The Tale of Xie Xin
Seyed Moham
he Great Wall was built in the 7th century BC for the once popularly thought reason to protect the
Chinese Empire against intrusions by military incursions by various warlike people and forces. People
have thought so for all this time but that is not the reason the Chinese Empire built it.
beli
ed, Group 3: Fiction, HKMA David Li Kwok Po College
The reason the Chinese Empire actually built it was because at that time, many people
eved in evil witches and wizards. This is how the story goes. The advisor of the king had told him
that he had consulted the best fortune teller in all of China as the king had ordered him to. The advisor told the
king that the fortune teller said that his death would come very early but he would not die a natural death. He
would be killed by an evil witch, by the name of Xie Xin (also known as The Big X), and her followers. The
fortune teller had said that she would enter China from the north looking for fame and fortune.
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But this would all happen in five years from the prediction. The only way to prevent this from
happening, as far as the fortune teller and all the king’s advisors knew, was to build a great and long wall which
would be protected by an ancient type of magic which witches and wizards with more evil in their hearts, like
Xie Xin, would never know. If the Emperor builds the wall and the following generations would maintain the
Wall and one day, the whole world comes to know of it as ‘The Great Wall’, the ancient magic would stay
strong. Even if the wall’s construction was not finished during his life, they would just have to start the
construction when he was alive so that the magic of knowledge was sealed between the Emperor’s soul and the
Great Wall. If the following generations didn’t maintain the Wall and it didn’t become world famous, then his
soul would never rest in peace. In the meantime, Xie Xin continued to steal gold from households and kill those
she stole from and leaving no trace that it was her who was there (except the dead bodies). She continued to
spread terror all over China.
Five years later, Xie Xin’s most trusted servant, Dalu informed Xie Xin that he had sensed a lot of gold
at the Emperor’s palace while he was crystal gazing. Dalu, unaware that the Emperor had already started to
build the Great Wall, advised Xie Xin that advancing on the Emperor’s Palace from the north would be the best
and easiest way for them as the Emperor’s Guards’ defences were the weakest in the north, due to the fact that
the Great Wall was being built.
When they reached the Great Wall, Xie Xin tried to break it down using magic, thinking it was just a
normal fort that was built before her time. Dalu had never considered that a fortune teller would foresee them
attacking the Emperor’s Palace, taking the Emperor’s life and taking all the gold within the Palace. Merciless as
she was, Xie Xin killed Dalu and tried to climb the wall, which was protected by the ancient magic of
knowledge but she found out that as soon as she touched the wall, one of her followers would die for every
touch. She was merciless so she continued to climb the wall. When all of her followers had died, she had no
choice but to come back down. She had gone mad, driven to insanity because the wall was cursed. Just then, an
archway about the size of an elephant appeared in the strongest and most well protected part of the Great Wall.
A soft and dreamy voiced called out to Xie Xin.
‘
Come in…’
Xie Xin had been hypnotized and she walked into the archway as though she might have walked in by
accident. The archway closed behind her and spells and the deepest part of magic bound her tight into the Great
Wall and to this day her body lies inside, neither completely alive or dead, but as though she has been put to
eternal sleep.
Her body will never decay but it won’t be same as when she was alive. And the wall might not hold her
forever. There might come a time when arrogance fills the world and nobody will care about the Great Wall.
Then, and only then, will Xie Xin’s soul will be released to haunt the descendants of the Emperor who had built
the wall and those who go too near her body’s hiding place.
Nobody knows in which part of the Great Wall her body lies, but then again, only a very few know the complete
story behind The Great Wall of China.
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