What is our national spirit ~

The Great Wall is known as the most magnificent man-made architectural miracle in human history because of its long and broad space-time span of "two thousand years up and down, 100,000 miles vertically and horizontally". The Great Wall has had a far-reaching and tremendous influence in the history of China, and it has also accumulated and condensed extremely rich and profound ideological connotations, vividly reflected the thoughts and feelings, thinking mode and value orientation of builders, and cast the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation.

People often extract metaphors and symbols with different meanings or even completely opposite meanings from the thick and complicated historical details of the Great Wall, and the contrast between various metaphors or symbols is very great. If we take the Great Wall as a metaphor or symbol in general, we can extract one or two from the mottled and colorful connotation of the Great Wall. However, if we regard the Great Wall as a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation, we should carefully examine the historical role of the Great Wall, select its most essential features and the connotation that can inspire the Chinese nation to forge ahead, conduct textual research, explain and carry forward the spirit of diligence, wisdom and perseverance.

In the history of the Chinese nation, the direct purpose of building the Great Wall is to resist the northern nomadic people from going south, and the military effect is the primary prerequisite for evaluating the Great Wall. In the era of cold weapons, the military role of the Great Wall defense system should be said to be fruitful. During the Qin Dynasty, "the Great Wall was built in the north to guard the fence, and the Huns were more than 700 miles away, so the Hu people dared not go south to herd horses." (New Book Crossing the Qin Dynasty) When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in office, he "built forts, pavilions, outer cities, set up garrison, and then used less security guards at the border." (History of Xiongnu) Due to the application of artillery in the war in the Ming Dynasty, the spear of siege became sharper and sharper, but the shield of guarding the city was also strengthened accordingly. The key fortification areas of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty were mostly built with masonry, which was extremely strong, and the Ming defenders were also widely equipped with firearms. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the defensive role of the Great Wall can still be played.

Of course, the benefit evaluation of the Great Wall cannot be separated from the corresponding cost estimation. There is no doubt that it takes hard work and great sacrifice to build the Great Wall, but a considerable part of it is built according to the mountain pass. The Great Wall was built in six towns in the Northern Wei Dynasty. "One person can build three places a month, strong and weak, but one hundred thousand people can do it in January. Although there is a temporary job, it can be done forever. " (History as a Mirror (Volume 136)) In many dynasties, such as the Ming Dynasty, the burden on the general public has not reached an unbearable level, so there has been no civil strife caused by the construction of the Great Wall since the Qin Dynasty. More importantly, in any dynasty, as long as there is an effective courtier to preside over it, the Great Wall can give full play to its role of guarding the border, and its huge social benefits are immeasurable. Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. During the Jiajing period, the Anda Department invaded many times, and the border people "father and son can't protect each other, fertile land is abandoned and uncultivated, wasteland is barren, and salt law hinders destruction." Not only is the minister of border customs unsustainable, but the Tangdian has exhausted 100 million yuan, and the military forces have stopped dispatching, and the Central Plains is also in trouble "(Volume 59 of Ming Shi Lu), which is the loss caused by disrepair of border defense. However, only from the perspective of direct economic expenditure, Qin Long effectively resisted the invasion and promoted the peace talks between Han and Mongolia, that is, "the province recruited no less than one million troops every year" (Wanli Kung Fu Record Anda Biography). The ancient Great Wall is generally consistent with the natural boundary of agricultural and pastoral areas, and the Great Wall is the product of this ecological environment difference and the conflict between agricultural and pastoral nationalities. Because the Central Plains dynasty could not completely destroy the erratic opponents, it had to guard against sudden attack at all times, so in the long historical period of ancient China, it was a wise and effective countermeasure to build the Great Wall extensively. As for the design and construction of the Great Wall, from the determination of the position and direction, to the configuration of the whole defense system such as barriers, fortresses, enemy platforms, smoke piers (beacon towers), as well as the shape, structure and material selection of the wall, the terrain and features are skillfully used according to local conditions, and its ingenious and reasonable conception is amazing. In the extremely arduous and complicated construction process, the spirit of hard work and perseverance is admired by the world. Stein, an Englishman, once expressed the following feelings in front of the poor and steep site of the Great Wall in the west: "Here, the tenacity and organizational strength of military engineering experts who encountered terrible natural obstacles during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty have been significantly proved." (Stan's Archaeology of the Western Regions, p. 135)

