversial book: “1421: The Year China Discovered The World,” in which he asserts that the fleets of Zheng He visited the Americas 70 years prior to Christopher Columbus in ships three times larger thanthe Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  Menzies claims the same Chinese fleet circumnavigated the globe a century before the expedition of Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1522.

On some early European world maps used by navigators such as Columbus and Magellan, it appears that someone had charted and surveyed lands then unknown to the Europeans. Who could have charted and surveyed these lands before their 'discovery'?

In the book, Menzies concludes that only China had the time, money, manpower and leadership to embark on such expeditions.  He claims that from 1421 to 1423, the fleets of Zheng He discovered Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Antarctica, and possibly the Northeast Passage,

circumnavigated Greenland, tried to reach the North and South Poles, and circumnavigated the globe.

Although the book contains numerous source data, critics point out that it lacks supporting Chinese references for voyages beyond East Africa, the location acknowledged by professional historians as the limit of the fleet's travels. Menzies bases his theory on original interpretations of academic studies, minority population DNA findings in the Americas, archaeological discoveries, and ancient maps.

Knowledge of Zheng He's discoveries disappeared, according to Menzies, due to Mandarin bureaucrats of the Imperial Ming court fearing the costs of further voyages would ruin the Chinese economy (Zheng He had at least seven lengthy voyages with very large and expensive fleets). He conjectures that when Zhu Di died in 1424 and the new Ming Dynasty Emperor Hongxi forbade further expeditions, the Mandarins hid or destroyed records of previous expeditions to parlay further expense.

Among maps cited by Menzies in his speculation about Zheng He’s accomplishments is one recently found at the U.S. Library of Congress by an academic, detailing the fleet explorations of Mongolian (and Chinese) Emperor Kublai Khan. The documents clearly show North America. Menzies believes the maps (which were supposed to have undergone carbon-dated), are from the late 13^th century.

Another map cited by Menzies is known as “The Harris Map.”  It was discovered 30 years prior to Menzies’ book in a curiosity shop in Taiwan by missionary Dr. Hendon Harris. This map looked to be ancient, written in classical Chinese and depicting what to Harris was again clearly North America. It was a map of Fu Sang, a legendary land of Chinese fable.

Fu Sang is to the Chinese what Atlantis is to the West -- a mythical land that most don't know really existed, but for which tantalizing evidence exists to maintain popularity for the idea. The map the missionary discovered showed that Fu Sang was located exactly where North America is. Even more amazingly, some of the features shown on the map of Fu Sang look a lot like geographical features unique to North America (including the Grand Canyon).

Other maps have also surfaced. Menzies points to one in particular as definitive proof that the Chinese had already explored the world long before the Europeans ever set sail in the Age of Exploration.  Known as the “1418 Map” for the date it was supposedly published, this etching clearly shows all of the world's oceans, all seven continents, and is correct in shape and form -- including the Potomac River adjacent to Washington, D.C.

Menzies believes that not only had the Chinese already explored the world before Columbus and other European explorers, but that it was with Chinese maps that the Europeans were able to circumnavigate the globe. Armed with the 1418 map as his leading evidence, Menzies notes plenty of other artifacts that point to Chinese pre-Columbus visitation of the Americas.

Menzies and fellow proponents of the “1421” theory have documented discovery of ancient Chinese coins at eight different sites in the Pacific Northwest of the US.  Off the coast of Big Sur (Calif) artifacts of pre-Columbus Chinese jade have been unearthed from a riverbed and the sea floor. Similar finds have been encountered off the coast of Florida. Also near Big Sur, massive donut shaped rocks known to have been used by the Chinese navy as anchors have been found in Drake’s Bay.

The world famous Great Wall of China is not a continuous wall but a collection of wall sections that often follow the crest of hills on the southern edge of the Mongolian plain. Known as the "Long Wall” in China, it extends about 8,850 kilometers along its primary course which roughly mirrors the modern southern Mongolia border.

The Chinese were already well familiar with the techniques of wall construction by the arrival of first unification under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC. Prior to this time, leading back to the 8^th century BC and the Warring States Period in Chinese history, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan all constructed extensive fortified barriers to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these relatively primitive walls were made mostly of stamped earth and gravel between board frames.

Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China for the first time, thus establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered destruction of some wall sections that divided his empire along its former state borders.  These were replaced by by a higher, stouter wall which connected remaining east-west sections to protect against raids from Xiongnu people to the north (1400 years short of Genghis Khan and the formation of Mongolia).

Transporting the large quantities of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources.  Mud and clay bricks from the mountains were used over hilly terrain, while rammed earth continued to be utilized in the plains. Few records survive indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of them have eroded away over the centuries.

Later, the Han, Sui, and Northern Dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great expense to defend themselves against northern invaders.  That was not the only expense, however. The human cost of the project has been estimated at hundreds of thousands (if not up to a million) worker lives to build the Qin wall alone.

   

The major construction of what we know as the “modern” Great Wall began in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming fortifications were established in new areas from the Qin walls. They were up to 8 meters high, 5 to 9 meters wide at the base, and from 3 to 4 meters wide at the top (wide enough for marching troops or wagons). Wall exterior materials were upgraded to kiln-fired bricks and dressed cut stones.  At regular intervals, guard stations and watch towers or signal towers were also established.

A comprehensive archaeological survey using satellite technology has determined that the Ming walls measure 8,850 kilometers. This is made up of 6,259 kilometers of actual wall, 359 kilometers of trenches and 2,232 kilometers of natural defensive barriers such as cliffs and rivers. A separate archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be an astounding 21,196 kilometers.

Since the Great Wall was discontinuous, Mongol invaders had little trouble breaching the barrier by traversing around it, so the wall ultimately proved unsuccessful and was eventually abandoned. Additionally, a policy of mollification during the Ch'ing Dynasty (aka Qing Dynasty, 1644 – 1912, which saw China expand to three times the size of the empire during the Ming Dynasty) that sought to pacify Mongol leaders helped to limit the need for the wall.

Once Mongolia became a battleground between competing Russian and Chinese interests in the 17^th to 19^th centuries and parts of southern Mongolia were absorbed into the Chinese Empire the need for a wall dissipated altogether.

Other purposes of the Great Wall historically have included border controls, imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or promotion of trade, and control of immigration/emigration. The path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.  All told, it was built in its various forms over a 1900 year period.

My own experience with The Great Wall was somewhat frustrating.  I arrived in the heat of summer, on a Sunday during a school holiday, in miserable humidity at the Badaling Section outside Beijing.  Pictures I’d seen of only four to five people every 100 meters were far from my reality.  What I encountered was more like a stairwell during a fire alarm.  People, more people, and their children were jammed hip to hip.  To top it off, they were all armed with metal-ribbed umbrellas, which were thoughtfully placed at eye level to blind relatively taller Westerners like me.

The views from The Great Wall were as advertised.  Simply incredible.  Who could have imagined Mongolian cavalry ever being able to ascend these relentlessly cascading hills?  Then the thought of building a massive wall on top of the steepest ridges possible overwhelms your sensibilities.  How did they get supply wagons here?  How did they get troops up on a timely basis?  Where did their water for mortar and to supply workers come from?  Many similar questions persisted in relation to this wondrous spectacle.

The Chinese themselves are friendly and even polite, yet highly inconsiderate at the same time.  Narrow stairways and passageways were often blocked by families taking a meal together and usurping the only seating opportunities available along the wall – ascending steps – so that transiting from one section to another became very difficult.  Therefore, given an option, I think it best to visit during the fall or spring.