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The GREAT WALL of CHINA an Architectural Foray

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The GREAT WALL of CHINA an Architectural Foray

Srishti Dokras

B. Arch. (IDEAS,Nagpur INDIA). Visiting scholar to Adelaide, Australia.


ABSTRACT

2000 years span the beginning and end of the construction period of the wall. The Wall was often built along the mountain ridges for a better defense. Without advanced technology like today, bricks used to build the Wall were carried by labors and ox carts from the foot of the mountain, which cost a great manpower and money. A lot of labors died because of the heavy work load. The walls are the main bodies of the China Great Wall,and Emperor Qin Shihuang's contribution to the design of the Wall is considered to be of great importance as it ensured

peace for the people in the northern part of China against the Huns and established a pattern of defense for future generations. The Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty was built at the expense of many lives.This paper examines the history of the wall and the design and architectural nuances of the wall as present in existing literature.

Key words

Ming Dynasty, Attacks, Towers, Architecture

万里长城 wànlǐchángchéng 'ten-thousand-li-long wall'"the Great Wall is now very, very long".


The Great Wall of China

Standing tall, mighty, and unmoved over millennia, the 4,000 miles (6,500 km) long Great Wall of China is an architectural wonder of epic significance. Snaking along through hills, plains, deserts, and swamps, with an average height of 25 feet and housing 25,000 watch towers (beacons) along the course, this robust man-made barricade requires more than just applause to truly appreciate the engineering and architectural feat that it is. The Great Wall of China, made up of stone and earthen fortifications was built and rebuilt over several generations. The construction was started from scratch by the Qing Dynasty in 5th century BC. Several chains of walls were unified over the centuries as the different warring states came together under a unified empire. However, most of what we see today was built by the Ming Dynasty and continued till the 16th century.

Design of the Great Wall

People have needed places in which to live, work, play, learn, worship, meet, govern, shop, and eat. Architects are responsible for designing these places, whether they are private or public; indoors or out; rooms, buildings, or complexes. Architects are trained in the art and science of building design who develop the concepts for structures and turn those concepts into images and plans.

There is no doubt in my mind that Architects of those days and fluctuating historical time-lines took up the baton to build this wall and made it functional, safe, and economical and one that suited the needs of the people and consequently the Emperor.

Architects must have been involved in all phases of the construction project, from the initial discussion with the Emperor or his Commissioners through the final delivery of the completed structure. Their duties require specific skills—designing, engineering, managing, supervising, and communicating with clients and builders. Architects spend a great deal of time explaining their ideas to clients, construction contractors, and others. Successful architects must be able to communicate their unique vision persuasively. There are primarily three structures that constitute the Great Wall, namely walls, passes, and signal towers. Each is elaborated as under:

Walls: The wall forms the major portion of the entire built structure. It stands to a height ranging between 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters). The width at the base stretches to 21 feet (6.5 meters) and tapers to 19 feet (5.8 meters) at the top. At some places, where the terrain is rugged, natural features like river dikes, mountain cliffs, and gorges have been used instead of human construction.

Passes: Where the Great Wall came across major trade routes, secure passes were built. These crossover points are about 30 feet (10 meters) high, with a width of 15 feet (5 meters) at the top. The passes have access ramps and ladders that were used for getting horses, merchants, and soldiers across both sides. The outer parapet has perforated battlements and the inner parapet had a low wall of 3 feet (1 meter) to prevent people and their horses from tippling down.

Signal Towers: These high bastions placed 18 kilometers apart from each other, and usually located on hilltops were used to transmit military information and communication. Smoke signals were used during the daytime and fire/lantern (beacon) was used in the nights. Some other modes employed were hoisting huge banners, making sound with large clappers, or by firing guns. The lower portion of these towers had restrooms for soldiers, storage compartments, and stables for housing horses, sheep, etc.

The Development of the Great Wall over Centuries


Built along an arc that roughly demarcates Mongolia from China, the Great Wall is the largest ever built structure in terms of mass and surface area. The Chinese had learned the techniques of building heavy-duty walls during the ‘Warring States Period’ of the 5th century BC. The states of Yan, Qi, and Zhao constructed massive fortifications to protect their borders. These walls were built by stuffing earth and gravel within board frames.

When Qin Shi Huang conquered numerous states and unified China under his empire in 221 BC, he demolished previous walls that separated the states and instead ordered the construction of new walls on the northern front to keep away the Mongols. Given the scale and dimensions of the wall, transportation of such large quantities of raw materials was not feasible. Therefore, local resources were heavily used. Stones were used for construction over mountainous areas where they were plenty, while rammed earth gave shape to the walls in the plains.

In the later period, different dynasties like the Han, Jin, and Sui repaired, renovated, or expanded different sections of the Great Wall to serve as the first line of defense from the northern invaders. In 1449, after the Ming army’s defeat at the hands of the Mongols, a massive reconstruction of the Great Wall was ordered. The Mings constructed stronger walls and reinforced previous sections by using stone and bricks. Use of rammed earth as previously prevalent was restricted to a miniscule.