All this fully shows that the Great Wall is worthy of being a spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation's tenacity, fortitude, diligence and wisdom. Centripetal Cohesion Patriotism China is a unified multi-ethnic country composed of more than 50 nationalities, and Chinese civilization is the only uninterrupted civilization in the world. To a great extent, this is because the problem of collision and blending between agriculture, animal husbandry and ethnic groups has been better solved. Based on the needs of production and life, it is a common desire for nomadic people in the north to communicate with people in the Central Plains. Long-term attacks and expeditions have brought great disasters to both sides. But historically, only by relying on the powerful Great Wall guards can we curb the military invasion of nomadic people and realize long-term peaceful and orderly exchanges. Take the Han Dynasty as an example. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, the Huns began to converge slightly. When Emperor Jingdi was in office, he "invaded the border from time to time without thieves"; At the beginning of Emperor Wudi, "Huns are all pro-Han Khan and walk under the Great Wall" ("Han Shu Xiongnu Biography"); When Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, he relied on "taking more than 1,500 miles of the plug-column tunnel from Dunhuang north to Liaodong ... and capturing some people to attack it without harming it", and even "the border town was closed, and there was no warning of dogs and horses in the third world" ("Zhao Han Guo Chongchuan"). The iron farm tools unearthed from the Xiongnu tomb in Mobei also show that the advanced production technology and mode of production in the Central Plains have had a far-reaching impact on nomadic people. The Xiongnu "Guanle City" likes Chinese products and often "drives away more than ten thousand cattle and horses and trades with Hanjiake" (Biography of Southern Xiongnu in the Later Han Dynasty). While obtaining a large number of necessities of life and production from the Central Plains, it also promoted the development of animal husbandry economy in Xiongnu. This kind of mutual communication has also benefited the Central Plains. There was a shortage of livestock in the early Han dynasty, and they would take ox carts. However, by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the "county of Binsai" south of the Great Wall had been "indulging cattle and horses and raising wild animals" (salt and iron theory), and a large number of animal power was put into agricultural transportation, which greatly improved the social productivity of the Central Plains. After the Qin Long peace talks in the Ming Dynasty, there was also a scene of prosperity along the Great Wall (No Dream Garden Collection, Volume 2). According to Wanli's Fu Xuan Town Records, there are actually "Nanjing Luosatin Shop, Suzhou-Hangzhou Silk Shop, Luzhou Silk Shop, Zezhou Papu Shop, Linqing Cloth Shop, Wool Shop, and Grocery Shop in Zhangjiakou, trading for four or five miles". Mongolian people not only "raise more livestock", but also gradually change the economic structure of single animal husbandry. "Its farming includes oxen and plows, and its seeds include wheat, cereal, beans and millet", and melons, mangoes, tomatoes, mustard greens, onions and leeks are "all things" (Folk Custom of Baoyantang). With the joint efforts of Mongolian and Han residents, a new Guihua City (now Hohhot) has also stood in Gufengzhou outside the Great Wall, with thousands of hectares of cultivated land and hundreds of villages. "Guo Cheng Palace is full of Fengzhou biographies" (Record of Ming Mu Zong, Volume 23). The reason why Sino-Mongolian trade was "beneficial to both China and foreign countries" in Longwan period was obviously inseparable from Zhang's implementation of the new border defense policy. Zhang is well aware of the internal relationship between the Great Wall frontier defense and peaceful exchanges. Even after the "Qin Long Peace Talks" was reached, he repeatedly stressed that "the mulberry soil is guarded, vigilant, self-sufficient, and there is no time to slack off." "What, you don't pay tribute to make things worse?" In addition, Governor Wang Chonggu was instructed to "instruct the governors and ministers to be more on the defensive than usual", and "The castle should be repaired in time so that the danger of the border can be gradually restored" was listed as the first of the "four essentials" of "what to repair" (Answer to Wang Jianchuan's interests in Gongcheng). There is such a saying in the book Fang Zhuan of Ming Dynasty: "Nine-sided fangs, stronger defense, land development, better merchants, and border people know the joy of life", which truly reflects the dialectical relationship between the Great Wall's border defense, solid border, transportation network and mutual trade. In the long-term peaceful exchanges, farmers and herdsmen have enhanced their feelings, eliminated barriers, and influenced and merged with each other in terms of ideology, culture and life customs. Han nationality "most people in the frontier divide foreigners into five categories" (Qi Jiguang: Chen Bianqing and Chariots); But the Mongols gradually learned the Chinese style, so that "every time they repent before the Buddha, they seek rebirth and live in China" (volume 1).

