James Baquet The Great Wall of China is indisputably one of the world’s wonders. Though in fact it is not a single wall, but a series of fortifications, nevertheless its eastern end extends--at least in its Ming iteration, for the wall changed through time--into the Bohai Sea at a place called Shanhai Pass. Though this is traditionally the eastern end of the Wall, the Ming-period Liaodong Wall actually continues up through Liaoning Province, terminating near the North Korean border in the city of Dandong. The name “Shanhai” means “Mountain-Sea,” and it is indeed a highly defensible place where the Yan Mountains come down to the Bohai Sea, an offshoot of the Yellow Sea. Today, the pass supplies the name of its district in Qinhuangdao, Hebei, about 300 kilometers east of Beijing. Here, the wall extends into the sea, forming what is called the “Old Dragon’s Head” for its location at the end of the long, snaky Wall. Its historical purpose was to prevent incursion from the north, particularly by the Khitan, the Jurchen, and the Manchus. The Ming heavily fortified the site, which was also a passage between the central area of China and its Northeast. It was at Shanhai Pass on May 27, 1644, that a decisive battle was fought that led ultimately to the creation of the Qing Dynasty, founded by some of those very “invaders from the North,” the Manchu. In February of that year, a revolt by peasants led by Li Zicheng had established in Xi’an the transitional and short-lived Shun Dynasty. This is generally left out of China’s dynastic lists as it lasted for just a little over a year. Li Zicheng and his followers did, however, manage to take Beijing and bring about the end of the Ming Dynasty. After the last Ming Emperor, Chongzhen, hanged himself in the imperial garden outside the Forbidden City, Li Zicheng began a move against the Ming general Wu Sangui at Shanhai Pass. But Wu wisely allied himself with the Manchus, and together with Manchu Prince Dorgon, defeated Li’s forces. The Manchus then marched on Beijing and enthroned the Shunzhi Emperor, establishing the basis of the Qing Dynasty. Vocabulary: Which words above mean: 1. easily protected 2. not lasting for long 3. ending 4. not able to be argued with 5. in a passing phase 6. poor farmers 7. branch, attachment 8. long and winding, like a serpent 9. pertaining to an emperor 10. version, form | 