The Great Firewall Is a Great Waste Like the Great Wall

The Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (始皇帝) began to build the Great Wall in the third century B.C. in order to defend invasion of nomads living in Mongolian plain. It took about 1,800 years to build, and the Ming Dynasty completed the Great Wall as we see it now.

I've traveled to the Great Wall from Beijing by bus. After I climbed the Great Wall, I saw the big plain stretching beyond the Great Wall. I understand why the emperors of China built the Great Wall.

But it's ironic that the Great Wall couldn't stop the attacks of nomads. In Chinese history they conquered the mainland China many times. Genghis Khan, who was the most famous conqueror to China, didn't care about the Great Wall at all.

In this sense the Great Wall was a great waste. But it's one of the World Heritages of UNESCO and many tourists have visited there. Although it couldn't defend China, it's earning a lot of money for Chinese people.

I started a new blog written in Chinese. My main blog is on the BlogSpot by Google, but I heard that people in China couldn't see BlogSpot because the Chinese government blocks access to it by the Great Firewall. So I made a new blog on Shin Lang blog (新浪博棵).

Chinese government blocks access to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. I can't imagine the Internet without them. Is it the Internet? It may be just the Chinese net.

But like the nomads got over the Great Wall, Chinese people get over the Great Firewall. They call it "fan qiang (翻墙)", which means "over wall". A Chinese friend of mine told me that students must learn how to "fan qiang". I guess that they need to read (or copy and paste) Wikipedia, when students write reports.

Chinese government made the Great Firewall like the Great Wall, and people also get over the Great Firewall like the Great Wall. In this sense the Great wall and the Great Firewall are great wastes.

Anyway people all over the world connect through the Internet, even if there are great walls.