Country Driving [221]
In the eighteenth century, Western explorers and missionaries: For background on Western confusion about the history of the Great Wall:
Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
claimed that the Great Wall is visible to the human eye from the moon:
Warwick, Adam. “A Thousand Miles Along the Great Wall of China.” National Geographic XLII, no. 2 (February 1923): pp. 114–43.
China had about one-fifth: The figures in this paragraph come from the National Bureau of Statistics.
use of headlights was banned:
United Press International. “Light in China.” January 4, 1984.
“They come like hurricanes: This quotation is from Han Anguo, the minister of censorship in 134 BC. It can be found in:
Jagchid, Sechin, and Van Jay Symons. Peace, War, and Trade Along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese Interaction through Two Millennia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989. Page 60.
“is like attacking a shadow”: This quotation comes from the Han dynasty official Zhufu Yan in 200 BC. Also found in Jagchid and Symons, page 57.
“covetous for grain”: This quotation is from the Book of Han, a history completed in AD 111. It can be found on page 33 in Arthur Waldron’s book about the Great Wall. Other quotes in this section are from my interviews with Waldron.
the Chinese response: The material in this section, which concerns the various strategies employed by the Ming in their attempt to manage the nomads, comes from the research of the independent historian David Spindler. Spindler’s project on the Great Wall is ongoing, and most of his findings have yet to be published. He gave me an introduction to his work over the course of many interviews and several journeys to the Great Wall near Beijing. For background on Spindler’s methodology and conclusions about the Wall, see my magazine profile of him:
Hessler, Peter. “Walking the Wall.” The New Yorker, May 21, 2007.
a major tremor in 1556:
Chen Genyuan. “Ming Dai Guanzhong Da Dizhen Dui Shanxi Wenwu Zaocheng de Pohuai” [Damage to Shaanxi Cultural Relics from the Ming Dynasty Guanzhong Earthquake]. Shoucang [Collection], August 2008.
the Ordos Desert: For the relationship between the Ordos Desert and the Great Wall, see Arthur Waldron: Ibid.
more than one-fourth of China’s land suffers from desertification:
Jia Xiaoxia. “Desertification: A Growing Threat in China.” Down to Earth: The Newsletter of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 19 (December 2003): p. 2.
any benefits of willow planting would be short-lived: For background on Wushenqi (also written as Uxin Ju) and environmental issues in the Ordos:
Jiang Hong. “Grassland Campaigns in China’s Collective Era: Socialist Policies and Local Initiatives in Uxin Ju, a ‘Pastoral Dazhai.’” China’s Embedded Activism: Opportunities and Constraints of a Social Movement. London: Routledge, 2008. Pages 89–110.
———. “Reading China’s Environmental Crisis: ‘Mao’s War Against Nature’ Continues.” China Scope (September/October 2007): pp. 3–16.
———. “China’s Great Green Wall Proves Hollow.” The Epoch Times, July 30, 2009.
Part II
In 1924, Sun Yat-sen: For the history of Sun Yat-sen’s correspondence with Henry Ford, and the Chinese switch to the right-hand side of the road, see Thomas J. Campanella: Ibid.
a book called Beijing Jeep:
Mann, Jim. Beijing Jeep: A Case Study of Western Business in China. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997.
Volkswagen and General Motors made more profits: For information about profit margins for foreign automakers, I relied on interviews with Michael Dunne, currently managing director of the China office at J. D. Power and Associates. Dunne also provided me with the