Yesterday I visited the “Dragon Head,” which is the point at where the Great Wall meets the sea. Apparently it gets its name due to the shape of the towers and wall at the very end. Perhaps I don’t have a very vivid imagination, but I don’t think Dragon Head would have been the first parallel drawn in my mind…but I guess it does remind me a bit of the Luck Dragon from The NeverEnding Story.
Walking around that portion of the wall and the nearby Sea God Temple, I got to read more about the US’ invasion of the area and destruction of those two landmarks (Both were rebuilt much later). Armed with more information and taking a little more time to look on the Internet, I did find quite a bit of information about the battle. One professor from Wisconsin, gives a pretty good run-down on it. However, I find it interesting to think about how the two groups have even named the conflict: the signs call it an invasion by the Eight Powers (including US, British, French, Japanese, Italian, Austrian, and Belgian forces); Americans refer to it as the Boxer Rebellion. “Invasion” interesting in that the Eight Powers had already been there and were responding to attacks. “Rebellion” interesting considering the Eight Powers were not their government to be rebelled against…
However the conflict is referred, though, it is blamed for much of the destruction of the wall, which had to be rebuilt later in the 20th century. It also means that what I saw yesterday is just as much new as it is old. BUT, destruction by foreign forces or not, I’ve found that much of the Wall and the other historic sites have been reconstructed or restored and are rarely seen in their unrestored condition…
