How Egypt’s pyramids inspired China to rewrite its ancient past
A photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with their spouses in front of the Giza pyramids during Xi’s recent state visit recalls a long-standing claim that China is home to the world’s oldest continuous civilization.
The idea that China has a 5,000-year history is a myth, argues Finnish journalist Mari Manninen in her book «33 Myths About China.» According to Manninen, China’s history has been selectively presented and reshaped to reinforce national pride and appeal to Western notion of the ancient Orient.
The claim that China has a 5,000-year history emerged in its current form in the 1990s, Manninen says. Before then, she argues, the commonly cited age of Chinese civilization was closer to 3,000 to 4,000 years. China as a unified state is about 2,000 years old, meaning it emerged roughly around the same period as the Roman Empire in Europe, according to one theory.
The 5,000-year narrative
Manninen recounts an anecdote involving former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who visited Egypt in 1996. The author notes in her account that Chinese officials were struck by the antiquity of Egyptian civilization and did not want China to appear younger by comparison. The narrative of a 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization subsequently gained prominence.
According to Manninen, scientists estimate that China’s history as a unified state dates back more than 2,000 years. In 221 B.C., Qin Shi Huang unified the warring states and established a centralized imperial government, becoming the first emperor of the Qin dynasty.
Can the Great Wall be seen from the Moon?
Another persistent myth is that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the Moon.
The Great Wall is not a single, continuous structure stretching from the coast deep into the Chinese interior. Rather, it consists of numerous sections, branches and fortifications built during different periods. Some sections are substantial masonry structures, while others are little more than earthen embankments.
Much of the surviving masonry wall dates to the Ming dynasty, particularly the 16th century.
The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon is false. Astronauts have reported difficulty seeing it with the naked eye even from low Earth orbit, where the wall is only a few hundred kilometers away. The Moon is roughly 384,000 kilometers from Earth, making the wall vastly more difficult to distinguish from that distance.
