Ｂｏｒｇｅｓ ａｎｄ Ｈｉｓ Ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ Ｇｒｅａｔ Ｗａｌｌ ａｎｄ Ｂｏｏｋｓ

I felt extremely pleased and honored to receive a gift of the complete works by Jorges Luis Borges (1899-1986) from Mr. Miguel A.Velloso， consul general of Argentina in Shanghai. The books by the great Argentina writer are Chinese translations which I received during my visit to the consul general.

I had not known very much about the author， nor had I read any of his essays before. The author came to the attention of the Chinese public in the 1980s. Borges wrote short stories， poems and essays in a poetic style. Some critics say that his short stories read like poetry， his essays read like short stories and his poems read like essays. His eyes see beyond Argentina.

I began to thumb through the books in the train on my way back home. I was caught by an essay entitled “The Wall and the Books”. The four-page discussion explores why the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) in ancient China wanted to construct the Great Wall and burn books written before his time.

For most Chinese， the answers are clear-cut. We have learned from our history books that the first emperor had the Great Wall built for the purpose of putting the central empire beyond the reach of harassing northern nomads. The wall was meant to defend the country and thwart the invasion. On the other hand， he burnt books to dismiss the political conservatives and consolidate his power， for the intellectuals in the opposition blasted the emperor’s achievement and wished to adhere to the presumably outdated ancient state politics.

The Chinese answers do not interest Borges. He probes the emperor’s motives and emotions concerning the decisions behind the construction and destruction.

The writer assumes that the emperor wanted to obliterate the past simply to kill the memory of his mother’s infidelity and that constructing the Great Wall in space and burning books that spanned time were meant to block death. Borges believes that the two assumptions， though convincing to certain degrees， lack the support of historical evidence. So he suggests that the emperor encircled the empire with the great wall because he knew it would not last forever and that he burnt books because he knew the books offer teachings about the universe and the conscience of man.

Borges’ view is interesting and fresh. His analysis of the wall and the books goes beyond objective analysis. He focuses upon the subjective world of the emperor.We don’t have the emperor’s ideas to judge whether Borges is right. But it is admirable for a foreigner to analyze part of the Chinese history. The short essay bears witness to the greatness of Borges as a writer. It is a text that bridges the Chinese and the foreign.

Probably it is not important now to know the exact motives behind the destruction of books and the construction of the wall. What matters now is our attitude toward foreign cultures. As China opens wider to the outside world， we Chinese will surely encounter more and more things that we probably don’t like or can’t understand at the first sight. But we can’t conclude that what we don’t like or understand are necessarily wrong. Borges wished to come to China， for he liked the country. He did not come to China， but his ideas have arrived. We have no reason to build a wall to keep him out.#8194;□