The formation and development of China's unified multi-ethnic country is characterized by clear political affiliation, national unity, military stability in Xinjiang and consolidation of border defense; It is also reflected in the economic dependence and integration between the mainland and the frontier, the peaceful exchange and harmonious coexistence of ethnic relations, including the psychological compatibility of value orientation and customs. Only the convergence of "most people in the frontier classify foreigners into five categories" and "seeking regeneration and living in China", and the inextricable connection between the animal husbandry economy outside the Great Wall and the commodity economy in the south of the Yangtze River like the Ming Dynasty, will eventually make the vast northern territory an inseparable part of the motherland. It is in these respects that the Great Wall Line of Defense plays the role of a link to unite and unify a multi-ethnic country.

In fact, the Great Wall was not only built by the ancient Han Dynasty in China, but also by a few regimes, such as Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Liao and Jin, who entered agricultural areas. The Great Wall is a historical monument jointly built by people of all ethnic groups in China. Historically, quite a number of ethnic minorities, such as Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei, Bianyi, Qiang, Turkic, Rouran, Qidan, Tangut, Nuzhen and Mongolia, have been integrated into the Han nationality along this Great Wall, which is not only a military defense line, but also an economic and cultural intersection. The great centripetal cohesion contained in the Great Wall is an important factor for the Chinese nation to stand among the nations of the world and for the sustainable development of Chinese civilization, and it is also an important element for the patriotic spirit of the Chinese nation.

Looking at the development history of ancient northern border areas in China, most of them are closely related to the border defense construction with the Great Wall as the core. Building and guarding the Great Wall defense line is basically based on the Great Wall as the axis or relying on the Great Wall to expand outward, building counties and establishing counties, which has stimulated the development of border economy. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, millions or even tens of millions of soldiers and civilians in number of periods, using the advanced production tools, technologies and organizational management methods of the Central Plains, have been exploring hard and initially established three new economic zones: Ordos (called Qin Xin), Hexi and Liaoyang. In the Western Han Dynasty, the new Qin Dynasty had already seen "prosperous population, cattle and horses running wild" (The Biography of Xiongnu in Han Dynasty). In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the military and private enterprises, it also adopted the method of "opening to the outside world" to encourage business, so that "the land and water near Xinjiang were reclaimed and cultivated inland" (Complete Works of Zhang Wenzhong), and the nine sides were as prosperous as Datong (Five Miscellanies, Volume 4). The traffic network in northern Xinjiang was originally established directly because of the military needs of building the Great Wall defense. A smooth traffic network is the main artery to transport grain and grass, mobilize military forces and make the Great Wall defense line run through. Building the Great Wall, opening up fields, opening up transportation and mutual trade complement each other, thus playing a lifeline role in spreading advanced civilization, developing frontier areas and gestating "the pearl on the frontier". The Great Wall itself is nothing more than a strategic defense facility of "restraint when prepared and restraint when not prepared" (salt and iron talk about danger), which is not necessarily related to closure, conservatism and retreat. King Wuling of Zhao, who "built the Great Wall from generation to generation, blocked it to the highest point under the shady mountain", was a famous politician (Biography of Xiongnu in Historical Records), while the Qing Dynasty, which flaunted that "unity is strength" and denounced the uselessness of the Great Wall, fell into the quagmire of behind closed doors. In fact, when the Central Plains dynasty turned into a strategic offensive posture, beacon towers and pavilions extended forward with the advance of vanguard troops and war horses. While gradually consolidating the frontier positions, they also provided convenience for transportation and laid a solid foundation for new expansion and attack. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Li Guangli to conquer Dawan, the first battle failed because of backup, and "the enemy was defeated without fighting" ("Li Han Guangli Biography") led to a fiasco. Only then did I know that "Wusun and Dawan were moved by the violent soldiers ... so the Han Pavilion was named Yumen". The Great Wall was built by the emperor of Qin He, including in the early Ming Dynasty, who took the initiative to attack and gained overwhelming military superiority. It can be seen that building the Great Wall is not only an active defense, but also a strategy of accumulating strength and continuing to forge ahead.

