Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1911 — GREAT CHINEST WALL DOOMED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GREAT CHINEST WALL DOOMED

THE Chinese wall, marvelous barrier extending more than 1,760' miles over mountain and valley, is doomed. It is said that under the rule of the new regent, Prince- Chun, a progressiveness will be carried to a point where not only will the. old order of government see its downfall, but all that physically recalls the past will also be destroyed. Y ’ Tradition is the yoke that binds China. It is the obstacle that has kept that country of marvelous resources back. Prince Chun knows this, and it is said that tn his desire to effect reform he will not content himself with merely establishing new methods in his systems of government, but will actually wipe out the physical relics which keep the face Of China turned to the past rather than to the future. Of an these survivals, the Chinese waU is the most famous and the most wonderful. The countries of power in the world today were unknown when this structure was built to keep out the Invader. In cataloguing the won 7 lets of the world, it has never been possible to make a classification that omitted, the Chinese wan. It was 200 years old when Christ came to earth, but even then it was not the work of a young nation, for China has a history that can be traced back for 6,000 years. _( The project for tearing down the Chinese wall originated some years ago, and ft Is said that the late empress her son, whose deaths coming to close together so suddenly changed the whole aspect of the future for China, had consented to abolish the wall, and had even signed the contracts for Its removal when superstitious fear seised them and the order was revoked. Descended as they both were from the Tsln dynasty that built the great barrier, and having that worship of ancestry that is deeply ingrained in the beliefs of the Mongolian, they feared at the last moment to commit this sacrilege on the masterwork of the dead. But Prince Chun, who as regent for the two-year-old baby emperor, Is possessed of full authority, has no such scruples. He Is not the offspring of emperors and there Is nothing to hold him In cheek. He Is known to have strongly advanced ideas and to be especially Independent and scornful where the old ideas of the past are concerned. Therefore, It probable that ha will carry the work of demolition to a finish. The Interest In whether he does so goes farther than the mere question of the wall. It has to do Indirectly with the future of the Immense hordes who people the country. The wall Is the symbol of the ancient that holds the country in check. If he be brought down the modernists will take it as a sign that the new ruler will during his stay as regent enforce the new Ideals. If In spite of his impulses he is wont to let the great wall stay, China will settle back lazily and comfortably and decide that nothing radical will occur finder the present regime. * This Is the situation that now gives such an extraordinary Interest to the old line of fortifications. Modern artillery would speedily /educe the last vestige of the ancient barrier, but it was not built to withstand this kind of attack, and in the days when it reared Its head over the landscape, it was an impassable stronghold. Man’s Great Piece of Work. The visitor who gazes at this stupendous construction is made to feel very modest as to the skill of the modern engineer. Experts of all nations have named It as the most astounding piece of work ever performed by man. Even over the pyramids and the sphinx It Is given the credit In Imagination the spectator Is moved back 20 centuries to the times that ShVHoangti, the greatest of Chinese heroes, reigned. China then led the world in wealth and culture and the nation had a great literature. Rich rewards of conquest constantly inspired the Mongols, wfld tribes who lived In the country now called Mongolia, to make forays. They had Invaded the country on the northern part, and were encroaching further toward Pekin and the provinces of the south. It was In this crisis that Shl-Hoangtl performed the feats of valor that made his name forever famous in Chinese song and poem. Aa-

sembling a mighty army, he threw himself on the Mongolian hordes, fought them, defeated them, and sent them flying back from Chinese territory. x But It was not enough to have downed the enemy. The Mongols always came back. They had a pertinacity that made them the most dangerous of foes. Therefore, it became necessary to construct a barrier that would unfailingly perform Its duty. Everything had to be done by hand, for the great engineering devices that today accomplish the work of 500 men had not then been Invented. But fortunately labor was in this most thickly populated country In the world, and swiftly the great wall moved to Its place, grim and powerful able to.withstand any assault that Mongols might make. Its battlemented walls are 50 feet high, and at every few hundred feet they bristle with towers where In days of yore Chinese warriors stood ever ready to repel the Invader. Of Mortared Brick and Stone. The wall is. 25 feet wide and is built for the greater part of its way of mortared brick and stone. When the Ming dynasty had come into power it duplicated for a considerable extent Shl-Hoangti’s wail, and thus for a large part of the distance there is a double barrier. The most powerfur part of the wall Is that at for this gate was only 60 miles from Pekin, and here it was that any charges directed against the greatest and richest city of the natloij would have to be repulsed. One .great battle was fought here, for at the top of the Nankou pass the gate was the scene of the last stand against the noted Mongolian warrior, Genghis Khan, and when he overrode the defenders It was down thd pass and through the gate that the conqueror led his forces. He took the Mongols into China and conquered a country against which his people had been fighting for 1,300 years. Kubla Khan also entered by this pass when he completed the conquest of China and made his realm the greatest the world had ever known. Genghis Khan ! and Kubla Khan were differently dlspositloned.. Genghis turned all the literature of China, but Kubla protected the literature and helped along the people by wise measures that gave prosperity In agriculture and commerce. Kubla fixed places In the wall that had been ravaged by the wars of the centuries and undertook to restore tranquillity in the country. Some historians have said that the great wall accounted for the sloth Into which China fell. .The huge barrier, which even today shows itself to be stoutly built, gave the people a sense of security and made them feel that no nation could overwhelm them. Centuries passed In this foolish delusion, and when the war with Japan came China discovered that she had been steeping for .centuries. Since the humiliation of that defeat by the Mikado a determination has grown up among the younger element of the people to earn a place among the great nations of the world. The old dowager empress and the weakling emperor stood in the way. Now they pre gone, and the country looks with hope to the strong man who Is now at the helm. It is probable that before long China will feeL no matter how the remainder of the world ‘ may regret the passing of a famous relic, that a new era has dawned.