The walls of Beijing

BEIJING is a city of ancients walls.

There are the visible and tangible walls such as the famous Great Wall of China, the high wall surrounding the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace as well as a lower wall around the traditional residential buildings called siheyuans.

Being an accomplishment of emperors from different dynasties, the Great Wall was first built as early as the Warring States Period (476 to 221 BC).

Over the years, there were continual efforts to repair and link the different stretches of this defending wall set up to defend China from the ‘barbarians from the North’.

Today, stretching 21,000m through deserts, mountains and plains from west to east, the Great Wall with a history of over 2,000 years, still stands tall and solid.

From the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, one can see the green woodlands all around. In the olden days, it was an effective northern barrier defending the land south of the Wall. Today, in face of advanced weaponry, this purpose has ceased to exist. Walls, however high nowadays, are unable to keep any enemy out.

As one of the wonders of the world and the only structure visible from the moon, the Great Wall is undeniably a historical monument of great heritage value. And it seems this has been the only purpose it serves today apart from being a great tourist income earner for China.

As walls were effective defensive mechanisms against attacks, a 10-metre high wall had been built around the Forbidden City, another historical remnant that helps China to rake in millions of Yuan or RMB every year.

Rectangular in shape with a watchtower on the four corners and a moat outside the city wall, the Forbidden City was built to ensure the security and safety of the imperial families.

First built in 1406 during the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City had housed 24 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1636-1911).

As the best preserved imperial palace of China, the Forbidden City stands together with other great palaces — the Palace of Versailles of France, the Buckingham Palace of the United Kingdom, the White House of the United States and the Kremlin Palace of Russia — as the world’s five most important palaces.

The Forbidden City stands in all its grandeur on 72 hectares. The whole area is divided into outer court and inner palaces.

The outer court, consisting mainly of Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony, was the premises where the emperors conducted their state duties.

The inner court, made up chiefly of Palace of Heavenly Peace, Palace of Union and Peace and Palace of Terrestrial Tranquility and other structures, were the living and sitting quarters of the emperors and their households.

While the Forbidden City exudes a sense of grandeur and majesty with no trees or gardens but only stoned walkways and granite courtyards as well as gigantic jars for storage of water in case of fire, the Summer Palace, situated 15km away, is green and serene.

Like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace is surrounded by a high wall to prevent any commoners or unwanted people entering to disturb the royal families.

The Summer Palace is an ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces where many of its features are replicas of the famous places of other parts of China. Its Long Corridor, 728m in length and adorned with 14,000 paintings on its beams and ceilings, is, however, a distinctive feature of its own.

Initially built as a gateway from summer time, the Summer Palace, was, however, such an enchanting place that towards the end of her life, Empress Dowager spent most of her time there.

Hidden jewels

Beijing not only offers amazing historical structures and buildings but also hidden jewels in many parts of the city for visitors to discover. Among them are the ‘hutongs’, the narrow alleys in centre of Beijing, and the siheyuans or Chinese quadrangles which are single-storey traditional courtyard houses linked by the hutongs.

A siheyuan is a typical residential structure throughout China comprising four main buildings surrounding an open courtyard. It is the basic layout which all Chinese traditional buildings, including the Forbidden City, share.

The building on the North facing south is the main building, occupied by the master of the house.

The building on the West facing east is the Western Wing House while the building on the East facing west is the Eastern Wing House — both occupied by the daughters and the sons.

The building on the South facing north is the Back House, normally used as study room or sitting room. All these buildings or rooms are linked by corridors.

Despite being much smaller compared to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace but sharing the same layout plan, siheyuans like these royal residential places are surrounded on all sides by walls.

And if the walled-siheyuans represent grassroots China, then perhaps the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace represent the old China while the Great Wall of China, ancient China. If so, then it may be fair to say Tiananmen Square represents the new China.

