The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is one of the world's most easily recognized structures. Like the panda bear and the Forbidden City, the Great Wall is a symbol that is exclusively Chinese. Although its construction required great human sacrifice, it now stands as a proud monument, symbolizing power, strength, and will.
Origins
The Great Wall is the world's longest manmade structure, and one of the world's oldest. Construction began over 2,500 years ago during the Zhou dynasty, around the 7th century BC, when officials saw the need for defensive walls. Later, these defensive walls were joined together to make a make bigger, stronger, and unified Great Wall.
Rebuilding and and fortifying the wall took place during the Qin dynasty, and lasted from 220-210 BC (Ebrey 65). At that time, Qin Shi Huangdi was engaged in fighting the nomadic tribes to the north, without much success. In order to save his human and economic resources, which were being lost in the ongoing battle, Qin Shi Huangdi ordered the construction of an immense defensive wall. Feeling that the a massive wall would help preserve the empire, hundreds of thousands of men were commanded to subject themselves to extremely tough working conditions. Living and working across rugged terrain, builders connected existing wall and added huge stretches of new wall using whatever local resources could be found, such as, rocks, clay, dirt, and mud to build the Great Wall. It may be important to note that the rammed earth process was used to erect the walls where rocks were scarce (Slavicek). Credit should be given to the workers who undertook this massive building project. Wall-building during this period is now viewed as a crime against the people.
Subsequent dynasties didn’t keep wall in constant repair because the cost outweighed the value, and it was not very effective at keeping intruders out.
Ming Dynasty
Over a fifteen centuries after the Qin dynasty erected the Great Wall to protect against nomadic intruders, the Ming dynasty was also struggling with nomads, the Mongols. As an answer to the way to defend themselves and their territory, the Ming dynasty played a major role in the construction and reconstruction of the Great Wall. Prior to taking on this massive project, original Ming rulers tried the use offensive attacks balanced with trade to control the Mongols.
In 1449, Emperor Yingzong lead an army into Mongol territory, allowing himself to be captured and his followers to be slaughtered. Instead of rescuing Yingzang or paying a ransom for his return, the Ming installed a new emperor. This led to a disagreement between officials. Subsequent discussion took place on how to control the Mongols, either reject all contact or increase trade. As this debate went on for decades, the Mongols grew stronger.
In 1542, Altan Khan led raids into China. During a single month, Khan captured or killed over 200,000 Chinese. During the raids he stole over a million head of horse and cattle and burned down several thousand houses. Because of these events, the Ming decided it was in China's best interest to fortify their defense, and they invested heavily in reconstructing the Great Wall (Ebrey 210).
It wasn't until centuries later when the European explorers and missionaries arrived that the Chinese realized how magnificent their wall was. European missionary and scholar Ferdinand Verbiest described how impressed he was with it saying, “The seven wonders of the world put together are not comparable to this work; and all Fame hath published concerning it among the Europeans, comes far short of what I myself have seen,” (Ebrey 208).
Facts about The Great Wall
-The Wall averages twenty-five feet high and wide (Ebrey).
-The Wall spans 1,500 miles from its westernmost point at Jiayuguan, in Gansu, to its easternmost point at Shanhaiguan, near Beijing (Ebrey).
-Scientists, using the most recent infrared and GPS technologies, conclude that the walls stretch over 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is figure includes 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defense barriers such as mountains and rivers (BBC).
-To understand just how far this is, I compiled the following measurements from UVU (approximately): UVU to LA= 560 miles; UVU to Vancouver, CAN= 737 miles; UVU to Detroit, MI= 1489 miles; UVU to Columbus, OH= 1512 miles; UVU to Pensacola, FL= 1529; UVU to Toronto, CAN= 1669 miles; UVU to Boston/New York= @2000 miles; UVU to Honolulu, HI= 2999 miles; UVU to Frankfort, Germany 5240 miles; UVU to London, England= 4896; UVU to Beijing, China= 6142 miles
-The majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.
-Realizing its value, 20th century Chinese have retransformed the Great Wall into a symbol of China’s indomitable will. It now serves its purpose by attracting tourists and standing as a national monument, an authentic symbol of Chinese power.
References
BBC News. "Great Wall of China 'even longer'." BBC News, 20 Apr 2009. Web. 10 Apr 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8008108.stm>.
"Calculate distance between two locations." timeanddate.com. Time and Date AS, 2012. Web. 18 Apr 2012. <http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distance.html?p1=2128>.
Ebrey, Patricia. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 65, 208-212. Print.
Slavicek, Louise, George Mitchell, and James Matray. "The Great Wall of China (Arbitrary Boarders)." New York: Infobase Publishing. (2005).