A Taste of China A photo essay covering the beauty of the Great Wall of China

Photos taken and Slide Show Produced by David G. Sherburne

Queptography – “Unique Photography “

Music Credits are being determined

THE GREAT WALL History, Culture & Chinese Symbolism

THE GREAT WALL SYMBOLIZES LOVE, SACRIFICE AND HEROISM;IT EMBRACES UNIVERSAL VIRTUES OF HUMANITY EMANATING FROM;THE PROFOUND HISTORY AND RICH CULTURE OF THE CHINESE

The Chinese call the Great Wall the "Wall of Ten Thousand Li (kilometers)". The Great Wall, with a width of six horses standing side by side, stretches over 4,000 miles, farther than the distance from New York to San Francisco. It was built by hand over 3,000 years ago to ward off the invading Huns. How the stones on the Wall were bonded before the advent of modern building methods such as cement is a wonder. The effort to feed the army of workers on the Wall project alone is imponderable.

The Chinese call the Great Wall the "Wall of Ten Thousand Li (kilometers)". The Great Wall, with a width of six horses standing side by side, stretches over 4,000 miles, farther than the distance from New York to San Francisco. It was built by hand over 3,000 years ago to ward off the invading Huns. How the stones on the Wall were bonded before the advent of modern building methods such as cement is a wonder. The effort to feed the army of workers on the Wall project alone is imponderable.

The Chinese call the Great Wall the "Wall of Ten Thousand Li (kilometers)". The Great Wall, with a width of six horses standing side by side, stretches over 4,000 miles, farther than the distance from New York to San Francisco. It was built by hand over 3,000 years ago to ward off the invading Huns. How the stones on the Wall were bonded before the advent of modern building methods such as cement is a wonder. The effort to feed the army of workers on the Wall project alone is imponderable.

The Chinese call the Great Wall the "Wall of Ten Thousand Li (kilometers)". The Great Wall, with a width of six horses standing side by side, stretches over 4,000 miles, farther than the distance from New York to San Francisco. It was built by hand over 3,000 years ago to ward off the invading Huns. How the stones on the Wall were bonded before the advent of modern building methods such as cement is a wonder. The effort to feed the army of workers on the Wall project alone is imponderable.

The Chinese call the Great Wall the "Wall of Ten Thousand Li (kilometers)". The Great Wall, with a width of six horses standing side by side, stretches over 4,000 miles, farther than the distance from New York to San Francisco. It was built by hand over 3,000 years ago to ward off the invading Huns. How the stones on the Wall were bonded before the advent of modern building methods such as cement is a wonder. The effort to feed the army of workers on the Wall project alone is imponderable.

Folktales derived from the Great Wall are legendary. Most popular of all is the sad and tragic story of Meng Jiang Nu and her husband Fan Shi Liang. Fan was drafted to build the Wall soon after their wedding. Worried about the severe weather, Meng knitted a blanket for her husband, and walked thousands of miles to where he was working, only to be told that he was dead. She cried day and night. Suddenly a portion of the Wall crumbled, exposing the body of her beloved.

__________________________________________________________________ The Chinese Fine Arts Society (CFAS) was founded in 1984 as a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the education and promotion of the Chinese cultural arts. In Chicago’s culturally diversified society, CFAS provides programs and activities that promote the understanding of Chinese culture through music and other fine arts. By presenting traditional Chinese music compositions by Chinese composers and performances of Chinese music on western instruments, CFAS hopes to reach a broad audience and heighten their awareness of the richness of Chinese culture.

The folk song 'Meng Jiang-Nu,' which narrates this tragic love story, is known to generations of Chinese. Another popular tune 'The Song of the Great Wall' by contemporary Chinese composer Liu Shiu-An, invokes melancholic sentiments of historic and patriotic events associated with the Wall. More recently, Chinese-American writer professor Katherine Cho created new lyrics for the same melody, expressing introspective sentiments of overseas Chinese expatriated from their homeland.

Special Thanks to my colleague and friend Alina Zhou

QueptographyUnique Photography byDavid G. Sherburne