-THE GREAT WALL- |
Introduction
Contents
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HistoryThe Great Wall of China (B5: 萬里長城; GB: 万里长城; pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng; lit. "The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)") is a Chinese fortification built from the 5th century BCE until the beginning of the 17th century, in order to protect the various dynasties from raids by Hunnic, Mongol, Turkic, and other nomadic tribes coming from areas in modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria. Several walls, also referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BCE, the most famous being built between 220 BCE and 200 BCE by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; this wall was located much further north than the current wall built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.
Notable AreasThe “North Pass” of Juyongguan Pass is known as the Badaling. This particular area of the Great Wall is where most tourists visit. When used by the Chinese to protect their land, this wall was well manned by guards so as to guard China’s capital, Beijing. However, Badaling is very difficult to access. Made out of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters high, and 5 meters wide.
Representing the Ming Great Wall, Jinshanling is considered to have the most striking sights of the Great Wall. It runs 11 kilometers long, ranges from 5 to 8 meters in height, and 6 meters across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters across the top. Wangjinglou is one of Jinshanling’s 67 watchtowers, rising 980 meters above sea level.
Shanhaiguan Great Wall is referred to as the “Museum of the Construction of the Great Wall”, because of a temple, the Meng Jiang-Nu Temple, built during the Song Dynasty. The Shanhaiguan Great Wall is known for many different things, both with the construction of the wall, and also its history.
The first pass of the Great Wall was located on the Shanhaiguan (known as the “Number One Pass Under Heaven”), the first mountain the Great Wall climbs, Jia Shan, is also located here, as is the Jiumenkou, which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge.
The gray, sometimes smooth facade of what is recognizable as the Great Wall today is the Ming Wall. It is characterized by the long, sweeping footpath- wide enough for five horsemen to ride abreast- between tall watchtowers. On either side of the footpath are slits in the top of the wall, about in order that cross-bows can easily rest and the shooter has a clear, somewhat wide by perspective, field of vision. Small coves were designed along the inside wall to allow a retreating military the element of surprise; thus the invading force were faced with two groups of defenders- those in the coves and those in the towers.
The towers and sentry posts along the length of the Ming Wall were used primarily as housing for the legions of men needed to stand guard. They were equipped with cooking facilities, living quarters, heating elements, pantries for food storage and even separate living space for visiting generals. The towers were virtually impregnable; the only way into them was to use a rope ladder.
Until the 18th century the wall had been breached a grand total of 18 times. Only the Mongols and Manchus, both from the north, managed to completely penetrate the wall, resulting in major turning points in Chinese history.
The Wall does not follow a straight line from the desert in the west to the sea in the east, nor is it level. The Wall follows the contour of the land in a dramatic snaking path, in some parts, sitting atop steep mountains with sheer drops on either side.
It is constructed so that the base of the wall is larger than the top of the wall, providing a steep slope for any invading force to overcome before setting foot on the wall itself.
During the second Sino- Japanese war, the Wall became a prime target for the Japanese, in one of the first aerial bombing raids in history. Vast sections of the wall were destroyed to allow Japanese forces to penetrate south from their bases in Manchukuo.
Though the Wall has stood for many years and provided an effective military barrier for about as long, it requires constant maintenance since becoming a tourist attraction. More people walk along the wall in one week than the total number of people who have walked on the wall in the entire 2400 years since construction first began.
The Great Wall is the world's largest man-made structure, stretching over a formidable 7,300 km (4,500 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Sea in the east, at the limit between "China proper" and Manchuria (Northeast China), to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The actual length of the Wall changes almost by the decade as new portions of the Wall are discovered.
Along most of its arc, it roughly delineates the border between North China and Inner Mongolia.
Three hundred million cubic meters (393 million yards) of earthwork were used in the construction of the Great Wall; enough to more than equal a wall one meter wide and five meters tall built around the equator of the Earth.
While some portions near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair, serving as a playground for some villages and a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction sites. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often plagued with hawkers of tourist kitsch. After one of the many runs for charity along the Great Wall, H. J. P. Arnold questioned several runners about the status of the wall. A typical response was "The wall was clearly discernible and only moderately eroded along 22% of the run. The Wall was usually discernible but frequently broken/eroded 41% of the run, and scarcely discernible and almost totally eroded 37% of the run."
The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Mao Zedong had a saying, (B5: 不到長城非好漢; GB: 不到长城非好汉, pinyin: Bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn), roughly meaning "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall". Originally this saying was used to bolster his revolution in trekking north. But due to erosion of time the saying has been reduced to a promotional slogan for the Great Wall of China. In Badaling (north of Beijing) the Simplified Chinese: 好汉壁, Traditional Chinese: 好漢, or the 'real man stone' can be found with the saying engraved in it.
Heritage :: Great Wall
Introduction | Construction | Gates and Passes |
Role in Modern Warfare