Chinese architecture demonstrates an architectural style that developed over millennia in China, before spreading out to influence architecture all throughout East Asia. Together with European and Arabian architecture, ancient Chinese architecture is an important component of the world architectural system. During its long development, it gradually formed into a style which featured timberwork combining stone carving, rammed earth construction, bucket arch buildings and many other techniques. Industrious Chinese laboring people created many architectural miracles such as the Great Wall, Forbidden City and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

Ancient Chinese architecture was mainly timberwork. Wooden posts, beams, lintels and joists make up the framework of a house. Walls serve as the separation of rooms without bearing the weight of the whole house, which is unique to China. As a famous saying goes, 'Chinese houses will still stand when their walls collapse.' The specialty of wood requires antisepsis methods to be adopted, thus develops into Chinese own architectural painting decoration. Colored glaze roofs, windows with exquisite applique design and beautiful flower patterns on wooden pillars reflect the high-level of the craftsmen's handicraft and their rich imagination.


The layout of a courtyard complex is also unique to China. The main structure is located on the central axis of a court while less-important structures are located to the left and right. The whole layout is symmetrical. Compared with European architectural style which is open and shut, a courtyard is like a hand scroll of painting which should be unfolded little by little. The scenery is different in each courtyard. Even in moving several steps within the court yard, you will be surprised at the changing of prospects. Likewise from the interior of the buildings the view from no two windows is the same.

The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged ever since the solidification of the style in the early imperial period. The decorative details being the main changes.Starting with the Tang dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Japan, Korea, and Mongolia, and a varying amount of influence on the architectural styles of Southeast and South Asia including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam and The Philippines. he Tang dynasty (618–907) of ancient China witnessed many advancements in Chinese science and technology, with various

developments in woodblock printing, timekeeping, mechanical engineering, medicine, structural engineering, cartography, and alchemy.The Tang dynasty (/tɑːŋ/; Chinese: 唐朝 or the Tang Empire was an imperial dynasty of China spanning the 7th to 10th centuries. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a golden age of cosmopolitan culture.[6] Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty.

The Tang capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) was the most populous city in the world in its day. The Tang dynasty was largely a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule, until the An Lushan Rebellion and the decline of central authority in the later half of the dynasty. Many notable innovations occurred under the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became a major influence in Chinese culture, with native

Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, in the 840s the Emperor Wuzong of Tangenacted policies to persecute Buddhism, which subsequently declined in influence. Although the dynasty and central government had gone into decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. The weakened central government largely withdrew from managing the economy, but the country's mercantile affairs stayed intact and commercial trade continued to thrive regardless. However, agrarian rebellions in the latter half of the 9th century resulted in damaging atrocities such as the Guangzhou massacre of 878–879.

Structural engineering In the realm of technical Chinese architecture,during the Tang period, there were also government standard building codes, outlined in the early Tang book of the Yingshan Ling (National Building Law). Fragments of this book have survived in the Tang Lü (The Tang Code), while the Song architectural manual of the Yingzao Fashi (State Building Standards) by Li Jie (1065–1101) in 1103 is the oldest existing technical treatise on Chinese architecture that has survived in full. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (712-756) there were 34,850 registered craftsmen serving the state, managed by the Agency of Palace Buildings (Jingzuo Jian).

Chinese architecture is typified by various features; such as, bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, the incorporation of ideas related to feng shui such as directional hierarchies, a horizontal emphasis, and the allusion to various cosmological, mythological, or other symbolism. Chinese architecture traditionally classifies structures according to type, ranging from pagodas to palaces. In part because of an emphasis on the use of wood, a relatively perishable material, and due to a de-emphasis on major monumental structures built of less-organic but more durable materials, much of the historical knowledge

of Chinese architecture derives from surviving miniature models in ceramic and published planning diagrams and specifications. Some of the architecture of China shows the influence of other types or styles from outside of China, such as the influences on mosque structures originating in the Middle East. Although displaying certain unifying aspects, rather than being completely homogeneous, Chinese architecture has many types of variation based on status or affiliation, such as dependence on whether the structures were constructed for emperors, commoners, or used for religious purposes. Other variations in Chinese architecture are shown in the varying styles associated with different geographic regions and in ethnic architectural design.

The architecture of China is as old as Chinese civilization. From every source of informationliterary, graphic, exemplary—there is strong evidence testifying to the fact that the Chinese have always enjoyed an indigenous system of construction that has retained its principal characteristics from prehistoric times to the present day. Over the vast area from Chinese Turkistan to Japan, from Manchuria to the northern half of French Indochina, the same system of construction

is prevalent; and this was the area of Chinese cultural influence. That this system of construction could perpetuate itself for more than four thousand years over such a vast territory and still remain a living architecture, retaining its principal characteristics in spite of repeated foreign invasions—military, intellectual, and spiritual—is a phenomenon comparable only to the continuity of the civilization of which it is an integral part.

Throughout the 20th century, Chinese architects have attempted to combine traditional Chinese designs into modern architecture (usually government), with great success. Moreover, the pressure for urban development throughout contemporary China required higher speed of construction and higher floor area ratio, which means that in the great cities the demand for traditional Chinese buildings, which are normally less than 3 levels, has declined in favor of modern architecture. However, the traditional skills of Chinese architecture, including major and minor carpentry, masonry, and stonemasonry, are still applied to the construction of vernacular architecture in the vast rural area in China. Chinese architechture included great wall of China would have encompassed all the villages of the Hongshan culture. As a sacred landscape, the center might also have attracted supplicants from even further afield.


