The latest Sinica podcast features David Spindler, one of the world’s few Great Wall experts, talking about Ming Dynasty-era Great Walls and in particular a story of the “Twice-Scorned Mongol Woman.” A good portion of the story focuses on the Simatai section of the Great Wall, which I visited almost two years ago at this point. At the time I appreciated Simatai’s stunning beauty, but I was completely unaware of the fascinating backstory.
As a bonus, there are clips of Herman Cain near the beginning and at the very end–Herman Cain being one of the many participants in tours David Spindler has given of the Great Wall. It is HILARIOUS. Don’t read below if you want the full effect of listening to Cain:
But there were times during the course of the history of the Chinese people and China, that they tried a lot of other different things other than just fighting those that wanted to invade them and in fact, there was one point in time where they tried to even bribe the Mongols with money, goods, gold, etc. Well guess what? (in raised tone of voice) That didn’t last very long, because the bribes got greedy and wanted more from the bribers. You see, the Chinese, they wanted to be left alone. “Just leave us alone. So we got to give you a little bit of goods, we’ll do it.” But it didn’t last, because eventually the bribes get greedy.
It’s kind of like entitlement programs. Hmmm…