Ba Sing Se
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ba Sing Se is a fictional city from Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was the capital of the Earth Kingdom and, as of the end of Book Two: Earth, is currently controlled by the Fire Nation.
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[edit] Impenetrable City
Once capital of the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se means “Impenetrable City.”[1] The city is so named for its two world-famous walls, the gates of which have no hinges or other hardware and are opened by use of Earthbending.[2] Behind the Outer Wall lies a large expanse of farmland, Lake Laogai, and several mountains. The inner wall encloses the city itself. The last great Earth Kingdom stronghold after the fall of Omashu, the fall of Ba Sing Se left the Earth Kingdom with no great points of commmerce, military activity, or production.
In the history of the city, the walls have only been breached on two occasions: The first was by Fire Nation military forces led by General Iroh, the legendary “Dragon of the West”. This attack, a part of his 600 day long siege of the city, was quickly driven back by the city’s guardian forces after he was weakened by the death of his son, Lu Ten. Years later, the Fire Nation used a great drill to bore through the Outer Wall, but Aang and his friends stopped the machine before the army could take advantage of the hole.[3] By the end of the Season 2 finale, Ba Sing Se had fallen to the hands of the Fire Nation through an internal coup d'état lead by Princess Azula.
In The Drill, at the arrival station where Zuko and Iroh got their passports stamped is a large sign above that says 歡迎光臨表層城 which translates as 'Welcome To Ba Sing Se.' Pronounced in Mandarin as biǎo céng chéng, Ba Sing Se (表層城) means 'outside layer city,' not impenetratable city as General Sung stated. The words 表層城 also appear in front of word University (大學) at the entrance of the school seen in City of Walls and Secrets. The opposite Na Sing Se or 'inside city' would be 內層城 (nèi céng chéng) .
[edit] Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se
Underneath the palace, and possibly much of the city, lies old Ba Sing Se, an ancient underground city deep within the earth. In old times, Ba Sing Se was once simply a small subterranean city carved out of rocks by Earthbenders. As the benders further excavated, they came across beautiful illuminated crystals and began to mine them. The crystals currently serve a common light source for Earth Kingdom inhabitants. Eventually, as the metropolis' expansion reached above ground levels, the catacombs were abandoned.[4] Inside the interior of Old Ba Sing Se still lies ancient stone structures, a waterfall and pool, and large green crystals that populate many of the catacombs.
[edit] Layout
Ba Sing Se is a divided city, with inhabitants sorted in various walled “rings” based on economic and social class. These range from the Lower Ring, a place of ghettoes inhabited by refugees and the poor, to the Upper Ring, home of the Kingdom’s ruling classes and the rich. Travel throughout the city (in addition to entering and exiting it) is provided by large, earthbending powered monorails, constructed during the reign of Earth King Yi Ming. The monorails meet in large transit stations, are free to the general public, and are able to greatly dwindle the two full days it would take to travel on foot from one end of the city to the other.
[edit] Agrarian Zone
Just outside the lower ring, between the outer wall and the inner wall of the city is the agrarian zone, a large underdeveloped area that holds wide open plains of land, primarily used for farming. Despite its vital wildlife and crops resources, the agrarian zone's primary function is serving as a massive land buffer between the outer wall and the inner wall, where all of the Ba Sing Se residents dwell, widening the gap between invaders and citizens if perchance the walls were ever breached. With a self-sustaining supply of food and added protection from siege, the citizens of Ba Sing Se are capable of maintaining daily routine, if not endeavoring, in the midst of even the most critical of wars.
[edit] Lower Ring
In the Lower Ring are, as mentioned above, the poor class of Ba Sing's Se society and the majority of its populous. These consist of newcomers to the city such as refugees and 'people who work with their hands' such as artisans, laborers, and craftsman. Due to the poor range of citizens in the class, it is hinted in "City of Walls and Secrets" that the crime rate is significantly high.
[edit] Middle Ring
The Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se consists of the middle-class populace. Inside this ring includes a vast assortment of shops and restaurants as well as the financial district and Town Hall, the oldest building in the Middle Ring. Ba Sing Se University, a massive warehouse of knowledge and a key landmark of the city, is also located in this area.
[edit] Upper Ring
As the richest of the three rings, the Upper Ring consists of the upper class community such as military and government officials. The most important citizens of the city reside, here protected against criminal activity by the presence of the Dai Li. The Royal Palace is located in the center of the Upper Ring. Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph received a home positioned in the Upper Class as a reward for their successful efforts against the Fire Nation's powerful drill and against the Fire Nation, itself.
