Avoiding “loss of face” is a pesky little preoccupation, particularly for state media editors. It seems to have the power to cloud common sense with regular ease.
The Academy of the Great Wall of China has a problem. The “New Seven Wonders of the World” are about to be decided and the Great Wall is currently languishing outside the top seven in the public vote. The academy needs public panic. It needs 1.3 billion Chinese people across the nation to scream “Shit, the iconic symbol of our nation is going to be denied wonder status. Let’s vote!” China should be able to do this. There are enough people with access to the Internet in order to vote (144 million of them) and enough mobile phones to send votes by SMS. A dollop of urgency is all that is required. And a full-on media frenzy of course.
Step forward an editor with pride issues. I have no idea who is responsible for the following decision but all the Chinese stories on this issue that I have seen fail to mention that the Great Wall is not currently in the top seven. This is deliberate. Apparently, telling the Chinese people that their Great Wall is outside the top seven would be denigrating to the nation. It would be better off if the story says, “Guess what everybody, the Great Wall is in the top ten “Wonders of the World” and could be in the final seven! Wahoo!” This explains the following story on CCTV-9, which was taken directly from the Chinese version:
The stage has been set to hold a global vote to determine the New Seven Wonders of the World. The Great Wall has long been a famous symbol of China. And now, it’s in the running for this prestigious, worldwide honor. Public voting is now open for an array of ancient historic sites.
The Great Wall is considered by many as a symbol of China’s ancient civilization and its peoples’ ingenuity.
And now, this 2,600-year-old fortification is in the running to become one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Many Chinese are expressing their confidence ahead of the competition. That’s because, they say greatness defines itself.
Xie Jiuzhong, spokesperson Badaling tourist district, said, “Last year I went to Italy and Greece and toured around the sites there. But it only impressed upon me why the Chinese are so proud of the Great Wall. No other cultural heritage sites can compare with the Great Wall in terms of length, magnitude and the man-power required to build it.”
The Great Wall’s magnificent features are attracting tourists from across the world. So far, the Badaling section alone has attracted over 130 million tourists. (Singing) For these visitors, this is the best way to express their excitement.
Erin Manning, choir member, said, “Well, it’s definitely true but it just, the words and everything and the pictures don’t capture it all, it’s just amazing, it’s really beautiful, just the landscape and everything.”
But the Great Wall of China is facing fierce competition from the other 20 UNESCO listed nominations. Among them the Eiffel Tower of France, the pyramids of Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal in India.
Public voting is now underway online at www.new7wonders.com . The final results will be announced during a ceremony in Lisbon on July 7th this year.
What? “Greatness defines itself”? It’s a lovely line but where is the call to arms? The academy needs votes! The Great Wall needs YOU! Luckily, clear thinking in the English department prevailed (especially after I banged my head on my desk seven times, cackled manaically and swore like a trooper) and we released the right story which Reuters picked up. But what a hopeless task the Academy of the Great Wall faces. News of its last-minute campaign to rally voters was suppressed and now they have to rely on foreigners to step in. (Vote for the Great Wall on www.new7wonders.com - yes it stinks of gimmickry but at least it is an attempt to celebrate the world’s cultural heritage).
A final observation. This quote made me chuckle:
“China’s Great Wall missed an opportunity 2,000 years ago when the Greeks named the Seven Wonders of the World. It would be extremely regretful if it became an also-ran this time,” the academy said in a statement.
Damn those bloody ancient Greeks!
Wiss | 01-Jun-07 at 11:23 am | Permalink
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but for hundreds of years, the Great Wall was a symbol of Imperial tyranny and waste, right? Hated by the peasants who were forced to build it or die trying, sucking the treasury dry, and not preventing a single damn invasion.
From an engineering perspective, it’s not even that cool. The Chinese even whipped its ass with Three Gorges. The Eiffel tower, the Parthenon, the Pyramids, and Machu Piccu all beat it to hell as engineering feats. Probably the Taj Mahal too, but I don’t know anything about it…
I’m tired of the Wall, frankly. I think Chinese people should take pride in their real cultural accomplishments- their incredibly good food, their remarkable writing system, 2000 years of poetry, art and philosophy?
Sorry, I’m feeling grumpy today…
Anyway, how come the Statue of Liberty is on the list, but not the Brooklyn Bridge?
mike | 01-Jun-07 at 1:44 pm | Permalink
the Eiffel tower a greater engineering feat than the great wall? hmmm. suggest you take a journey to simtai and take a few minuted to suck in the sheer grandeur of the wall. then hop on a plane to paris and do the same for the blackpool, sorry, eiffel tower.
you will see that comparing the two is like comparing apples and carrots, albeit a very splendid apple (in parts, the great wall) and a rather dull, workmanlike carrot.
Wiss | 02-Jun-07 at 10:52 am | Permalink
Just because the Eiffel Tower has been replicated elsewhere, like Tokyo, doesn’t mean it wasn’t an incredible feat of engineering. Not only was it a triumph of iron-frame building, but it was a daring, spectacular work of art. There wasn’t anything like it in any European city in 1890, except maybe the Crystal Palace in London, and that burned down in the 1930’s.
A measure of its success has been how often it’s been replicated. But Eiffel deserves recognition for the beauty and daring of his design.
Just because the Great Wall is long, doesn’t mean it’s interesting from an engineering perspective. I’ve been on it half a dozen times in the last year (to simitai and places more remote), and it’s very beautiful, but it’s a lot like Chinese city walls all over the country. I’m certain hauling stone blocks up the mountainside was tough, and it does look nice on a wine bottle or satellite photo, but it’s not a “feat”. The building itself is rather mundane. It just doesn’t seem to stop.
In other words, just because you can enslave millions of Chinese peasants to build you a really long wall doesn’t mean that you should. It’s the engineering equivalent of making the world’s longest hotdog by splicing a million normal hotdogs together. Not that cool.
And even less cool for all the people killed in its construction. Spectacular waste isn’t generally considered a positive trait in engineering. The whole thing may as well be made from human skulls. If anything, the Wall stands for the great problem of Chinese history- ordinary people repeatedly crushed by irrational tyrants.
The Chinese people have done many, many better things than that.
rty | 02-Jun-07 at 1:08 pm | Permalink
This kind of online “public vote” is just a joke, if you know anything about survey methodology or even “democratic voting”. You are just as laughable as anyone else (including the academy) to talk seriously about it.
Ben | 03-Jun-07 at 11:27 am | Permalink
I don’t know about the Eifel Tower, but I would definitely say that the Three Gorges Dam is more wonder-worthy than the Great Wall. You might even be able to put the Qinghai-Tibet railway up there either. What about the Meglev Train?
Chris O'Brien | 04-Jun-07 at 4:09 pm | Permalink
rty: cheek, tongue ..
Mike: I find myself in agreement with you. A strange sensation.