What You Need To Know About the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, and other materials that runs across northern China. It stretches over 13,000 miles and passes through several provinces, including Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai.
The Great Wall was first built in the 7th century BC by the state of Qi in order to defend against raids by the neighboring state of Chu. Over the following centuries, the wall was expanded and improved by various dynasties, including the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which is credited with building the majority of the wall that is visible today.
The Great Wall served multiple purposes throughout its history, including defense against invaders, control of trade and immigration, and maintenance of internal order. It was also used as a symbol of imperial power and control.
The construction of the Great Wall was a massive undertaking and involved the labor of thousands of workers, including soldiers, peasants, and prisoners. The wall was built across challenging terrain, including deserts, hills, and mountains, making its construction a true feat of engineering and human perseverance.
Today, the Great Wall of China is a popular tourist destination and a symbol of China’s rich history and cultural heritage. Visitors can hike along sections of the wall, including some of the most well-preserved sections in the Beijing area. However, due to the wall’s great age and the ravages of time and weather, much of the wall is in ruins and in need of repair and preservation.
Despite its current state of repair, the Great Wall of China remains a testament to the ingenuity and determination of the Chinese people, and it continues to inspire awe and admiration in people from around the world.

Introduction to the Great Wall Of China

The Great Wall is not only an ancient defense project with the longest construction time and the largest amount of construction in China, but also in the world. It has been continuously built for more than 2,000 years since the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is distributed on the vast land in northern and central China, with a total length of 20,000. How many kilometers.
Since Qin Shihuang, almost all dynasties that ruled the Central Plains have built the Great Wall. Han, Jin, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing and more than ten dynasties built the Great Wall in different scales. From the perspective of the ruling nation that built the Great Wall, besides the Han nationality, many dynasties that ruled China also built the Great Wall, and there were more dynasties than those ruled by the Han nationality. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, although the large-scale construction of the Great Wall stopped, the Great Wall was also built in some places later. It can be said that the construction of the Great Wall has not stopped for more than 2,000 years from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Qing Dynasty. According to historical documents, more than 20 feudal states and feudal dynasties built the Great Wall. If the Great Wall built in each era is added up, the length of the Great Wall is more than 100,000 miles. Among them, the length of the Great Wall built by Qin, Han, Jin, and Ming dynasties More than 10,000 miles.
China’s Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces, cities, and autonomous regions have relics of the ancient Great Wall and beacon towers.

How the Great Wall was Built

The defensive engineering buildings of the Great Wall have accumulated rich experience in the construction process of more than two thousand years.
First of all, in terms of layout, when Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, he summed up the important experience of “using danger to control the fortress due to the terrain”, and then Sima Qian wrote it in “Historical Records”, and every subsequent dynasty built the Great Wall according to this It is carried out in accordance with one principle and has become an important basis for military deployment. All the gates are built between two mountains and canyons, or at the turning point of a river, or at a place where plains and rivers must pass through. , Wanfu Mokai” effect. Building castles or beacon towers is also a choice in dangerous places. As for the construction of city walls, the topography is fully utilized. For example, the Great Walls like Juyongguan and Badaling are built along the backs of mountains. “Effect. In Liaoning Province, the Great Wall in Liaodong Town in the Ming Dynasty had a kind of mountain wall and split gable wall, which used the cliffs and cut the cliffs slightly to form the Great Wall. There are also some places that completely use cliffs, rivers and lakes as natural barriers.
In terms of building materials and building structures, many structural methods have been created based on the principle of “taking local materials and applying them in accordance with the materials”. There are rammed earth, block stone flakes, masonry and other structures; in the desert, red willow branches, reeds and sand are also used to pave the structure layer by layer, and it has been preserved for more than 2,000 years in today’s Yumen Pass, Yang Pass and Xinjiang. Remains of this Great Wall in the pre-Western Han Dynasty.
With the advancement of social productivity and the continuous development of brick-making technology, the output of brick products in the Ming Dynasty increased greatly, and they were no longer precious building materials. Therefore, the inner and outer eaves walls of many parts of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty were built with huge bricks. At that time, when the construction was entirely by hand and the building materials were moved by hand, the city walls were built of bricks of the same size and light weight, which not only facilitated construction, but also increased the construction rate and the construction level. Secondly, the gates of many passes are mostly built with blue bricks to form long-span arches. Although some of these blue bricks have been severely weathered, the entire city gate still stands majestically, showing the superb skills of building arches at that time. Judging from the architectural decorations on the towers of the pass, many stone carvings and brick carvings are made with extremely complex and delicate techniques, reflecting the ingenuity of the craftsmen at that time.