Needless to say, the Great Wall itself cannot determine the outcome of the war; In the hands of different politicians and military strategists in different historical periods, the role of the Great Wall is different. But for wise politicians in ancient times, the Great Wall has never been a ring that restricted the space of civilization. For example, Stein's Archaeology of the Western Regions mentioned that "China first entered Central Asia and hastily created and continued to protect this passage". "Looking at the terrible ground where this forward policy was successfully completed, we can't help but feel that the China people's inevitable expansion of the Great Wall and the subsequent rapid policy of the Han Dynasty must have suffered great pain and sacrifice in terms of manpower." It is obviously a strategic idea of the Western Han Dynasty to build a barrier pavilion in the western region to open up the communication channel with the west and "connect with the northwest countries" (Historical Records and Biography of Dawan). As the saying goes, "From Dunhuang West to Yanze, there are permanent pavilions and terraces, while there are more than 100 people in Luntai Canal Plough, and messengers and captains are placed to take care of foreigners" (Biography of Han Shu Xi). Here, the Great Wall is by no means an obstacle to communication with other nationalities and countries. On the contrary, it is the "vast territory with obstacles" that ensures the smooth flow of the Silk Road and frequent political, economic and cultural exchanges between the East and the West. This pioneering and exploring spirit embodied in the construction of the Great Wall has also had a far-reaching positive impact on the development of human civilization.

History has proved that the Chinese nation skillfully controlled and adjusted the relationship between the Central Plains Dynasty and the nomadic people in the north by using the Great Wall of Wan Li as a military defense line and the intersection of economy and culture, closely linked the farming civilization with the animal husbandry economy, and effectively promoted national integration, frontier development and national unity. Along the Great Wall, such as the huge stone carving of "Hua Zhan, Meng and Han Family" in Hongshixia, Yulin, Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu, Yungang Grottoes in Datong, the map of the Wei and Jin Tombs in Jiayuguan, which was designated as the postal symbol of China, and the Tongbenma in Wuwei, a tourist symbol of China, can all be called the true portrayal of the Great Wall spirit. The positive role of the Great Wall in China's politics, economy, military affairs and culture for more than 2,000 years has formed the objective basis of the Chinese nation's psychological identity, and this kind of inside information and connotation is so perfectly and harmoniously integrated with the lofty aspirations inspired by the great wall's extremely magnificent and vast landscape, which lasted for 2,000 years, and finally accumulated and cast into a nation that is hardworking, intelligent, tenacious, open-minded, pioneering, full of centripetal cohesion, maintaining unity and loving the motherland. Today, the military defense value of the Great Wall no longer exists, and the fraternal peoples have been at war for thousands of years. However, as a historical witness of the integration of the Chinese nation in the collision of pluralism and unity, and as a historical monument to unite the Chinese nation, the Great Wall will last forever! As the spiritual pillar of a nation's survival and development, the Chinese national spirit symbolized by the Great Wall will surely be carried forward under the new historical conditions!