Did
You Know?
When Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered
construction of the Great Wall around 221 B.C., the labor force that built the
wall was made up largely of soldiers and convicts. It is said that as many as
400,000 people died during the wall's construction; many of these workers were
buried within the wall itself.
Contents
- Qin Dynasty
Construction
- The Great Wall of
China Through the Centuries
- Wall Building During
the Ming Dynasty
- Significance of the
Great Wall of China
Though the beginning of the Great
Wall of China can be traced to the third century B.C., many of the
fortifications included in the wall date from hundreds of years earlier, when
China was divided into a number of individual kingdoms during the so-called
Warring States Period. Around 220 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a
unified China, ordered that earlier fortifications between states be removed
and a number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a
single system that would extend for more than 10,000 li (a li is about
one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.
Construction of the “Wan Li Chang
Cheng,” or 10,000-Li-Long Wall, was one of the most ambitious building projects
ever undertaken by any civilization. The famous Chinese general Meng Tian
directed the project, and was said to have used a massive army of soldiers,
convicts and commoners as workers. Made mostly of earth and stone, the wall
stretched from the China Sea port of Shanhaiguan over 3,000 miles west into
Gansu province. In some strategic areas, sections of the wall overlapped for
maximum security (including the Badaling stretch, north of Beijing, that was
later restored by the Ming dynasty). From a base of 15 to 50 feet, the Great
Wall rose some 15-30 feet high and was topped by ramparts 12 feet or higher;
guard towers were distributed at intervals along it.
With the death of Qin Shi Huang and
the fall of the Qin dynasty, much of the Great Wall fell into disrepair. After
the fall of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), a series of frontier tribes
seized control in northern China. The most powerful of these was the Northern
Wei dynasty (386-535 A.D.), which repaired and extended the existing wall to
defend against attacks from other tribes. The Bei Qi kingdom (550–577) built or
repaired more than 900 miles of wall, and the short-lived but effective Sui
dynasty (581–618) repaired and extended the Great Wall of China a number of
times.
With the fall of the Sui and the
rise of the Tang dynasty (618-907), the Great Wall lost its importance as a
fortification, as China had defeated the Tujue tribe to the north and expanded
past the original frontier protected by the wall. During the Song dynasty
(960-1279), the Chinese were forced to withdraw under threat from the Liao and
Jin peoples to the north, who took over many areas on both sides of the Great
Wall. The powerful Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (1206-1368) established by Genghis
Khan eventually controlled all of China, parts of Asia and sections of Europe.
Though the Great Wall held little importance for the Mongols as a military
fortification, soldiers were assigned to man the wall in order to protect
merchants and caravans traveling along the profitable trade routes established
during this period.
Despite its long history, the Great
Wall of China as it is exists today was constructed mainly during the mighty
Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Like the Mongols, the early Ming rulers had little
interest in building border fortifications, and wall building was limited
before the late 15th century. In 1421, the Ming emperor Yongle proclaimed
China's new capital, Beijing, on the site of the former Mongol city of Dadu.
Under the strong hand of the Ming rulers, Chinese culture flourished, and the
period saw an immense amount of construction in addition to the Great Wall,
including bridges, temples and pagodas. The construction of the Great Wall as
it is known today began around 1474. After an initial phase of territorial
expansion, Ming rulers took a largely defensive stance, and their reformation
and extension of the Great Wall was key to this strategy.
The Ming wall extended from the Yalu
River in Liaoning Province to the eastern bank of the Taolai River in Gansu
Province, and winded its way from east to west through today's Liaoning, Hebei,
Tianjin, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu.
Starting west of Juyong Pass, the
Great Wall was split into south and north lines, respectively named the Inner
and Outer Walls. Strategic "passes" (i.e., fortresses) and gates were
placed along the wall; the Juyong, Daoma and Zijing passes, closest to Beijing,
were named the Three Inner Passes, while further west were Yanmen, Ningwu and
Piantou, the Three Outer Passes. All six passes were heavily garrisoned during
the Ming period and considered vital to the defense of the capital.
In the mid-17th century, the Manchus
from central and southern Manchuria broke through the Great Wall and encroached
on Beijing, eventually forcing the fall of the Ming dynasty and beginning of
the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644-1912). Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the
Great Wall emerged as the most common emblem of China for the Western world,
and a symbol both physical–a manifestation of Chinese strength–and
psychological–a representation of the barrier maintained by the Chinese state
to repel foreign influences and exert control over its citizens.
Today, the Great Wall is generally
recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history. In
1987, UNESCO designated the Great Wall a World Heritage site, and a popular
claim that emerged in the 20th century holds that it is the only manmade
structure that is visible from the moon. Over the years, roadways have been cut
through the wall in various points, and many sections have deteriorated after
centuries of neglect. The best-known section of the Great Wall of China–Badaling,
located 43 miles (70 km) northwest of Beijing–was rebuilt in the late 1950s,
and attracts thousands of national and foreign tourists every day.
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