The Great Wall Of China Dbq Essay

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA: THE BENEFITS DO NOT OUTWEIGH THE COSTS

The Wall of China is over 13,OOO long miles and has helped over centuries to protect millions of Chinese people from invaders and dangers. Building the Great Wall wasn’t as easy as the thought of it. Death, and forced labor for workers, are simply two of the major sacrifices made as a result of the building of the prominent Great Wall. In 221 B.C.E the Qin Dynasty conquered many towns and states that merged into a large kingdom, China. The Chinese had already built little walls of dirt and stones to protect their villages. But when the Han Dynasty ruled over they were concerned about security. The Xiongnu (Mongols) had already tried to conquer China many times, and therefore the Great Wall of China was built to keep them away. It was simply a series of walls built over the course of 2,500 years. It was an enormous project that required much sacrifice. The benefits of the wall did not outweigh the
costs because peasants were brutally forced into labor that consisted of harsh conditions, enormous amounts of food weren’t cultivated which lead to starvation, and many families were painfully relocated and torn apart.

The first reason that the benefits did not outweigh the costs was because the horrid conditions caused workers to perish in great numbers. In a folktale from the Han Dynasty Meng Chiang-nu was looking for her husband, and later learned that he had died from the terrible conditions. The Emperor Qin was very cruel to the workers of the wall, and forced people from every part of the country to contribute to the building of the wall, “They received very little food; the clothes they wore were threadbare. Large numbers of them died every day”(Doc C). The temperatures reached 20- to 30-below zero, fahrenheit (Doc E). Clearly, this folktale is simply one example amongst the thousands of dead due to the construction. Also the evidence supports that the weather conditions were terrible which added to the reasons for death. The conditions during the construction were terrible, there were shortages of food, and people got sick. The building took very long that many could have died because of invasions from other kingdoms. The Emperor was very cruel and wouldn’t assure better conditions for the workers, even though they were forced to work on the wall. It seemed as if more people died in the construction of the wall than were saved from the attacks of the Mongols. Simply put, the building of the wall sacrificed many lives, and an enormous amount of pain came with it, which supports that the wall was not worth it. In addition, the wall was not worth it was because very little numbers of peasants harvested rice as most of them were forced to work on the wall, which caused immense shortages of food. A short poem describes the loss of food because of the wall. There was no one to harvest the rice because many farmers have been forced to work on the wall, “If the rice is not harvested, how will you eat? Although we are willing to serve loyally, how can we live this way ?”(Doc F). From this evidence it is clear that the wall did not simply affect people and workers it also affected other jobs such as harvesting crops. Many people were starving at the time of the building of the wall, because crops were not harvested. There were many people forced to work into building the wall and there was no one to be able to harvest the crops. With shortages of food builders did not have enough energy to work on the wall, and died. Rice was a crop that was very precious in Ancient China, but with no one to harvest it there were many families starving. The building of the wall took many things away from the lower class since that was their job and the wall was useless. Thus, the wall was not useful to all , which led to many people starving. As the wall also stealing time and energy that had to be put in other jobs. Lastly the wall was not worth it because a lot of pain came with it as families were achingly torn apart and others forcefully relocated.
Many soldiers in the Qin Dynasty were forced to leave their families or relocate for many years (Doc E). As a result there was a lot of pain that came with the wall. Some families lost their loved ones in the building of the wall. Many soldiers left their homes and were relocated along the wall to protect their country. But if the wall was meant to protect the country then why did soldiers have to go and protect their country as well? Many lower class people such as peasants and merchants were forced to work on the wall and living their families without ever benefiting from it, such as its trades with other countries. Their lives even if poor were better than when building the wall. In short many families were broken , and people relocated for a wall that was useless. And even though the wall was there the Chinese still had the responsibility to protect their
country.

To conclude the benefits were not worth the cost because many people died in the process, there were huge losses of food, and many were forced to relocate and leave their families. With this in mind some might argue that the wall was worth the benefits because it helped many people in the future. But it is nowadays a tourist attraction, for others enjoyment. There was extremely a lot of hard work that came with the wall and it had been forgotten. Given these points the villages were already protected by a smaller wall what was the use of a big wall? More trade that only rich people could benefit from? Or showing off to other countries?