New Seven Wonders: Did the Great Wall make the cut? I hope not

Jul 9, 2007 00:54

Of the original 7 Ancient World Wonders, the Great Pyramids are the only ones remaining. So a global online voting campaign was launched to determine 7 new ones. New7Wonders.com announced their results today, and 1.3 billion Chinese were waiting anxiously to see if the Great Wall was on the list.

Did they make the cut?

And why do I find myself rooting for the Wall to lose?

Well, it turns out they did make the final group of seven new world wonders:

• Chichen Itza, Mexico - more than just a great level in Top Gear


• The Great Wall, China


• Machu Picchu, Peru - Gesundheit


• Petra, Jordan


• The Roman Colloseum, Italy


• Christ Redeemer, Brazil - that's one big Jesus statue


• The Taj Mahal, India

Damn.

Why am I disappointed that the Great Wall made the list? I don't deny it's an amazing structure. I acknowledge that it fully deserves to be on the list.

But here's why I'm disappointed. Did you ever have a classmate in elementary school who was always focused on getting higher marks than everyone else? To him, doing well means nothing. Showing that he's number one is the only thing that matters. He's the jerk in the front of the class who, while not the smartest, definitely feels that he is. And for that you want to kick him in the nads.

Or push him off the merry-go-round...

Or pee in his lunch box...

If the UN were a classroom, China would be this kid. China declares it's finest accomplishments with trumpet blasts and red carpet, and often hides its failures and embarrassments with censorship and lies (see SARS for example). I can't help but root for China to fail sometimes.

China's national inferiority complex and fear of global embarrassment was enough to drive the engine of a massive online campaign to ensure the Great Wall made the group of seven. To be honest, I'm happy to see that such an online mobilization can be done in China. It bestows just a little bit more power in the hands of the people.

Make no mistake, I'm not a China hater. I've just come to differentiate between the people I know and love, and the mask that their government shows to the world. That mask will be fully polished when the world comes to Beijing in 2008. But then it'll go back to normal as soon as the tourists go home.

All this talk of cleaning up the air and water, to show a nice clean house to foreign guests...

Don't the Chinese people deserve those things too?

Whatever the case, I guess it's a good thing the Great Wall made the list. Despite being the world's largest graveyard, it is undeniably one of the greatest feats of engineering that the world has ever seen.

All the same, I can't seem to get a certain song lyric out of my head:

What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall?
All walls are great if the roof doesn't fall.

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