Enclosure


In much of traditional Chinese architecture, buildings or building complexes take up an entire property but enclose open spaces within themselves. These enclosed spaces come in two forms, the:

Courtyard (): The use of open courtyards is a common feature in many types of Chinese architectures. This is best exemplified in the Siheyuan, which has consisted of an empty space surrounded by buildings connected with one another either directly or through verandas. • "Sky well" (天井): Although large open courtyards are less commonly found in southern Chinese architecture, the concept of an "open space" surrounded by buildings, which is seen in northern courtyard complexes, can be seen in the southern building structure known as the "sky well". This structure is essentially a relatively enclosed courtyard formed from the intersections of closely spaced buildings and offer small opening to the sky through the roof space from the floor up.

These enclosures serve in temperature regulation and in venting the building complexes. Northern courtyards are typically open and facing the south to allow the maximum exposure of the building windows and walls to the sun while keeping the cold northern winds out. Southern sky wells are relatively small and serves to collect rain water from the roof tops. They perform the same duties as the Roman impluvium while restricting the amount of sunlight that enters the building. Sky wells also serve as vents for rising hot air, which draws cool air from the lower stories of the house and allows for exchange of cool air with the outside.

The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC.[20] During this time and the subsequent Warring States period, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan, and Zhongshan[21][22] all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.


REVIVAL the Ming era.The extent of the Ming Empire and its walls


The Great Wall concept was revived again under the Ming in the 14th century, and following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper hand over the Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Yellow River.

Unlike the earlier fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. Up to 25,000 watchtowers are estimated to have been constructed on the wall. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong. Qi Jiguang between 1567 and 1570 also repaired

and reinforced the wall, faced sections of the ram-earth wall with bricks and constructed 1,200 watchtowers from Shanhaiguan Pass to Changping to warn of approaching Mongol raiders. During the 1440s–1460s, the Ming also built a so-called "Liaodong Wall". Similar in function to the Great Wall (whose extension, in a sense, it was), but more basic in construction, the Liaodong Wall enclosed the agricultural heartland of the Liaodong province, protecting it against potential incursions by Jurched-Mongol Oriyanghan from the northwest and the Jianzhou Jurchens from the north. While stones and tiles were used in some parts of the Liaodong Wall, most of it was in fact simply an earth dike with moats on both sides.

Towards the end of the Ming, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Even after the loss of all of Liaodong, the Ming army held the heavily fortified Shanhai Pass, preventing the Manchus from conquering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen to Li Zicheng's rebels. Before this time, the Manchus had crossed the Great Wall multiple times

to raid, but this time it was for conquest. The gates at Shanhai Pass were opened on May 25 by the commanding Ming general, Wu Sangui, who formed an alliance with the Manchus, hoping to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and eventually defeated both the rebel-founded Shun dynasty and the remaining Ming resistance, establishing the Qing dynasty rule over all of China.

Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so constructions on the Great Wall were discontinued. On the other hand, the socalled Willow Palisade, following a line similar to that of the Ming Liaodong Wall, was constructed by the Qing rulers in Manchuria. Its purpose, however, was not defense but rather to prevent Han Chinese migration into Manchuria.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/great-wall-of-china-history-1495528 The Great Wall is one of the country's most enduring symbols but the history of the Great Wall of China is more convoluted than most people realize. How Long Did It Take to Build the Great Wall?

It's a question that everyone is curious about and is probably based on the general assumption that the Great Wall was built all in one go. But that's not the case. The Great Wall would be more aptly called the Great Walls - as what remains today is a series of walls left over from several dynastic eras in ancient China.

As you'll read below, the Great Wall - from its inception to what we see today - was under various forms of construction for over two thousand years. What Is the Great Wall?

It is commonly thought that the Great Wall is one long wall that runs from the East China Sea inland along the mountains north of Beijing. In fact, the Great Wall winds its way across China covering over 5,500 miles (8,850km) and is made up of a number of interconnecting walls spanning China that different dynasties and warlords constructed over the years. The Great Wall that you see in most photos is the Ming Dynasty-era wall, constructed after 1368. However, the "Great Wall" refers to the many sections of wall that were built over 2,000 years.


Early Beginnings


In c656 B.C., the Chu State wall, called "The Rectangle Wall" was built to protect the Chus from strong neighbors to the north. This part of the wall resides in modernday Henan province. This early wall actually connected small cities along the border of the Chu state.

Other states continued the practice of building walls on their borders to protect themselves from unwanted intruders until about 221 B.C when during the Qin Dynasty, the Great Wall, as we know it now, began to take its shape.


Qin Dynasty: The "First" Great Wall


Qin Shi Huang unified China into a centralized feudal state. To protect his newly established state, Qin decided a large defense barricade was needed. He sent one million soldiers and laborers to work on the project that would last nine years. The new wall utilized existing walls built since under the Chu State. The new, Great Wall, spanned northern China starting in modern-day Inner Mongolia. Little of this wall remains and was located much further north than the present-day (Ming era) wall.


Han Dynasty: The Great Wall Is Extended


During the subsequent Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 24), China saw battle with the Huns and the wall was extended using an existing network of older walls another 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) into western China, modern Gansu province. This period was the most intense building period and the longest stretch of wall ever built.


Northern and Southern Dynasties: More Walls Added


During this period, from A.D. 386-581, four dynasties built and added to the Great Wall.

The Northern Wei (386-534) added about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of the wall in Shanxi province. The Eastern Wei (534-550) only added an additional 75 kilometers (47 miles). The Northern Qi (550-577) dynasty saw the longest extension of the wall since Qin and Han times, about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles). And the Northern Zhou (557581) dynastic ruler Emperor Jingdi renovated the Great Wall in 579.

