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The Chinese engage into discussions with enthusiasm,
even though they tend to become repetitive and monotonous.
At the end of the workday, the workers make a circle in the courtyard and talk.
Today they are discussing an art exhibition,
a relatively new phenomenon, a result of cultural liberalization.
The moderator praises the artists, because, following the teachings of Mao,
they put art to the service of workers, peasants and soldiers.
We must spin and weave for the revolution, say the others.
There are no real debates. They just put forward suggestions for various amendments.
We must improve the quality. It is a matter of primary importance.
We must manufacture good cotton and contribute to the World Revolution.
We arrive at the Great Wall on a windy day.
The Chinese call it a wall of 10,000 li. It's total length is 5,000 kilometers.
2500 years ago, it was constructed by slaves to protect the Empire against the barbarians.
In his poem "A Worker reads History", Brecht asks:
"Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?"
It's claimed that the Great Wall is the only human-built monument to be seen from the Moon.
But the astronauts didn't say anything about it.
It's a fortification, a barrier against the Mongols.
The turrets are spaced in such a way that the sentinels can hear each other's voices.
If there is a single monument to represent the inutility of military arts, it's here.
Someone has also called it the world's longest cemetery,
because the live bodies of rebellious slaves were used to cement the blocks of stone.
But the Wall has blocked the steppe winds, and thus contributed to agriculture.
And sending the soldiers' families into remote areas assisted the propagation of Chinese culture.
A military monument has thus unintendedly served to promote civilization.
Strange stone animals oversee this verdant street on the outskirts of Beijing.
This is a sacred road, the Road of the Spirits,
along which the deceased Emperors were taken to the place of entombment.
Each shape is repeated twice. The female is seated, the male is standing.
There are lions, unicorns, camels, elephants, chimeras, horses.
Today, the significance of these sculptures is largely unknown.
The animals separate the good from the evil, inaugurate the peace of oblivion,
and prepare to serve the Emperor in the Kingdom of the Dead.
Of 16 Ming emperors, 13 are buried in this giant tomb.
Even though the Chinese do not favor the word "empire" anymore, they still come to pay homage.
In the past, no one could enter these gardens, and even the Emperor had to step out of the carriage.
A visit to the tomb is a festive occasion. There is nothing stern or solemn about it.
There isn't much of a point in going inside.
The interiors are nothing more
than giant underground chambers containing similar rectangular coffins.
One could better have a look at the museum.
There are many treasures there, but the one that impressed us most
is this specimen of political art.
This, explains the tour guide, is a representation of the workers' hardships during the Ming epoch.
Even despite of the floods and droughts, the landowner comes to the peasants to collect taxes.
A family that cannot pay is expelled from the village.
The peasants become beggars. They are starving to death on the road...
and are forced to sell their own children.
Thus was the life under feudal emperors.
And it instigated the masses to revolt.
In 1582, the whole country was in uproar.
This, concludes the guide, is exactly as Chairman Mao teaches us.
Abundant harvests are no longer made in Heaven,
nor are the peasants ever expelled from the fields.
Better still!.. For one month in a year, all the students, arranged like this, in a square,
go to work in the agricultural communes.
We've come to visit an agricultural commune.
40 square kilometers, 3000 hectares of fields, 29000 inhabitants.
We're told that before the commune was built, this land was suffering from droughts and floods.
Today, there are kilometers of channels, where animals and fish can be raised.
There is a hospital, 6 clinics, 36 health centers.
8000 students attend 5 middle and 19 primary schools.
Of course, we've come across less prosperous villages along our itinerary.
It would be naive to think that we've found ourselves in a rural paradise.
Peasants' life is hard here, as it is everywhere.