The afternoon light is a bit messy. The American historian sat in the corner of the library. He pushed his thick notes aside, his thoughts seemed to be knotted. Just now a colleague came over and knocked a book unconsciously. The two looked at each other without saying much, nor did they hide the trouble on their faces. You say, how come the Great Wall of China is related to the fate of Europe? !

In fact, this topic is not just a year or two ago. The fundamental worry of American scholars is where do the historical ripples caused by the Great Wall "flow"? He pointed out that the Great Wall had caused misfortune to Europe. He was too straightforward and exaggerated, as if he was casting a layer of fog on the calm history. But many viewpoints were activated in just such a sentence.

The Great Wall is a broken and connected line in ancient China. Not everyone can see its origin clearly. Some people only remember that "Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall." In fact, the scattered city walls during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods were already growing slowly. With the unification, the project stretched across the north, firmly and indifferently blocking the agricultural people and the nomadic world. The north wind flows between the bricks and tiles. Countless soldiers died in the construction, but the legends left behind have not been broken.

But - "The Great Wall has harmed Europe" is not reliable enough. Things are not that simple. The Great Wall blocked the northern nomads, leaving these landless people crowded to the north of the wall. After China settled down, the cavalry had nowhere to go and had no choice but to change direction. Everyone knows that the vast plains of Europe are more suitable for grazing than northern China and have sufficient resources. The nomads turned back and headed west. How many of them were driven away by the Great Wall? How many of them chose their own path? There are no answers in the data, only migration footprints.

The footprints of the Huns, the camps of the Goths, the fireworks of the Vandals, and their marching songs were finally sung in the Western world. The Roman Empire struggled to hold on, and every time a strange face appeared on its borders, the story of Europe had to be rewritten. The damage and changes brought to Europe by the Great Migration did not happen in a day or two. Are historians not being lazy when they blame the Great Wall?

If the Great Wall directly "harmed" Europe, there is no need to be too serious. No one will deny that it has indeed changed the direction of national existence. The relationship between the nomadic people and the agricultural kingdom is like two pieces of quicksand squeezing each other in an hourglass. If the north and south cannot pass through, they will flow east and west. The economic impact was less direct than the political one: Europe's institutions, population, and culture were rippled by these migrations. But the Great Wall just pushed, not the initiator.

Looking back at the Great Wall itself, its fate is not only related to war. There is a lot of business inside and outside the walls. The Silk Road finally connected the east and west, markets opened next to the Great Wall, goods flowed, and culture traveled from east to west. Buddhism, art, technology, and religion are no longer one-way flows. The Great Wall not only blocked the army, but also gave the caravans a way to go. No one can deny that trade and exchange took place in its shadow.

When modern people travel, they are often more concerned about how to take better photos of the Great Wall, but they tend to forget that this wall was once a huge border. The defensive function has been lost long ago. Who will worry about the Huns attacking the city now? But the Great Wall remains as a symbol. All mankind is commemorating it in various ways, not just China. To this world, it is like ironclad proof that time spans: civilizations can change, but boundaries always remain.

Let’s talk about practical cases. In 2019, the British National Museum of History released a set of archaeological data on the decline of Rome. Data shows that the arrival of barbarians caused the disappearance of many cities and the emergence of cultural gaps. The scholar quietly mentioned in the paper: Without the Great Wall, the Xiongnu might have gone south to the Central Plains. Would European history have been more peaceful? The outcome is hard to say. After all, from another perspective, nomads may also be scattered across East Asia, making it more difficult for them to cause a large-scale impact. Opinions are mixed. It makes no sense whatsoever, which is strange!

However, if you want to say that the Great Wall "harms people with its walls", it is actually a bit too idealistic. Among the multiple causes of history, climate, population, politics, and economic structure all have a role to play. How can we just slap any one label on it? Europe's own wealth determines that it will bear the consequences of migration, and this has nothing to do with the indifference of the Great Wall of China. Moreover, if there were no Great Wall, the nomads might directly fight to the death with the Central Plains people. Who says that Europe would not have a better destiny? There are so many assumptions like this that even I feel uncomfortable.

Calm down, the Great Wall actually does not bring "harm" or "benefit", but a kind of screening. Some ethnic groups survived, and some cultures became extinct. Europe was reorganized in the turmoil, lost a lot, and gained new things. This kind of change is the norm in world history. There are often wars within China. The Great Wall is only one of its lines of defense, and the global outcome cannot be entirely dependent on it.

The bricks of the Great Wall are very cold, but the market outside the city is very hot. Economists believe that the benefits of trade flows far outweigh the role of military defense. For example, in 2023, a research report from UNESCO showed that tourism and cultural exchanges at the Great Wall ruins will bring economic benefits of more than 20 billion yuan to China every year. This reality, in a sense, has more weight than historical debates. Do you think so?

Scholars have added that the Great Wall often facilitates exchanges but does not end them. Many places at the entrance of the Great Wall have become "ethnic integration points." For example, the trade market near Jiayuguan has become an important passage for ethnic minorities to enter the city. Silk, spices, and camel bells rang along the walls. Europeans not only suffered misfortunes, but also received many gifts from civilization. Mutual losses in history are actually more reciprocal.

Some people argue that the statement that the Great Wall "brought misery" to Europe is only used to stimulate thinking. There are no standard answers, just constant discussion. History is like a journey in heavy fog. What you see is one road, but others see a different road. All "harms" and "benefits" need to be evidenced in specific incidents. It’s just that the evidence is not uniform, and any explanation will work.

But strangely, some scholars say that the reason why nomadic peoples moved westward was not because of the Great Wall at all. Climate change and grassland degradation are actually the biggest driving forces. According to data released by the German Academy of Sciences in 2020, a sudden climate change in 375 AD caused the grain production of the Eastern European grasslands to drop by 30%, forcing the Huns and other peoples to move westward. Now you say that the Great Wall is the "culprit", isn't it a bit roundabout?

If you really want to find the answer, maybe history is a complicated puzzle piece. The impact of the Great Wall is nuanced, both defensive and communicative, both obstructive and communicative. The Great Wall is the background of Europe's suffering and growth, not the protagonist. This perspective may not be the same if you look at it today or look at it tomorrow.

Looking at these discussions, the inconsistency seems like switching channels at any time. But people’s memories and emotions are drawn by these different voices. Some people think the Great Wall is a protective umbrella, while others think it is a high wall of indifference. The controversy that has been circulating for thousands of years has made the Great Wall more multi-faceted.

This wall, which stretches thousands of miles, silently watches human beings quarrel and migrate. Whether in Europe or East Asia, the real story continues across borders. Who did the Great Wall harm? This question is difficult to answer, and the answer is not important.

Everyone can find their own brick on the Great Wall, and no one has a monopoly on interpretation. Maybe it affected Europe, maybe it was just another footnote in European history.

Let’s stop here.