The Great Wall of China

(First published in Small World Ezine on 11 February 2003)

 

People think Emperor Chin Si (Qin Shi Huangdi) was the one
who first built the wall. Actually before his time, there 
was no China. The land was full of different countries and 
tribe groups. These countries/groups fought for territories
all the time. The battles were endless. So some larger
countries built their walls to protect them from invaders.

  

  

When Chin Si (the leader of Chin -- or Qin -- group) beat 
all enemies, he unified China in 221 B.C. and became the 
first emperor of China ("China" is from "Chin"). Then, the 
walls were combined into one Great Wall. It stretched from 
east to west for about 3100 mile (5000 km). From then 
extensions were made by the following dynasties in over 1000 
years until, when it's completed in Ming Dynasty, the Great 
Wall stretches 4,500 miles (7200 km), from the mountains of 
Korea to the Gobi Desert, being the only man-made structure 
to be seen from space.

According to the documentary in Discovery channel, the Chin
Wall was originally made of compacted earth. Workers filled 
the a wooden frame with loose earth, which was then tamped 
into a compact layer 4 inches thick. The process was 
repeated layer upon layer, and the wall slowly rose 4 inches 
at a time. With forced labour (prisoners), they made 1 mile 
a day.

After Chin, there is the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220).
This is one of the best time of China (with the invention of
paper, porcelain, compass, wheelbarrow and seismograph).
Han emperor, Han Wu-Di, extended the Wall westward into the 
Gobi dessert, to Central Asia.

This is another challenge. In the dessert, there was not
much material to use in the construction. The soil was sandy
and loose. They had to compact the red willow reeds instead. 
There were already beacon towers in the Wall, sending 
messages regarding attacks using smoke signals.

 

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), regained the power of the
Han race (read about the Hans in our article on Far Easterns and
about how the Hans freed themselves from foreign conqueror 

(Mongols -- Yuan Dynasty) in our Moon Festival article), added 

the grand structure to the Wall with bricks and granites. And 
it has become the Wall we see today.


Information from 
Discovery.com
http://www.travelchinaguide.com

History Timeline
http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html

 

 

More:


After the Mongols ruled China (1279-1368 A.D.), there was 
another foreigner dynasty (Manchurians - Qing Dynasty). 

The Mongols and the Manchurians managed to beat through 

the Great Wall because of similar tactics and factors... 

Chinese's weak inside politics, Chinese's corrupted 

officers, and bribery.

They did not destroy any part of the Wall. Someone opened it
from the inside for them... No martial arts were involved.

And this is true for all countries... With weak (stupid)
leader and corrupted government, even the Great Wall cannot 
protect such country.