Ming Dynasty: The Wall's Importance Reaches a New Height


During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall became an important line of defense again. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang began renovations at the outset of his reign. He assigned his son Zhu Di and one of his generals to repair the existing wall and build forts and watchtowers. The Great Wall of the Ming was ultimately a way to keep raiding Mongols from the north from invading and ransacking Beijing. For the next 200 years, the wall was fortified ultimately covering 7,300 kilometers (4,536 miles).


The Wall Today


The Ming wall construction is what most tourists find most interesting today. It begins at Shanhai Pass in Hebei province and ends in the west at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu province at the edge of the Gobi Desert. There is not much to see in the last 500 kilometers (310 miles) as nothing remains but broken stones and rubble but the wall (in pre-Ming form) can be traced as you drive through Gansu Province from Jiayuguan to the Yumenguan, the entrance to "China" along the Silk Road under the Han Dynasty.


The Great Wall of China at Badaling


While portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many other locations the Wall is in disrepair. Those parts might serve as a village playground or a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads.[59] Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism, while inscribed bricks were pilfered and sold on the market for up to 50 renminbi. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction. A 2012 report by the National Cultural Heritage Administration states that 22% of the Ming Great Wall has disappeared, while 1,961 km (1,219 mi)

of wall have vanished. More than 60 km (37 mi) of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms. In some places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than 5 m (16 ft 5 in) to less than 2 m (6 ft 7 in). Various square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion. In 2014 a portion of the wall near the border of Liaoning and Hebei province was repaired with concrete. The work has been much criticized.

Materials Used in the Great Wall


Sections closer to Beijing, the throne of the Ming dynasty, were especially reinforced to the point of making them impenetrable by any means. The walls were plastered with lime and tiles to add strength. Stones were cut into rectangular blocks and used in areas like the foundation, gateways and brims. Small gaps measuring 30 cmx20 cm were provided in the upper portion of the walls for.use.during.battles.

Built primarily with construction material available nearby the site, we find limestone blocks in use near the Beijing area. In other places, it could be burnt bricks or granite. At many places, the blocks are cemented together with a mix of rice and egg-white. In the western desert areas, as raw materials are quite scarce, rammed earth and wooden planks is used.

The History and Development of The Great Wall of China


A first set of walls, designed to keep Mongol nomads out of China, were built of earth and stones in wood frames during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE). Some additions and modifications were made to these simple walls over the next millennium but the major construction of the “modern” walls began in the Ming Dynasty (1388-1644 CE).The Great Wall of China is not a continuous wall but is a collection of short walls that often follow the crest of hills on the southern edge of the Mongolian plain. The Great Wall of China, known as “long Wall of 10,000 Li” in China, extends about 8,850 kilometers (5,500 miles).

The Ming fortifications were established in new areas from the Qin walls. They were up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) high, 15 to 30 feet (4.6 to 9.1 meters) wide at the base, and from 9 to 12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 meters) wide at the top (wide enough for marching troops or wagons). At regular intervals, guard stations and watch towers were established.


Since the Great Wall was discontinuous, Mongol invaders had no trouble breaching the wall by going around it, so the wall proved unsuccessful and was eventually abandoned. Additionally, a policy of mollification during the subsequent Ch’ing Dynasty that sought to pacify the Mongol leaders through religious conversion also helped to limit the need for the wall.


Through Western contact with China from the 17th through 20th centuries, the legend of the Great Wall of China grew along with tourism to the wall. Restoration and rebuilding took place in the 20th century and in 1987 the Great Wall of China was made a World Heritage Site. Today, a portion of the Great Wall of China about 50 miles (80 km) from Beijing receives thousands of tourists each day.

The Great Wall has been described as the longest cemetery on Earth. The human cost of the wall construction is huge. It has been estimated by some authors that over one million people died building the wall during the Qin Dynasty alone. Human remains have been found under parts of the Wall by archaeologists. According to astronauts Eugene Cernan and Ed Lu, the Great Wall is visible from the lower part of low Earth orbit, but only under very favorable conditions. Different

claims are made for the factoid that the Great Wall is visible from the Moon. Gone are the invading Tatars (who broke through the Great Wall in 1550), Mongols(whose raids kept Sun's ancestors occupied) and Manchus (who poured through uncontested in 1644). When Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered construction of the Great Wall around 221B.C., the labor force that built the wall was made up largely of soldiers and convicts. It is said that as many as 400,000 people died during the wall's construction; many of these workers were buried within the wall itself.

The Great Wall of China is an ancient series of walls and fortifications, totaling more than 13,000 miles in length, located in northern China. Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of China and its long and vivid history, the Great Wall was originally conceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century B.C. as a means of preventing incursions from barbarian nomads. The best-known and best-preserved

section of the Great Wall was built in the 14th through 17th centuries A.D., during the Ming dynasty. Though the Great Wall never effectively prevented invaders from entering China, it came to function as a powerful symbol of Chinese civilization’s enduring strength. Qin Dynasty Construction

Though the beginning of the Great Wall of China can be traced to the third century B.C., many of the fortifications included in the wall date from hundreds of years earlier, when China was divided into a number of individual kingdoms during the so-called Warring States Period. Around 220 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China under the Qin Dynasty, ordered that earlier fortifications between states be removed and a number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a single system that would extend for more than 10,000 li (a li is about one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.


Construction of the “Wan Li Chang Cheng,” or 10,000-Li-Long Wall, was one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken by any civilization. The famous Chinese general Meng Tian directed the project, and was said to have used a massive army of soldiers, convicts and commoners as workers. Made mostly of earth and stone, the wall stretched from the China Sea port of Shanhaiguan over 3,000 miles west into Gansu province. In some strategic areas, sections of the wall overlapped for maximum security (including the Badaling stretch, north of Beijing, that was later restored during the Ming Dynasty).

