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NB: This may not be a word-for-word transcript. The Woman Who Broke the Great Wall of China Juwen Zhang According to legend, an emperor long ago declared that he would build a great wall spanning thousands of kilometers to protect his new empire and ensure his sustained power. He ordered many men across China to leave their homes and submit to the grueling labor required for its construction. As years passed and the wall grew, few returned home. Nestled in the foothills of a remote mountain, the Mengs and their neighbors, the Jiangs, hadn’t yet had to worry about being drafted by the emperor’s soldiers. One year, the Mengs grew gourds that flourished along their shared fence. One particular gourd crossed the fence and extended into the Jiang’s yard, so they cared for it. The gourd grew to be the biggest of all. At harvest, the Mengs and the Jiangs decided to take equal halves. But as they went to split the gourd, something remarkable happened. It cracked open to reveal a beauti
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