The Great Wall of China or ‘Wan-Li Qang-Qeng’ in Chinese, which translate to ‘10,000-Li Long Wall’, is one of the greatest man made structures in the world. It was built more than 2,300 years ago by Qin Shi Huangdi (c.259-210 B.C.) the first emperor of China during the Ch’in dynasty. The Great Wall was built as a defence system to protect the borders of the Chinese Empire from barbarian and enemy invasion, the Mongols in particular. In the 8th century B.C., China’s seven kingdoms, Qin, Chu, Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan and Qi, were at war and thus walls were built around the borders of the different kingdoms for protection. Once the Qin Kingdom defeated the other kingdoms in the 3rd century B.C., China became a united empire and more walls were built around the northern border, along the Gobi desert.
The wall is the world’s greatest defensive fortification; it measures around 5,000 kilometres in length. This wall rather than being one incredibly long wall, as I believed it to be before I did all my research, is actually a system of series of walls built over a period of 2,000 years. Every 15 to 60 meters, depending on where exactly in the different parts of the wall, there are watchtowers and beacons. These towers are 10-12 meters tall and were used for not only watching out for potential invaders but were key for military communication. They used fire/ smoke signals and lanterns to warn the other towers and send messages between the soldiers. The great wall was very well made and took over a million labourers to finish, many of who died during the construction of the site; historians believe the total was around 300,000 people.
Even though the wall was one of the greatest defence constructions ever made, it did not succeed in its goal. The wall did not entirely prevent the barbarians from invading the Empire. In 1211 A.D., the Mongols under the leadership of Genghis Khan, invaded China and took over the empire. Although the wall was not able to keep invaders out, it served as a “psychological barrier between Chinese civilisation and the world” (History.com). In 1368, the Mongols were driven out of the land and the Chinese regained their territory, establishing the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty improved and strengthened the great wall, they built new walls out of different materials including, granite, brick and limestone. Most of the work was done under Emperor Hongzhi’s rule, who wanted to prevent above all things another Mongolian invasion. The Ming wall is almost 9,000 kilometres and is the portion of the wall that is the most preserved. For this reason, the Ming portion of the wall is the most visited and more popular among the tourists. Some of the older sections of the wall have deteriorated over time and fallen into ruins. Even some parts of the Ming wall are in ruins as well because the Qing dynasty that followed Emperor Ming changed its ruling strategies. The Qing rather than focusing as much on their defence and military tactics, tried diplomacy and making peace with the neighbouring civilisations and their leaders. They made agreements especially with Mongolia and Tibet, promising not to interfere with the local culture and religious ways of the people. The Qing were very successful in creating these agreements and living at peace with the other nationalities, thus the wall became less relevant and the money used to maintain and strengthen the Ming wall was allocated elsewhere.
The Great Wall of China today stands as a symbol of Chinese history and culture. It is recognised for being one of the most impressive works of architecture from the old world. The wall is considered to be a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1987 and it is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There were rumours that because the Great Wall is so long and takes over so much territory that it could be seen from the moon. This myth has been proven to be false, a Chinese astronaut himself said he could not see it from the moon. However, the wall can be seen in pictures taken from space in low earth orbits. As a result of these pictures being taken, new parts of the wall and structures were found, extending the length of the wall. Its total length is still unknown today even with all the technology we have. The Great Wall of China, like all of the monuments I blogged about this semester, is one of the greatest construction projects ever undertaken. It is a monument that continues to be an important and influential part of China, one that represents the nation’s strength and prowess.
If you are interested in learning more, here are some cool facts about the Great Wall of China.
Gabbi, my favourite monuments I think would be the Pyramids of Giza and the Colosseum. They are just incredible pieces of architecture with a lot of history and are both icons of the cities they are located in and their countries.
There are a lot of things that I didn’t know about the Great Wall until I read your blog post. I can’t believe that there were over a million people who contributed into making it and it’s incredible to me that they still don’t know the actual length of it today even with all of the technology we have. I loved reading all of your posts and finding out so much about some of the most famous historical monuments in the world. I definitely learned a lot!
Although I heard about the Great Wall of China before and have seen pictures of it, I learned a lot about the history of it through your blog post. If I was able to see this monument in my lifetime that would be amazing, but I have other things at the top of my bucket list first. Which of the monuments that you blogged about would you like to see the most?