From a base of 15 to 50 feet, the Great Wall rose some 15-30 feet high and was topped by ramparts 12 feet or higher; guard towers were distributed at intervals along it.

Did you know? When Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered construction of the Great Wall around 221 B.C., the labor force that built the wall was made up largely of soldiers and convicts. It is said that as many as 400,000 people died during the wall's construction; many of these workers were buried within the wall itself.


Great Wall of China Through the Centuries


With the death of Qin Shi Huang and the fall of the Qin Dynasty, much of the Great Wall fell into disrepair. After the fall of the later Han Dynasty, a series of frontier tribes seized control in northern China. The most powerful of these was the Northern Wei Dynasty, which repaired and extended the existing wall to defend against attacks from other tribes.The Bei Qi kingdom (550– 577) built or repaired more than 900 miles of wall, and the short-lived but effective Sui Dynasty (581–618) repaired and extended the Great Wall of China a number of times.

With the fall of the Sui and the rise of the Tang Dynasty, the Great Wall lost its importance as a fortification, as China had defeated the Tujue tribe to the north and expanded past the original frontier protected by the wall.During the Song Dynasty, the Chinese were forced to withdraw under threat from the Liao and Jin peoples to the north, who took over many areas on both sides of the Great Wall. The powerful Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty (1206-1368), established by Genghis Khan, eventually controlled all of China, parts of Asia and sections of Europe.

Though the Great Wall held little importance for the Mongols as a military fortification, soldiers were assigned to man the wall in order to protect merchants and caravans traveling along the lucrative Silk Road trade routes established during this period.

Despite its long history, the Great Wall of China as it is exists today was constructed mainly during the mighty Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Like the Mongols, the early Ming rulers had little interest in building border fortifications, and wall building was limited before the late 15th century. In 1421, the Ming emperor Yongle proclaimed China’s new capital, Beijing, on the site of the former Mongol city of Dadu. Under the strong hand of the Ming rulers, Chinese culture flourished, and the period saw an immense amount of construction in addition to the Great Wall, including bridges, temples and pagodas.

The construction of the Great Wall as it is known today began around 1474. After an initial phase of territorial expansion, Ming rulers took a largely defensive stance, and their reformation and extension of the Great Wall was key to this strategy.

The Ming wall extended from the Yalu River in Liaoning Province to the eastern bank of the Taolai River in Gansu Province, and winded its way from east to west through today’s Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu. Starting west of Juyong Pass, the Great Wall was split into south and north lines, respectively named the Inner and Outer Walls. Strategic “passes” (i.e., fortresses) and gates were placed along the wall; the Juyong, Daoma and Zijing passes, closest to Beijing, were named the Three Inner Passes, while further west were Yanmen, Ningwu and Piantou, the Three Outer Passes. All six passes were heavily garrisoned during the Ming period and considered vital to the defense of the capital.


Significance of the Great Wall of China


In the mid-17th century, the Manchus from central and southern Manchuria broke through the Great Wall and encroached on Beijing, eventually forcing the fall of the Ming Dynasty and beginning of the Qing Dynasty.


Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the Great Wall emerged as the most common emblem of China for the Western world, and a symbol both physical – as a manifestation of Chinese strength – and a psychological representation of the barrier maintained by the Chinese state to repel foreign influences and exert control over its citizens.

Today, the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in human history. In 1987, UNESCO designated the Great Wall a World Heritage site, and a popular claim that emerged in the 20th century holds that it is the only manmade structure that is visible from space. Over the years, roadways have been cut through the wall in various points, and many sections have deteriorated after centuries of neglect. The best-known section of the Great Wall of China – Badaling, located 43 miles (70 km) northwest of Beijing – was rebuilt in the late 1950s, and attracts thousands of national and foreign tourists every day.


The Great Wall Structure


The Great Wall is not an individual rampart but an integrated defense system formed by fortifications including ramparts, watch towers, beacon towers, barrier walls, battle walls, fortresses and passes, etc. The defense system is commanded and controlled by different levels of military command systems.

As a defense system, the construction of the Great Wall has been represented in different oddity structures because of the complicated landforms. It is an infrequency project in ancient world which shows the brightness and talent of Chinese ancestors. Pass cities are established at important junctions, passes and connections of mountain and sea which is convenient for transportation and defense, and watch towers are set to store weapons and food as well as the accommodation for the soldiers; beacon towers were built for the need of military vigilance and information communication; ramparts and passes are also the important part of the Great Wall.


Ramparts


Ramparts are the main body of the Great Wall structure. The architectural form, structure type and material use of the rampart would differ according to various topographical conditions, building conditions and technologies.


Watch Towers


As a kind of defensive construction, the hollow watch tower was creatively built after Qi Jiguang was named Garrison Commander of rampart whereupon battles could be easily supported. On each of the four sides of the hollow watch tower, there is an arrow window. The flat shape of the watch tower is square or rectangle, about 12 to 15 meters (49.2 ft) high. Some watch towers are taller. Their length and width are different according to the terrain and the need to

defense and offense. The watch tower often has two or three floors. The top floor is in the air with a battlement and a movable wooden watch tower for shooting and the patrol’s warning and communication with smoke and fire, lanterns and flags. The middle floor was for the defender to shoot the enemy. In the wall there are arrow windows and crossbow loopholes for watching and shooting to all directions. The base floor was the boarding house for the soldier, and also could store weapons, provisions, drinking water and other implements of war.