[edit] Government
As the capital of the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se was home to the Earth King, ruler of the Earth Kingdom. However, true power in the city belonged to the city’s Grand Secretariat, Long Feng. As leader of the Dai Li, Ba Sing Se’s "cultural agents", (originally engendered by Avatar Kyoshi following a peasant revolt during the reign of the 46th Earth King) he enforced strict laws within the city. It was absolutely forbidden to mention the war with the Fire Nation within the city, and those that did were arrested and re-educated to the belief that all is well. According to Long Feng, all this is necessary to maintain Ba Sing Se’s cultural heritage and to ensure that the city remains a thriving utopia; however, it is, in truth, a totalitarian government.[5]
Though the Earth King had Long Feng arrested during the events of "The Earth King", he allied himself with Azula to engineer a coup d'etat during the events of "The Guru" and, in "The Crossroads of Destiny", he was betrayed by the Dai Li and ultimately surrendered the city to the Princess of the Fire Nation.
[edit] Locations
[edit] Lake Laogai
Hidden beneath the waters of Lake Laogai is an underground facility operated by the Dai Li agents and run by the cultural minister Long Feng. It consists of many chambers and tunnels which hold prison cells and Dai Li and Joo Dee training facilities. These cells also hold equipment used to brainwash people consipiring to destroy the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se. As it is absolutely forbidden to mention the war against the Fire Nation within the walls, those that do are usually arrested and re-educated using the brainwashing technique used on Jet. It was presumed to be destroyed in The Earth King.
The term Laogai is an abbreviation for Laodong Gaizao, 勞動改造, which means "reform through labor," and refers to the use of prison labor in the People's Republic of China.[6]
[edit] Fighting Cliffs
South of Ba Sing Se, the cliffs, one white the other red, stand facing each other with a wide ravine between them. Early Earth Kingdom natives noticed that the ground of the ravine was charred and black and legend holds that the cliffs were created in an ancient battle between Earthbenders and Firebenders, the conflict being awesome that the very ground they fought on soaked up their power and animosity.[4] The cliffs currently are mined for "spark rocks," small, craggy stones used by Earth Kingdom citizens to start fires as displayed by Iroh in "City of Walls and Secrets".
[edit] Fall of Ba Sing Se
In "The Earth King", Princess Azula and her allies, Mai and Ty Lee, disguised themselves as Kyoshi Warriors in order to enter Ba Sing Se as the Earth King's honored guests. During the events of "The Guru" and "The Crossroads of Destiny", Azula assumed control over the Dai Li and led a coup against the Earth King. She was successful and managed to capture both the Earth King himself and the Council of Five, his highest ranking generals, gaining control over the city.
[edit] Inspirations
Ba Sing Se draws on many real world concepts. The division of the different sections of is reminiscent of social stratification systems such as that seen in the Middle Ages of Europe. Alternatively, it could be compared to the racially/socially segregated ghettos that existed in Nazi Germany and nations occupied by it during World War II. The poor section is also reminiscent of New York City's tenements in the 1800s-1900s. Also, the way the city’s government operates, from a figurehead leader to apparent brainwashing techniques and constant observation, is reminiscent of the dystopian governments seen in such classic works of fiction such as Nineteen Eighty-Four. The royal palace in Ba Sing Se appears similar to the Forbidden City in China; compare the palace to the Forbidden City's Meridian Gate. The sheer size and architectural appearance of Ba Sing Se's outer wall is comparable to that of the Great Wall of China. Even the title of the Earth Kingdom capitol bears resemblence to China's capitol city, Beijing. Avatar co-creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had the opportunity to travel to China just the year before and visit the Lama Temple, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City where they took several pictures to be later used as reference for backgrounds seen in Avatar.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Drill". Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- ^ "The Tales of Ba Sing Se". Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- ^ "The Drill". Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- ^ a b Official Nickelodeon Avatar: The Last Airbender website
- ^ "City of Walls and Secrets". Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- ^ Pejan, Ramin. Laogai: "Reform Through Labor" in China. Washington College of Law. Human Rights Brief. Retrieved on 2006-03-09.
- ^ "In Their Elements." (September 2006) Nick Mag Presents, p. 7
[edit] See also
| Franchise |
|---|
| Episodes · Media information · Trading cards · Video game |
| Universe |
| Water Tribe · Earth Kingdom · Fire Nation · Air Nomads · Spirit World Waterbender · Earthbender · Firebender · Airbender · Chakra |
| Characters |
| Aang · Katara · Sokka · Appa · Toph · Zuko · Iroh · Azula Major secondary characters · Minor secondary characters · Creatures |
