Great Wall of China

Chinese Wanli Chang Cheng, one of the largest building-construction projects ever carried out, it runs (with all its branches) about 4,000 mi (6,400 km) east to west from the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli) to a point deep in Central Asia. Parts of the fortification date from the 4th century BC. In 214 BC Shihuangdi connected existing defensive walls into a single system fortified by watchtowers. These served both to guard the rampart and to communicate with the capital, Xianyang (near modern Xi'an) by signal - smoke by day and fire by night. Originally constructed partly of masonry and earth, it was faced with brick in its eastern portion. It was rebuilt in later times, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries. The basic wall is about 30 ft (9 m) high, and the towers rise to about 40 ft (12 m). It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

History of the Great Wall of China

A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history. Its purpose was to defend the China mainland from Mongol and Turkic nomads. There have been five major walls:

• 208 BC (Qin Dynasty)
• 1st century BC (Han Dynasty)
• 7th century CE (Sui Dynasty)
• 1138 - 1198 (Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period)
• 1368 - 1640 (from Hongwu Emperor until Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty)

The first major wall was built during the reign of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but was mostly the product of joining several regional walls built by the Warring States. The walls that were linked together at this time consisted of rammed earth with watch towers built at regular intervals. It was located much further north than the current Great Wall with its eastern end at modern day North Korea. Very little of this first wall remains - photos reveal a low, long mound.

Great Wall of China, largest building-construction projects ever carried out.

The government ordered people to work on the wall, and workers were under perpetual danger of being attacked by brigands. Because many people died while building the wall, it has obtained the gruesome title, "longest cemetery on Earth" or "the long graveyard". Possibly as many as one million workers died building the wall, though the true numbers cannot be determined now. The people that died were not buried in the wall, since decomposing bodies would have weakened structure.

The later long walls built by the Han, the Sui, and the Ten Kingdoms period were also built along the same design. They were made of rammed earth with multi-story watch towers built every few miles. These walls have also largely vanished into the surrounding landscape, eroded away by wind and rain.

In military terms, these rules were more frontier demarcations than defensive fortifications of worth. Certainly Chinese military strategy did not revolve around holding the wall; instead, it was the cities themselves that were fortified.

The Great Wall which tourists visit today was built during the Ming Dynasty, starting around the year 1368 and lasting till around 1640. Work on the wall started as soon as the Ming took control of China but initially, walls were not the Ming's preferred response to raids out of the north. That attitude began to change in response to the Ming's inablilty to defeat the Oirat war leader Esen Taiji in the period 1449 to 1454. A huge Ming Dynasty army with the Zhengtong Emperor at its head was anihilated in battle and the Emperor himself held hostage in 1449.

Apparently the real focus on wall building started as a result of Altan Khan's siege of Beijing which took place one hundred years later in 1550. The Ming, faced with the choice of trying to defeat the Mongols with direct military force, chose instead to build a massive defensive barrier to protect China. As a result, most of the Ming Great Wall was built in the period 1560 to 1640. This new wall was built on a grand scale with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall built before.

The Ming Dynasty Great Wall starts on the eastern end at Shanhai Pass, near Qinhuangdao, in Hebei Province, next to Bohai Gulf. Spanning nine provinces and 100 counties, the final 500 kilometers have all but turned to rubble, and today it ends on the western end at the historic site of Jiayuguan Pass (also called Jiayu Pass) (???), located in northwest Gansu Province at the limit of the Gobi Desert and the oases of the Silk Road. Jiayuguan Pass was intended to greet travelers along the Silk Road. Even though The Great Wall ends at Jiayu Pass, there are many watchtowers (??? feng huo tái) extending beyond Jiayu Pass along the Silk Road. These towers communicated by smoke to signal invasion.

In 1644, the Kokes Manchus crossed the Wall by convincing an important general Wu Sangui to open the gates of Shanhai Pass and allow the Manchus to cross. Legend has it that it took three days for the Manchu armies to pass. After the Manchu conquered China, the Wall was of no strategic value, mainly because the Manchu extended their political control far to the north. See more on the Manchu Dynasty.

The last great wall of the Ming really was a military fortification of some strength. However, military historians are generally dismissive of the net value of this great wall. It was astonishingly expensive to build, maintain and garrison. The money the Ming spent on the wall could have been spent on other military capabilities such as European style artillery or muskets. The fact remains that the great wall was of no help at all in preventing the Ming Dynasty's fall.

Before the Second Sino-Japanese War, as a result of the failed defense of the Great Wall, the Great Wall became a de facto border between the Republic of China and Manchukuo.

Web Resources about Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China
To the north of China, a huge, serrated wall zigzags it's way from the west to the east, through the desert, grassland and mountains. This is the Great Wall, a wonder of China and World. Listed as World Heritage by UNESCO.

International Friends of the Great Wall
The majesty of the Great Wall has two components: the building and its backdrop. Protect the Wall in its natural setting by taking nothing but photographs, and by leaving nothing but footprints. Help keep the Wall wild and wonderful!

Discovering the Great Wall and Ming Tombs
Ever since she was a girl, Beth had dreamed of being able to touch the Great Wall. It is a symbol of China's greatness and of the ability of man to achieve. It functioned for hundreds of years to spare the villages the random raids of tribes from the north, lending a stability to life and continuity to the culture and government.

About.com: The Great Wall of China
Lean about the fascinating history of the Great Wall of China and find out whether or not it can be seen from the moon.

One of the Wonders of the World: Great Wall of China
Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus stretching approximately 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles ) from east to west of China...

Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China was briefly described on this category, including history, architecture, construction and pictures.