Film: The Great Wall (China)

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00:00:00: SOUND UP; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:00:07: CHARLIE: In 223, B.C., Emperor, Qin [Ch’in], who was only 23 years old, conquered the six other dynasties at the time, and unified them into what is today known as China. He then began building a wall that was expanded over the next 1800 years—the Great Wall of China.; [MUSIC PLAYS]; CHARLIE [NARRATING]: It runs 4,000 miles through the mountains, marking the border along China’s western frontier. But in the 1600s, the Manchu army bribed soldiers guarding the wall, and they poured into China.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:00:58: TONY XU: When Emperor Ch’in, the first emperor in China, he was on the throne for actually only 15 years, but he spent 10 years building the Great Wall. And according to the historical records, one-fifth of the whole population in China at that time were involved in the construction of the Great Wall.; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:01:23: TONY XU: I am very proud of being a Chinese person. Because, first, historically speaking, we have such a long history of civilization. I would say we 5,000 years of civilization, so that’s the longest civilization among all the countries in the world. Since 1949, I should say because our new China was founded by our Chairman by 1949, and from then on, China is now walking up. And from the year 1979 on, things are going better. We carried out our economic reform policy from 1979. That’s Deng Xiaoping. You know Deng Xiao Ping, the little guy. He was very famous. First he studied in France, when he was young.
00:02:16: TONY XU: He said, “China should not close its doors to the outside world. Or otherwise, China will have no way out.” He meant it would be difficult for China to develop itself without help from the outside world.; [MUSIC PLAYS]; END OF FILM

Now Viewing: The Great Wall

Built in stages over many centuries, the Great Wall of China stretches more than 6,400 kilometers, or nearly 4,000 miles through northern China. China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, began constructing the wall in the 3rd century BC to protect the northern borders of his empire from Mongolians and other nomadic invaders.