Defensive work from a side playing China at first (8)

I believe the answer is:

palisade

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'defensive work' is the definition.
'palisade' can be an answer for 'work' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'defensive' bit.

'a side playing china at first' is the wordplay.
'playing' indicates an anagram.
'china' becomes 'pal' (china plate is Cockney rhyming slang for mate).
'at first' says to put letters next to each other.
'a'+'side'='aside'
'aside' with letters rearranged gives 'isade'.
'isade' after 'pal' is 'PALISADE'.

'from' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for palisade that I've seen before include "Fence consisting of stakes" , "Strong fence, for defence" , "Enclosure of stakes" , "A side lap (anag)" , "Tall defensive fence" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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