Beacon Towers

Beacon Towers are also called “fire mound”, “beacon watch tower” and “wolves’ dung mound” with a shape of square, rectangle or circle. They were built for the need of military vigilance and information communication. They have a longer history than the Great Wall and served as an important part of the Great Wall defense system.


Barrier Walls


The barrier wall is a partition wall of about 2 meters (6.56ft) high and 1.5 meters (4.92ft) wide built on the rampart. It could prevent the enemy who had broken through a rampart from intruding further sideward. When the enemy got upon a rampart in a battle, the defender would make use of shelters to fight back and shoot through shooting holes in the barrier wall. The barrier wall was always built on the flanks of the watch tower located in the commanding height. It was a flank battlefield.


Battle Walls


The battle wall was always constructed on an advantageous terrain 50 to 100 meters (164.05 ft to 328.1 ft) outside the chief rampart that holds a special strategic position. If necessary several battle walls would be constructed a place. The battle wall was always made of bricks and stones, and constructed on highland in order to force the enemy to enter the battle before having got near the chief rampart. For occupying the highland where the battle wall was located, the enemy had to make upward attack and thus would experience a heavy lost.


Fortresses and Passes


Passes along the Great Wall were the most important strongholds for stationing troops, which were built in the place of strategic importance, hence the saying of “a man on guard is more than ten thousand of men”. Passes were generally built on lofty and precipitous peaks where mountain mouths could be easily blocked. Some passes were built in deep valleys and clutched the strategic gorge. Only by setting passes in strategic places could the defender successfully fight against the enemy of larger quantity. Most passes of the Great Wall had a pass city. Passes and pass cities of relative large scale were the backbone strategic strongholds in the Great Wall defense system. When the Great Wall was partially broken through, passes determinedly kept by the defender would still bluff off enemy.


Pass cities of the Great Wall passes are mainly composed of square and polygon ramparts and city gates, city towers, city platforms and urn cities. Relative big pass cities in the plain still had moats and net cities around them. Around the extremely important passes there would be accessory fortresses serving for a peripheral battlefield.


Rampart of Great Wall

Architecture and construction work, connecting strategic mountain passes, towers and beacon fire sites into an integrated unit. The wall is built in accordance with the terrain. Its width and height vary from place to place. Take Juyongguan Pass and Badaling for instance. The body of the wall here averages 7 or 8 meters in height. It is 6 or 7 meters thick at the base. The top is 5 meters wide. The wall is therefore narrow at top and broad at base.

Inside the body of the wall, not far away: is an arched gate, where stone or brick paved steps lead one to the top. The top is built with three or four layers of bricks, paved into road, 4-5 meters wide, which accommodates five horse or 10 persons abreast. A brick wall--one meter high, is erected inside the wall top, known as nver qiang or parapet. Outside is a 2 meter high battlement, each of which contains a small opening on top to watch over the movement of approaching

invaders. Another small opening is found below from which arrows can be discharged. On the wall in the section of Shalingkou Pass (Jinshanling), Luanping, Hebei, we find layer and layer of battlements on two sides Of major watch towers, where observatory openings and arrowdischarging openings are found. This is used to enable defenders to climb to the top Of the wall and make a last-ditch stand incase the enemy has broken through the defence. To avoid washing away of wall by rain,drainage and spouting openings have been installed.

Different kinds of towers


On the wall we can find several types of towers.


One is called qiang tai, as high as the wall itself. It is projected prominently outside the wall, whose outer edge is a battlement. On the tower is berth, which provides shelter to soldiers from wind and rain.


Another is called di tai or di lou, a two-storied building. on the ground floor there are a dozen or so archedrooms -- built of bricks and used as barrack for an equal number Of soldiers. In giving battle, many soldiers can take cover here during offensive. The upper floor consists of battlements and rooms built of bricks or combination of wooden pillars and brick walls. Beacon fires can be lighted here, as there are facilities for this. A third type is called zhan tai, located in strategic places. Considerable supplies of arrows and bows,cannons and ammunitions are stored here. Defence works surrounding the towers are more complete and can enable soldiers to put up a strong resistance.


From the Moon


One of the earliest known references to the myth that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquary William Stukeley. Stukeley wrote that, "This mighty wall [Hadrian's wall] of four score miles [130 km] in length is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the Moon."[64] The claim was also mentioned by Henry Norman in 1895 where he states "besides its age it enjoys the reputation of being the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the Moon." The issue of "canals" on Mars was prominent in the late 19th century and may have led to the belief that long, thin objects were visible from space. The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the moon also appears in 1932's Ripley's Believe It or Not! strip and in Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels.


BRICKS:There might to be approximately 3,873,000,000 individual bricks used to build the


Great Wall of China, though the precise number remains unresolved. What is the Great Wall of China made of? Generally speaking, most bricks of the wall measure 0.37 meters (1.2 feet) long, 0.15 meters (0.5 feet) wide and 0.09 meters (0.3 feet) thick. As a rough estimate - if all the bricks are place end to end, the bricks would loop 36 times around the equator. The construction materials of the Great Wall of China were mainly earth, wood, stones, sand, and bricks, used depending on construction era and construction site with different climate and local materials.

