Great Wall (simplified Chinese: 万里长城; traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; Pinyin: Wànlĭ Chángchéng; meaning "The City of Ten Thousand Lis") is a famous Chinese city wall that was continuously built of earth and stone. 5th century BC to 16th century AD, to defend the Chinese Empire from attacks by the Xiongnu, Mongols, Turks, and other nomadic tribes from the regions of what is now Mongolia and Manchu Chau. Some sections of the wall were built in the 5th century BC, the most famous of which is the part of the wall ordered by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to be built between 220 BC and 200 BC, located in the south of the city. northerly than the present Great Wall of China built during the Ming Dynasty, and now only few remains remain.
A preliminary study published in 2009 estimated the length of the structure to be 8,850 kilometers (3,948 mi). But according to newly released figures, the Great Wall of China is 21,196 km long, this length is given based on a latest survey. The average height of the wall is 7m above the ground, the top surface of the wall is 5-6m wide on average. The Great Wall of China begins at Shanhai on the east coast of the Bohai Sea, at the border between native China ("land of original China") and Manchuria to Lop Nur in the southeastern part of the People's Autonomous Region. Uighurs in Xinjiang.[1]
overview
A defensive wall of the northern border was built and maintained by many dynasties over various periods of Chinese history. Its main purpose was to protect the Chinese from the emigration of the Mongols and Turks. There are five main passages:
- Southern 208 BC (Qin Dynasty)
- 1st century BC (Han Dynasty)
- 7th century (Sui Dynasty)
- 1138 - 1198 (Southern Song Dynasty)
- 1368 - 1640 (from King Hong Vu to King Van Lich of the Ming Dynasty)
The first main wall section was built during the rule of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty with a short life. This wall was not built by the efforts of a group, but by joining together several sections of the wall of different regions, which were built during the Warring States period. The wall that was joined at that time was made of rammed earth with watchtowers built at regular intervals. It lies further north than the present Great Wall with its easternmost point located in present-day North Korea. Few parts of it remain - photos show long, low mounds.
The court forced the people to work to build the citadel, and the workers were always in danger because they might be attacked by bandits. Because many people died while building the castle, it was given the terrible name, "Earth's Longest Graveyard". Probably about a million workers died while building the wall.[2]
It is estimated that 300,000 soldiers with countless criminals, mandarins, and scholars who disobeyed orders to burn books ... had to do hard labor in the mountains and forests with the same message, the winter was cold, the water was cold. ice, in the summer the air is hot like burning, dusty. There were guard posts in the city, and there was a wide horse-riding road between the forts. I don't know how many lamentations, how many tears of those relatives, no writer and poet can copy them all. In folklore, the sufferings of Manh Khuong are also handed down: "She loved her husband, traveled 10,000 miles to visit her husband who was taken to build a citadel. When she got there, her husband was already dead. Surrounded by only mountains and rocks. Not knowing where to find her husband's body, she despaired, crying for days and nights, crying so much that the city itself had to relent, and automatically separated for her to find her husband's remains."
The next long wall was built by the Han Dynasty[3], the Sui Dynasty, and the Ten Kingdoms period with the same design.[4] It was made of rammed earth with multi-story watchtowers built several miles apart. The city walls have also been heavily damaged and have blended into the surrounding landscape, eroded by wind and rain.
Militarily, these walls are more of a demarcation than a valuable protective fortification. To be sure, China's military strategy does not revolve around retaining the wall.
The present Great Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty, which began around 1368[5] and ended around 1640. An estimated 25,000 watchtowers were built along the wall.[6] In a passage in the Koran, Arab geographers also associate Alexander the Great with the construction of the wall. This wall was built to a greater extent with better materials (hard stone was used on the surfaces and at the top) than the previous one. The first purpose of the wall was to prevent the entry of semi-nomadic outsiders (such as the Mongols under the Altan khan and the Oirats under the command of Esen Taiji) from plundering within China. when they use horses to move; or prevent their return with plunder.
The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty begins at the eastern point at Shanhaiguan (山海关), near Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province near Bohai Bay. Stretching through nine provinces and 100 counties, the last 500 km remain but have become piles of rubble, and now it ends at the western terminus of the historic Jiayuguan (嘉峪关), located in the northwest. Gansu province at the border with the Gobi Desert and the oases of the Silk Road. Jiayuguan was built to welcome travelers along the Silk Road. Although the Great Wall of China ended at Jiayuguan, there were numerous "fire platforms" (烽火台) stretching towards Jiayuguan along the Silk Road. Those observatories used smoke signals to warn of invasion.
In 1644, the Kokes Manchus overcame the wall by persuading an important general, Ngo Tam Que, to open the gates of Shanhai Pass to let the Manchus pass. Legend has it that it took the Manchu army three days to cross the pass. After the Manchus conquered China, the wall became of little strategic value, largely because the Manchus extended their political control far north, even further than the Chinese dynasty. before. See also in the Qing Dynasty (Manchuria).
The last section of the Ming Dynasty wall was actually a military fortification in a number of ways. However, military historians often dismiss the true value of this great wall. It costs a lot of money and effort to build, maintain and close. The money the Ming Dynasty spent on this wall could have been spent on other military capabilities such as buying European-style artillery or rifles. In fact, the wall was of no value in helping to prevent the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
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