[Cronos]

I know exactly why the Chinese built the wall, it was to preserve and protect their Chineseness

It was to keep out nomads from invading and pillaging towns, nomads like the huns and Mongols.....

They closed their culture to the outside world for hundreds of years

That's distinct from the Wall. They closed their culture after they had thrown off the Mongol rule. This was about the 14 -- 15 century. The wall was completed a lot earlier and was meant for a different reason -- defense, like the Israeli Fence (which I think is a right thing to do)

[iconoclast]

Thanks for the post. Your posts put me to bed early last night, and I expect they will tonight.

[ronnieb]

You are right in the particular, but wrong, wrong, wrong in your conclusion. These events did take place in different time frames, SO WHAT! they clearly show the Chinese were determined to be in control of their own cultural development. They demonstrate this fact time and time again over a history that is thousands of years old. Interesting that you think it is fine for Isreal to build a wall(I do too) and you stubbornly refuse to admit what is obvious to everyone about Chinese history, and at the same time you think it is wrong for Euro-Americans to have perfectly normal protective feelings about their culture. Exactly the ridiculous double standard I have been talking about.