Due to the large quantity of materials required to construct the wall, the builders usually obtained materials from local sources. When building over mountain ranges, the stones of the mountain were used, while in the plains, earth rammed into solid blocks was used in construction. In the desert, even the branches of reeds and red willows were layered with sand. Wooden planks were used as the flank wall in some sections. With the development of brick-making techniques, bricks were used from the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) onwards.


Earth, Woods, Branches, Sand and Stones


– Construction Materials of Great Wall before Sui (7 Cen. BC – 618 AD)


As earthen buildings could withstand the strength of cold weapons like swords and spears, and as earth suited the low technology of productivity before the Sui Dynasty (518 – 618 AD), most Great Wall sections of that time were built by ramming earth between board frames. Some of the walls were rammed with earth, lime, sand and small stones. In the desert, some walls were rammed with reeds and red willows and sand layer by layer. At sites around Dunhuang City in Gansu Province, Yulin City in Shaanxi Province and Baotou City in Inner Mongolia, the Great Wall of Qin, Han and Zhao dynasties can be found. The Wall of Zhao was built during the Warring States Period using board frames, and the earth layers can still be clearly seen.

Some sections were built with sun-dried mud brick covered with yellow clay as protection. This kind of construction was usually used in areas with a dry climate. The Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province is an example of this.


Earth, Bricks and Stones


– Construction Materials of Great Wall during Tang and Song (618 – 1279 AD)


Brick-making techniques developed greatly during Tang and Song Dynasties. However, bricks were quite expensive to produce and distribute at that time, therefore construction could not use them solely. Therefore, passes and the wall around the passes were built with the bricks on the exterior and yellow mud filling the body of the wall. Some places also used stones to build the wall during that period. This kind of Great Wall was more solid than walls built with sun-dried mud brick or rammed earth.


Bricks and Stones – Construction Materials of Great Wall of Ming (1368 – 1644 AD) During the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 AD), brick-making techniques had a great progress and both quantity and quality of production improved markedly. Since then, Great Wall sections were widely built with bricks, with lime mortar and sticky rice used to reinforce the bricks. The wall in this period not only resisted the invasions of nomadic tribes, but also protected the terrain and people from cold weapons and some firearms.

In addition, some walls were built along the mountains where there were plenty of stones available. Therefore locally available stones were used to build the wall. The stone walls were quite firm to defend against enemies and withstand natural erosion. There is a wall near Badaling section made of huge stones with lime mortar and sticky rice in its crevices to reinforce the wall.

Stone, cut in rectangular shapes was mostly used to build the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Bricks were more advanced materials than earth and stone as their small size and lightweight made them convenient to carry and thus quickened the speed of construction. Bricks are also the ideal material to bear weight. Therefore, bricks were used as the upper layers of the walls to resist attack from various weapons. For further ease of construction, different shapes of brick were also fired and made to fit into different locations. How many bricks were used to construct the Great Wall?

The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the moon has been debunked many times, but is still ingrained in popular culture. The wall is a maximum 9.1 m (29 ft 10 in) wide, and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimeters for the human eye, meters for large telescopes) only an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings which is 110 km (70 mi) or more in diameter (1 arc-minute) would be visible to the unaided eye from the Moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km (238,851 mi). The apparent width of the Great Wall from the Moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 3 km (2 mi) away. To see the wall from the Moon would require spatial resolution 17,000 times better than normal (20/20) vision.a Unsurprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed to have seen the Great Wall from the Moon.


The Great Wall https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/438 In c. 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications were joined together to form a united defence system against invasions from the north. Construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. Its historic and strategic importance is matched only by its architectural significance.


Brief synthesis


The Great Wall was continuously built from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD on the northern border of the country as the great military defence project of successive Chinese Empires, with a total length of more than 20,000 kilometers. The Great Wall begins in the east at Shanhaiguan in Hebei province and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu province to the west. Its main body consists of walls, horse tracks, watch towers, and shelters on the wall, and includes fortresses and passes along the Wall.


The Great Wall reflects collision and exchanges between agricultural civilizations and nomadic civilizations in ancient China. It provides significant physical evidence of the far-sighted political strategic thinking and mighty military and national defence forces of central empires in ancient China, and is an outstanding example of the superb military architecture, technology and

art of ancient China. It embodies unparalleled significance as the national symbol for safeguarding the security of the country and its people. Criterion (i): The Great Wall of the Ming is, not only because of the ambitious character of the undertaking but also the perfection of its construction, an absolute masterpiece. The only work built by human hands on this planet that can be seen from the moon, the Wall constitutes, on the vast scale of a continent, a perfect example of architecture integrated into the landscape.


Criterion (ii): During the Chunqiu period, the Chinese imposed their models of construction and organization of space in building the defence works along the northern frontier. The spread of Sinicism was accentuated by the population transfers necessitated by the Great Wall.


Criterion (iii): That the Great Wall bear exceptional testimony to the civilizations of ancient China is illustrated as much by the rammed-earth sections of fortifications dating from the Western Han that are conserved in the Gansu province as by the admirable and universally acclaimed masonry of the Ming period. Criterion (iv): This complex and diachronic cultural property is an outstanding and unique example of a military architectural ensemble which served a single strategic purpose for 2000 years, but whose construction history illustrates successive advances in defence techniques and adaptation to changing political contexts.


Criterion (vi): The Great Wall has an incomparable symbolic significance in the history of China. Its purpose was to protect China from outside aggression, but also to preserve its culture from the customs of foreign barbarians. Because its construction implied suffering, it is one of the essential references in Chinese literature, being found in works like the "Soldier's Ballad" of Tch'en Lin (c. 200 A.D.) or the poems of Tu Fu (712-770) and the popular novels of the Ming period.

