Long Wall of Quảng Ngãi
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The Long Wall of Quang Ngai ( vi, Trường lũy Quảng Ngãi), Truong luy, or the Great Wall of Vietnam is a
rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...
extending from
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
's Quảng Ngãi Province in the north to Binh Dinh Province in the south. The defensive wall was built by the Nguyễn dynasty as a demarcation line against the ''Đá Vách'' (
H're people The H're people ( vi, người H'rê) are an ethnic group of Vietnam, speaking a language in the Mon–Khmer family. Most H're live in the Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định provinces of Vietnam's South Central Coast, and numbered 149,460 in 2019. ...
). It is the longest monument in Southeast Asia.


History and purpose

According to
Đại Nam thực lục ''Đại Nam thực lục'' ( vi-hantu, 大南寔錄, lit. "Veritable Records of the Great South", "Annals of Đại Nam", "Chronicle of Greater Vietnam") was the official history of Nguyễn dynasty, Vietnam. It contained the royal records of th ...
( en, The Veritable Records of the Great South) and other archives from the reign of Emperor
Đồng Khánh Đồng Khánh (, vi-hantu, 同 慶, lit. "collective celebration"; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889), born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) or Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟), also known as Chánh Mông (正蒙), was the ...
, the wall was constructed in 1819 by
Lê Văn Duyệt Lê Văn Duyệt)., group=n (1763 or 1764 – 30 July 1832) was a Vietnamese general who helped Nguyễn Ánh—the future Emperor Gia Long—put down the Tây Sơn wars, unify Vietnam and establish the Nguyễn dynasty. After the Nguyễn ca ...
, a high-ranking
mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, under Emperor Gia Long early in the Nguyễn dynasty. The wall is considered the "greatest engineering feat" of the Nguyễn dynasty. Nguyen Tien Dong contended that the wall was constructed over 500 years ago and was adopted for military purposes during the 19th century. Nguyen Dang Vu, director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quảng Ngãi, said that parts of the wall in mountainous regions existed hundreds of years ago. It was possibly constructed by General Bui Ta Han (1496–1568) when he became the leader of Quảng Nam. Archaeologists have excavated
ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
relics that verify the 16th-century origin. In 2005, Andrew Hardy, associate professor and head of the
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
branch of the
École française d'Extrême-Orient The French School of the Far East (french: École française d'Extrême-Orient, ), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of Asian societies. It was founded in 1900 with headquarters in Hanoi in w ...
(French School of the Far East), which has been relocated to Paris since 1975, came upon a textual reference to a "Long Wall of Quang Ngai" in the "Descriptive Geography of the Emperor Dong Khanh," an 1885 Nguyễn dynasty court document. An excavation crew was assembled; led by Hardy and archaeologist Nguyen Tien Dong of the Institute of Archaeology at the
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) is a department of the Vietnamese government responsible for studying key social science issues in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Leaders * Tran Huy Lieu: 1953-1959 * Nguyen Khanh Toan: 1967-1982 * ...
, the team discovered the wall after five years of searching. In 2009, they had uncovered the first portion of the wall in Nghĩa Hành District. The wall has since been a destination of some independent explorers. Experts posit that the construction of the wall was the result of the work of Nguyễn dynasty soldiers and collaboration between the Viet and the H're minority, who seldom had peaceful relations. Residents of either side of the wall relate that the wall was erected by their forebears to prevent invasions by the opposing side. Not only did it define the territorial borders of the respective peoples, it also afforded security and furthered trade. Similar rock arrangement methods have been found on Lý Sơn Island. One-hundred fifteen forts are located where rivers intersect the wall, with posts for 15 to 20 guards each. In these secured settings, the Viet and the H're conducted trade, the H're trading rice, cinnamon, and forest products for salt from the Viet. During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, armaments and food were conveyed from north to south Vietnam via portions of the wall in Đức Phổ and Hoài Ân districts, as extensions of the Ho Chi Minh trail.


Description

Running parallel to the Truong Son mountain range, the wall extends through ten districtsTrà Bồng, Sơn Tịnh, Sơn Hà, Tư Nghĩa, Minh Long, Nghĩa Hành, Ba Tơ, Đức Phổ, Hoài Ân, and An Lão. Alternating chunks of soil and rock were used to build the wall, reaching in height at its maximum and in width. In more rugged terrain, the wall was built primarily of rocks to prevent landslides and provide stability in inclement weather. The wall is similar to Hadrian's Wall in that it is parallel to an antiquated trade route. Researchers have unearthed markets, temples, and the aforementioned forts along the road, all built long before the wall. Some natives dub it the "Great Wall of Vietnam". The wall runs along the "Đường cái quan thượng" ( en, Upper main Mandarin's road) as it safeguards the National Route connecting the north and south Vietnam regions.


Research

Christopher Young of
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...
said, "The Long Wall presents an enormous opportunity for research, careful conservation and sustainable use". At a 27 March conference at the site of the wall, EU ambassadors deemed the wall a "unique architectural monument not only of Vietnam but also of the world". Hardy asserted that the wall "is the evidence of goods transaction between the people in the lowland and upperland". French Ambassador to Vietnam Jean-François Girault said, "In the world, there are walls to separate communities but the Truong Luy Wall in Quang Ngai gives us a new look about the mutual-assistance of difference communities".


Tourism and preservation

On 9 March 2011, the Vietnam government formally established the wall as a National Heritage site, planning to request the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage designation and to make the wall a global tourist site. In view of Quảng Ngãi's history, developing the wall for tourism would be difficult,
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's Adam Bray noted. Tourism in Quảng Ngãi has been considerably limited by the government. Establishing the wall as a tourist destination would call for government encouragement of "adventure trekking and cycling through previously isolated highland communities on an unprecedented scale", introducing historical
ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...
. The government plans to build a "protected corridor stretching 500m on either side of the wall", and the People's Committee of Quảng Ngãi has devoted VND15 billion to rejuvenating and maintaining the wall. Nguyen Giang Hai of the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology asserted that since the preservation of the relic is contingent on indigenous sentiment, "there is a need to sow the seed of consciousness for protecting the relic in the community living alongside the structure." Young articulated that in the case of tourism, "income-generation opportunities" should be available for locals, since "a world heritage is not something to admire but omethingfor the benefit of the people". Between 27 April and 8 May, English and French advisers will examine the wall and discuss with Quảng Ngãi officials how to publicise the wall in light of
socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...
expansion.


References


See also

* Cheonri Jangseong {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Wall of Quang Ngai Archaeological sites in Vietnam Walls Buildings and structures in Bình Định province Nguyen dynasty Buildings and structures in Quảng Ngãi province