At the construction of the Great Wall

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master_Gu_Mengxue_2021.pdf (77.78 MB)

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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Date

2021

Department

Arkkitehtuurin laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Arkkitehtuurin maisteriohjelma

Language

en

Pages

141+6

Series

Abstract

The Great Wall of China, the embodiment of humanity’s magnificent construction, has lost its defensive function and is no longer needed today. Much of the Great Wall in Ningxia in northern China is abandoned and disappearing. However, the Great Wall is still a powerful cultural phenomenon, and its social meaning has subtly influenced many people, gradually transferring it to a symbol more than preserving its original meaning. For instance, Franz Kafka analyses the Great Wall and its symbolic meaning in his short story At the Construction of the Great Wall of China (1930). Although the story of the Great Wall is highly personal and Kafka’s fantasy, his interpretation of the Wall is relevant to the physical Great Wall in Ningxia. This thesis takes Kafka’s social meaning of the Great Wall as a reference to reinterpret the symbolic meanings of the Great Wall and reveals how the symbolism influences people in contemporary society. To achieve these goals, this thesis conceives a story of a trip and a ceremony of the Great Wall as it is disappearing. As the characters K and I search for information about the ceremony by visiting the disappearing Great Wall in today’s Ningxia, they explore the stories and reflect on the construction and destruction of the Great Wall through dialogues during the trip. They conclude that the Great Wall symbolizes large-scale projects that need to be completed in different eras, but also a symbol of humanity’s desire for massive constructions, and that people are willing to gather to build and destroy the Wall to fulfil their needs in a collective behaviour. This process is constantly cyclical and repetitive in different contexts from different times. Moreover, through experiencing the collective behaviour about the Great Wall in the ceremony, K and I further describe and illustrate the participants’ confusions and reflections by their reconstruction process. They realize that even though the Great Wall will disappear, the reconstruction of the Great Wall will not stop; new Walls are being built continually. The thesis consists of a background introduction, an analysis of Franz Kafka’s short story, the imaginary narrative of K’s and I’s exploration through the trip and the ceremony of the Great Wall and a conclusion based on the findings. The story explores the life of architecture and considers the human life of the built community. It raises more profound thinking and reflection of the Wall’s connection and impact of the Great Wall on human spirituality. The physical Wall is destined to fade, but the stories and the connections will stay, and the new Great Wall will be built.

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Supervisor

Reuter, Jenni

Thesis advisor

Vartola, Anni

Keywords

the Great Wall, symbolic meaning, narrative story, Franz Kafka, massive construction project, collective behavior, circulation of time and behavior, segmental construction method

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202111019945

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS