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Post by devilinthedetails on Nov 12, 2021 6:31:55 GMT 10
Title: Sea Serpent Wall Rating: PG-13 for references to death. Word Count: 46 Summary: Jia Jiu stands on the First Emperor’s Wall. Notes: Part 4 of the Yanjing Odyssey series. Each sentence in the series can be read and understood individually or as part of the larger collection. The sentences can also be read in any order without sacrificing comprehension.
Sea Serpent Wall
Jia Jiu stood on the ramparts of the First Emperor’s Wall and did not think about the mythical million laborers who had died creating this structure that rose and fell like a sea serpent’s spine, winding over misty mountains and valleys for li beyond her sight.
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Post by mistrali on Nov 12, 2021 21:21:33 GMT 10
Yes - must be quite unnerving to think about the labourers who died to build monuments for monarchs. Especially when your own monarch is such a despot.
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Post by devilinthedetails on Nov 13, 2021 2:39:45 GMT 10
mistrali, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! It can definitely be a strange feeling to think about the laborers who died building great monuments for their monarchs or emperors. On one hand, there is the awe of the physical construction and the civilization that could build it, and that tendency to want to appreciate the history and the culture of the structure. But at the same time there is a sort of repugnance about the cost in human life to build these great monuments. There is sort of that haunting question of: Was that sacrifice in human lives worth this? And then for Jia Jiu there is the knowledge that her own emperor will not hesitate to use and waste the lives of her and her fellow subjects. So in a way it must be a very small sort of feeling despite the majesty of the surroundings. Or perhaps because of the majesty of the surroundings.
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