The Influence And Significance Of The Great Wall

Sideband Development
From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many gates along the Great Wall became places or centers for national trade in the two major economic and cultural systems of agriculture and animal husbandry, and some gradually developed into important towns along the Great Wall. The Great Wall not only ensures the normal development of agricultural economy, culture and animal husbandry economy and culture, but also provides a place and convenience for the exchange and mutual complementation of the two; It plays an important role in the development of complementary directions. Therefore, the Great Wall not only played the role of separating the two economies and cultures, but also shouldered the important task of closely linking the two economies and cultures.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, nearly tens of millions of soldiers and civilians were invested. While building the Great Wall, Qin Shihuang started to strengthen the development and construction of border areas, which opened the prelude to the development of border areas. Since the construction of the Great Wall took a long time in the Han Dynasty, many people proposed to emigrate to the border, and these suggestions were adopted and implemented by the Han government successively. Together with the soldiers guarding the Great Wall, the immigrants reclaimed wasteland for farming, which not only accelerated the economic development of the border area, saved a lot of government military expenditure, but also greatly reduced the suffering of long-distance transportation, and spread Chinese culture far and wide.
Ethnic Integration
In terms of culture, the Great Wall also played an important role in the formation and development of the pluralism and unity of the Chinese nation. The construction and defense of the Great Wall, as well as the battles in the area of the Great Wall, on the contrary promoted the extensive integration of the Han nationality and more than a dozen ethnic minorities in ancient China.
In the third year of Ganlu Emperor Xuandi of the Han Dynasty (51 BC), the southern Xiongnu returned to the Han Dynasty, realizing the convergence of the Huaxia Han people in the agricultural areas of the Central Plains and the northern herding peoples. This is the beginning of the formation of the Chinese nation. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the archaeological discoveries of the castle sites of the Han Dynasty in the Yinshan area of Inner Mongolia showed that the peaceful exchanges between the Han and the Huns were not completely blocked by the Great Wall and military fortresses.
In the Tang Dynasty, after Tang Taizong defeated the Turkic army, hundreds of thousands of descendants lived along the Great Wall along the border, set up six governor’s houses, and appointed Turkic people as the governors. The Turks accepted the advanced economy and culture of the Han nationality, which further accelerated the pace of national integration.
During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, outside the Yanmen Pass, from the initial “no mulberry elm or hemp” to the later “where the living people don’t mulberry hemp”, it just reflects this historical law. The opening of the “horse market” along the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty shows the close relationship between Han and Mongolia, which are interdependent and gradually integrated. The Qing government adopted a soft policy, which further promoted the national integration along the Great Wall.
Military significance
The Great Wall is the greatest military defense project in the ancient history of the world. It is not a simple isolated line of city walls, but from point to line, from line to surface, connecting the passes, military forts, pass cities and military towns along the Great Wall into a tight structure. network to form a complete defense system. The system of military forts, pass cities, and important military towns has multiple functions such as combat, command, observation, communication, and concealment, and is equipped with points and lines of permanent troops combined with a defense project as a whole.
The military defense thought embodied by the Great Wall has an important position in the history of military development. The emergence and development of the Great Wall and the entire military development in ancient China are advancing simultaneously, which is of great significance for the study of the formation and development of ancient military combat ideas. Qin Huang Han Wu, including the early Ming Dynasty, all built the Great Wall when they took the initiative to attack and gained an overwhelming military advantage. This shows that building the Great Wall is not only a kind of active defense, but also a strategy to accumulate strength and continue to forge ahead.
The construction of the Great Wall is an active measure taken in response to the military situation in the northwest frontier, and it is a pre-defense from passive to active. What needs to be emphasized is that the defensive function of the Great Wall is not “not to be captured” as most people think; With a strong army, the invaders will always face the danger of being stopped, ambushed and unable to return home; especially, the Great Wall has strangled all the traffic arteries of Yanshan Mountain and the northern branch of Taihang Mountain. They can harass the interior, but their logistics cannot be transported through the pass, so they cannot gain a foothold in the interior, thereby shaking the foundation of the Chinese Empire. No matter how serious the disease of ringworm and scabies is, it will not be able to penetrate into Gaohuang. This is the fundamental meaning of the existence of the Great Wall.
Cultural significance
In the more than 2,000 years since the Great Wall appeared, with the Great Wall as the center, cultural exchanges between the North and the South have never stopped. During the Warring States Period, King Wuling of Zhao built the Great Wall of Zhao and called on the people of his country to learn “Hufu riding and archery” to carry out cultural exchanges between the north and the south. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was an unprecedented dialogue and exchange between the cultures of the North and the South of the Great Wall. The Qin Quan and imperial edicts found along the Great Wall, the murals of the Helinger Han Tombs in Inner Mongolia, the Shanyu Heqin Wadang, and the famous Zhaojun Tomb are all of them. A witness to the cultural exchange and integration between North and South. In the cultural belt of the Great Wall area, there are many historical sites left over, such as Dunhuang, Yungang Grottoes, Maiji Mountain, Wanfotang Grotto murals and sculptures; Juyongguan Yuntai in Yuan Dynasty, Lugou Bridge in Jin Dynasty, Jinzhongdu, Yuan Dadu ruins and unearthed cultural relics, etc., all reflect the characteristics of cultural exchanges, and also record the cultural splendor in the history of the Chinese nation.
