The Great
Wall is a fortification along the northern and north-western frontier of
China. It runs from Jinwangdao on the gulf of Bo Hai on the east to the
vicinity of Gaodai , Gansu Province, on the west ,with an inner wall running
southward from the vicinity of Beijing almost to Handan.
The history of
the Wall is one of the China's great sagas. Construction first began in
400 BC but ystematic work on it was only done during the reign of Shih
Huang Ti between the years 221 BC to 204 BC. In succeeding centuries,
primarily during the rule of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), the Great
Wall was extended and repaired.
The largest portion of the wall was erected by Shih Huang Ti, first emperor
of the Ch'in dynasty, as a defence against raids by nomadic peoples. He
garrisoned armies at the Wall to stand guard over the workers as wall as
to defend the northern boundaries. The tradition lasted for centuries.
Each dynasty added to the height, breadth, length, and elaborated the design
mostly through forced labour. It was during the Ming dynasty ( 1368 - 1644
) that the Wall took on its present form.
Each of the Chinese dynasties added to the height, breadth, lenght and
elaborated the design of the Wall. This was mostly done through forced
labour. For much of its length, it was built of earth and rubble
faced with masonry and it is recorded that it took 300,000 men in 10 years
to complete one section.
The
Wall is from 4.6 to 9.1m thick at the base and tapers to some 3.7m at the
top. The height averages 7.6m exclusive of the crenellated parapets. Watchtowers
about 12m in height are placed at intervals of approximately 180m.
The Great Wall started as
earth works thrown up for preotection by different States. Shih Huang Ti,
the First emperor of the Qin Dynasty garrisoned armies at the Wall to stnad
guard and defend the northern boundaries. Throughout the centuries
after that, armies were garrisoned along the lenght ofthe Wall to provide
early warning of invasion and a first line of defence.
Intended
by the early emperors of China to serve as a barrier against the marauding
nomads of the barbarial North, the Wall served well. Although it failed
to keep out the Mongols, it did establish a border within which the Chinese
developed their distinctive civilization.
1. The Great Wall of China is the
only man made structure that can be seen form space.
2. There is a story that Emperor
Shih Huang Ti would not let the people that dies working on the wall have
a proper burial. Instead, they were built into the wall to save time. Because
of this, archeologists have found tombs built into the Great Wall.
3.It is said that if you dismantle
the Great Wall and rebuild it, it could go around the entire world; and
if you stretched it by molecule it could probably reach Andromeda.
For more
info, check out this link
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/gse/landmarks/great.html
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