Integrity


The Great Wall integrally preserves all the material and spiritual elements and historical and cultural information that carry its outstanding universal value. The complete route of the Great Wall over 20,000 kilometers, as well as elements constructed in different historical periods which constitute the complicated defence system of the property, including walls, fortresses, passes and beacon towers, have been preserved to the present day. The building methods of the Great Wall in different times and places have been integrally maintained, while the unparalleled national and cultural significance of the Great Wall to China is still recognised today. The visual integrity of the Wall at Badaling has been impacted negatively by construction of tourist facilities and a cable car.

Authenticity


The existing elements of the Great Wall retain their original location, material, form, technology and structure. The original layout and composition of various constituents of the Great Wall defence system are maintained, while the perfect integration of the Great Wall with the topography, to form a meandering landscape feature, and the military concepts it embodies have all been authentically preserved. The authenticity of the setting of the Great Wall is vulnerable to construction of inappropriate tourism facilities.


Protection and management requirements


The various components of the Great Wall have all been listed as state or provincial priority protected sites under the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics. The Regulations on the Protection of the Great Wallpromulgated in 2006 is the specific legal document for the conservation and management of the Great Wall. The series of Great Wall Conservation Plans, which is being constantly extended and improved and covers various levels from master plan to provincial plans and specific plans, is an important guarantee of the comprehensive conservation and management of the Great Wall. China’s national administration on cultural heritage, and provincial cultural heritage administrations where sections of the Great Wall are located, are responsible for guiding the local governments on the implementation of conservation and management measures for the Great Wall.


The Outstanding Universal Value of the Great Wall and all its attributes must be protected as a whole, so as to fulfill authentic, integral and permanent preservation of the property. To this end, considering the characteristics of the Great Wall, including its massive scale, transprovincial distribution and complicated conditions for its protection and conservation, management procedures and regulations, conservation interventions for the original fabric and setting, and tourism management shall be more systematic, scientific, classified, and prioritized. An efficient comprehensive management system, as well as specific conservation measures for the original fabric and setting will be established, while a harmonious relationship featuring sustainable development between heritage protection and social economy and culture can be formed. Meanwhile, the study and dissemination of the rich connotation of the property’s Outstanding Universal Value shall be enhanced, so as to fully and sustainably realize the social and cultural benefits of the Great Wall.

From low Earth orbit

A satellite image of a section of the Great Wall in northern Shanxi, running diagonally from lower left to upper right and not to be confused with the more prominent river running from upper left to lower right. The region pictured is 12 km × 12 km (7 mi × 7 mi).

A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low Earth orbit (an altitude of as little as 160 km (100 mi)). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects.[70] Other authors have argued that due to limitations of the optics of the eye and the spacing of photoreceptors on the retina, it is impossible to see the wall with the naked eye, even from low orbit, and would require visual acuity of 20/3 (7.7 times better than normal).[69]


Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." U.S. Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several U.S. astronauts. Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 100 to 200 miles [160 to 320 km] high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look."

In 2001, Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: "I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they've seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. ... I've asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I've talked to didn't see it." In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that

he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between 160 and 320 km (100 and 200 mi), the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye. In an attempt to further clarify things, the ESA published a picture of a part of the "Great Wall" photographed from low orbit. However, in a press release a week later, they acknowledged that the "Great Wall" in the picture was actually a river.

Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the China Daily later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from 'space' with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look. However, the resolution of a camera can be much higher than the human visual system, and the optics much better, rendering photographic evidence irrelevant to the issue of whether it is visible to the naked eye.

Can You See The Great Wall of China from The Moon?

For some reason, some urban legends tend to get stated and never disappear. This legend even appears as a erroneous Trivial Pursuit question. The legend? Many are familiar with the claim that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space or from the moon with the naked eye. This is simply not true.

The myth of being able to see the Great Wall from space originated in Richard Halliburton’s 1938 (long before humans saw the earth from space) book Second Book of Marvels said that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the moon.


From a low orbit of the earth, many artificial objects are visible on the earth, such as highways, ships in the sea, railroads, cities, fields of crops, and even some individual buildings. While at a low orbit, the Great Wall of China can certainly be seen from space but it is not unique in that regard. However, when leaving the earth’s orbit and acquiring an altitude of more than a few thousand miles, no man-made objects are visible at all. NASA says, “The Great Wall can barely be seen from the Shuttle, so it would not be possible to see it from the Moon with the naked eye.” Thus, it’d be tough to spot the Great Wall of China or any other object from the moon. Furthermore, from the moon, even the continents are barely visible.


Regarding the origination of the story The Straight Dope’s pundit Cecil Adams says, “Nobody knows exactly where the story got started, although some think it was speculation by some


bigshot during an after-dinner speech in the early days of the space program.”

NASA astronaut Alan Bean is quoted in Tom Burnam’s book More Misinformation…

“The only thing you can see from the moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white (clouds), some blue (ocean), patches of yellow (deserts), and every once in a while some green vegetation. No man-made object is visible on this scale. In fact, when first leaving earth’s orbit and only a few thousand miles away, no man-made object is visible at that point either.”

If the great wall is 13, 170 miles long (According to here: How long is the Great Wall of China, Length, World Leaders Visited) and your average walking speed is 3.1 miles per hour, then it would take about... 4248.38 hours, or 177.016 days of non-stop walking



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