The Great Wall plays an irreplaceable role in helping the world understand China and China going global. As early as the Han Dynasty, the Great Wall also played a great role in promoting and protecting the exchanges between Chinese and Western cultures. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the countries in the Western Regions, he used the Great Wall Fortress as a base to open up and maintain a total length of more than 20,000 miles from Chang’an (now Xi’an), the capital of the Han Dynasty in the east, to Daqin (now the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea) in the west. This is the famous “Silk Road”. For thousands of years, Chinese and foreign friendly missions have frequently traveled on this ancient road, and Chinese and foreign cultures have been integrated and exchanged here, and they are still playing a role. Many foreigners know that China began with the Great Wall, and the Great Wall is the best entry point for people in other countries to understand Chinese history, Chinese culture, and the Chinese nation. The Great Wall, a magnificent building that condenses the wisdom and strength of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, is a precious legacy left in human history. In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization officially designated the Great Wall as a world cultural heritage, which proved that the historical, cultural and humanistic value of the Great Wall has been recognized by the world. The Great Wall belongs to both China and the world.
With its majestic momentum and profound cultural connotation, the Great Wall has attracted Chinese literati and international people of all ages. Many Chinese literati have created a large number of poems, songs, art, music and other literary and artistic works with the Great Wall as the theme. Among them, Tang Dynasty His “frontier poems” are particularly typical. Such as Li Bai’s “the long wind blows for tens of thousands of miles, blowing across the Yumen Pass”, Wang Changling’s “the moon in the Qin Dynasty and the pass in the Han Dynasty, and the people who marched for thousands of miles have not yet returned”, Wang Wei’s “I advise you to have a glass of wine, and there is no old friend when you go out of Yangguan in the west” , Cen Shen’s famous lines such as “Suddenly like a spring breeze overnight, thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloom” have been recited for thousands of years. The lyrics of Meng Jiangnu sending cold clothes are widely sung. In the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and modern times following the Tang Dynasty, there were many famous poets and poets who passed by or climbed the Great Wall. It is still widely circulated, greatly enriching the treasure house of Great Wall culture.
Symbolism
Since the day it was built, the Great Wall has become a symbol of the unification of the Chinese nation. For more than 2,000 years, no one has been able to split the Great Wall cognitively, and thus the Chinese nation cannot be split. For the Chinese, the Great Wall is a symbol of will, courage and strength, symbolizing the great will and strength of the Chinese nation. The long-term singing of “March of the Volunteers” has sublimated the Great Wall into the national spirit and will of diligence, wisdom, perseverance, unity and indestructibility in people’s minds, and enhanced the pride, self-confidence and patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese nation.
As a symbol of the Chinese nation, the Great Wall was naturally formed in the course of history, and was recognized and accepted by the world in the struggle of the Chinese people against imperialist aggression, especially in the struggle of the whole nation against Japanese imperialist aggression. Facing the life and death of the nation, the Great Wall, which symbolizes national defense and national unity, is naturally elevated to a symbol of the entire Chinese nation, arousing the awareness of the entire nation for resistance. The War of Resistance against the Great Wall in 1933 shocked China and the world, and opened the first heroic page in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan. “Get up, people who don’t want to be slaves, build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood.” “March of the Volunteers” sang the common aspirations of all Chinese people; and “Great Wall Ballad” also has its unique artistic appeal, Aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of Chinese people. “March of the Volunteers” later became the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China. People can always feel a kind of patriotic passion when they hear or sing it, because the Great Wall can arouse the deep resonance in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.
In 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly approved the restoration of the legal status of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations. The gift China presented to the United Nations General Assembly is a large tapestry of the Great Wall, which once again shows that the Chinese people and the government have regarded the Great Wall, which marks thousands of years of splendid culture, as a symbol of the Chinese nation. This symbolic meaning has also been recognized by the whole world. accept.
In the two-way historical evolution in which the military’s practical function gradually fades and the cultural and spiritual role continues to increase, the Great Wall’s aesthetic charm has become increasingly apparent. On the one hand, it constantly demonstrates the wisdom and creativity of the Chinese nation to the world, and on the other hand, it also demonstrates the strong will of mankind. and grandeur. The Great Wall is not only a symbol of the Chinese nation, but also a symbol of human civilization, a symbol of peace on earth, and all human beings will benefit from this precious cultural heritage.