Despite the buzzing presence of tourists — both domestic and foreign — Tiananmen Square appears exceptionally quiet in the drizzle and the cold wind of autumn.

The Square which has been enlarged over the past decades, is one of the top five largest squares in the world.

On its north is Tiananmen Gate or the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Once the first entrance to the great Forbidden City, Tiananmen Gate now assumes a significant role in the new China.

It is here that the top leaders of China stand to make historical announcements, including the founding of People’s Republic of China by chairman Mao Zedong.

It is also here the top leaders of China stand to witness any national or international events, including the recent parade to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of Japan’s defeat in WWII.

It is, thus, not surprising to see the portrait of Mao on the wall of Tiananmen Gate, staring down at the crowds busy taking pictures or videos.

With his embalmed body lying at the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, Mao, the founder of new China, is still the hero for many in China. This can be seen from the long queues of domestic tourists lining up to pay their respects.

Comparing Tiananmen Square and other historical buildings, one cannot help but notice a big difference — while the old historical buildings are all walled, Tiananmen Square is an open space of more than 40 ha.

Walls, once an effective protective mechanism, have become redundant in face of modern development and advancement. Towards the end of Qing Dynasty, walls had become obsolete even against of cannon fire.

Policy and wall

Closed-door policies could be likened to invisible walls. When invisible walls failed to stand the test of time, so would closed-door policies.

Adopting closed-door policies or building up stonewalls against the outside world had managed to not only suffocate those inside but also caused them to be left completely behind by those on the outside.

The history of China shows the country was at its weakest when closed-door policies were practised.

The tailend of the Qing Dynasty was a good example. Its closed-door policy had invited aggression externally and evoked rebellions internally.

On the other hand, when China was adopting open-door policy, sending out ambassadors such as General Zhang Qian (Han Dynasty, 200-114 BC) and Admiral Cheng Ho (Ming Dynasty, 1371-1433/1435) to establish trade and diplomatic relationships with other parts of the world, the country enjoyed some of its golden eras.

Perhaps this is what China has learnt from its history — walls hinder development and invite aggression while openness leads to progress, freedom and endless opportunities beyond. Perhaps that is why, some walls had been torn down, including those surrounding Beijing city.

When the wall of Beijing city was still in existence, entering and exiting the city was restricted to four gate entrances. Thus, the wall had become such a big communication obstacle for the growing population (reaching 20 million) that it was pulled down.

Big irony

Security was another reason for dismantling the walls. This was an even bigger irony since the walls were once put up to ensure security and today, it is torn down precisely for the same reason.

The new China has not only pulled down visible walls but also removed invisible walls such as trade protectionism and corruption.

There is also more openness and transparency in China’s policy-making process than many Southeast Asian countries which have proclaimed themselves democratic.

Foreign journalists can enter China to observe what and how the country has been doing. The Chinese Consul-General in Kuching even invited eight journalists from Sarawak to visit three distinctive cities of Beijing, Xi’an and Kunming.

As our Beijing tour guide Peter Liu aptly put it: “Although a socialist country, China is even more open than many so-called capitalist or democratic countries.”

There are also no less reflective and analytical reports from its own journalists.

China has not stopped removing visible and invisible walls. Two years ago, it came out with its economic and diplomatic initiative — One Belt, One Road — also known as the Belt and Road initiative (OBOR).

It is essentially a development strategy focusing on reconnecting and establishing bilateral trade through the land route of Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) to reach as far as Europe and the sea route of Maritime Silk Road to reach out to as far as North Africa.

Within the OBOR framework, China pushes for greater socio-economic involvement with the rest of the world.

The initiative has taken its cue and inspiration from the famous Silk Road where a self-subsistent and friendly China in its former glory had ventured out to trade and establish diplomatic relationships without conquest on its agenda.

As the second largest global economy and a formidable power, China’s initiative has been welcomed by many nations though not without some wariness due to its advanced weaponry and huge army — still the largest in the world despite a cut of 300,000.