In 1923, National Geographic Magazine claimed that the Great Wall is visible to the human eye from the moon. {In truth, nobody on the moon could see it in 1923, and they sill can't.} For a while, Chinese intellectuals tried to resist such exaggerations, believing rightly that the foreigners had confused both history and geography. But eventually the myths proved appealing to nationalists like Mao Zedong, who used the Great Wall in propaganda, recognizing the symbolic value of a unified barrier. In any case, it was hard to set the record straight in a country with no academic tradition of studying the ancient structures. Finally it was as if the Chinese threw up their hands and accepted the foreign notion.
( Peter Hessler )
[ Country Driving: A Journey ]
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