I.
I.
The Great Wall stretches for 4,160 miles across
North China. It is the only man-made structure that can be seen from the moon with the
naked eye. Its construction started as far back in Chinese recorded history as the
so-called Spring and Autumn periods (770-476 B.c.) and the Warring States period (475-221
B.C.). Rival feudal kingdoms built walls around their territories to keep out invading
nomadic tribes from the north. When Emporer Qin Shihuang unified China, he
started to link up and extend these walls.
Prisoners of war, convicts, soldiers, civilians and farmers provided the labor. Millions died
for this cause, and many Chinese stories speak of parted lovers and men dying of starvation
and disease. Thousands of bodies have been discovered buried in the foundations of the
wall, or used to make up its thickness.
The Great Wall crosses plateaus, mountains, deserts, rivers and valleys, passing through five
provinces and two autonomous regions. It averages about 20 feet wide and 26 feet high.
Parts of the wall are so broad that 10 persons can walk across it side by side.
Materials used for the wall, were whatever could be found near by; clay, stone, willow
branches, reeds and sand.
Parts of this wall can still be seen in remote parts of China. What most visitors see of the
Wall now was restored in the Ming dynasty, when stone slabs replaced
clay bricks. It took 100 years to rebuild, and it is said that the amount of material used in
the present wall alone is enough to circle the world at the equator five times.
The Great Wall, known in Mandarine as "Wan-Li Ch'ang-Ch'eng" (10,000 Li Long Wall),
is one of the largest building construction projects ever carried out. It streches
approximately 4,000 miles (6,400 km) west to east from the Jiayu
Pass (in Gansu Province) to Po Hai at the
mouth of the Yalu River (in Liaoning Province).
The Great Wall started as earth works thrown
up for protection by different States. The individual sections were not connected until the
Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Qin
Shihuangdi, known as the First Emperor of Qin, began conscripting,
forcing, peasants, enemies, and anyone else who was not tied to the land to go to
work on the wall. He garrisoned armies at the Wall to stand guard over the workers as well
as to defend the northern boundaries. The tradition lasted for centuries. Each successive
dynasty added to the height, breadth, length, and elaborated the design of this mamoth
structure, mostly through forced labor.
Parts of the vast fortification dates from the 4th century BC. In 214 BC Shih
Huang-ti, the first emperor of a united China, connected a number of existing
defensive walls into a single system fortified by watchtowers. The towers served both to
guard the rampart and to communicate with the former capital, Hsien-yang, near Sian, by
signal--smoke by day and fire by night. Alarm was raised by means of smoke signals, at
night by fire. Smoke was produced by burning a mixture of wolf dung, sulfur and saltpeter.
Shots were fired at the same time. Thus an alarm could be relayed over 500km within just
a few hours. The principal enemy against whom the Great Wall was built were the
Hsiung-nu, the nomadic tribes of the northern steppes.
It was during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) that the Wall took on its
present form. The brick and granite work was enlarged, and sophisticated designs were
added. The watch towers were redesigned and modern canons were mounted in strategic
areas. The Portuguese had found a ready market for guns and canons in China, one of the
few items of trade that China did not already have in abundance. The Ming Emperors,
having overthrown the Hun dominance and having expelled their Mongol rulers of the North
devoted large portions of available material and manpower, and money to making sure that
they did not return.
Throughout the centuries, armies were garrisoned along the length of the Wall to provide
early warning of invasion and a first line of defense. Great piles of straw and dung used to
build smoke-signal fires(see photo) have been found during excavations. There must have
been small garrison towns scattered along the length. There were not many farms or trade
towns to provide ease, relaxation and food for soldiers and workers.
The supply trails were over mountains along narrow paths. To bring supplies to the top,
ropes were slung over posts set in the Chinese side of the wall and baskets were hauled up
hand over hand. Supplies must have always been short and chancy, particularly in the
winter.
History seems to suggest that the wall worked well. Only when a dynasty had weakened
from within, were invaders from the north able to advance and conquer. Both the
Mongols (Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368) and the
Manchurians (Qing Dynasty,1644-1911) were able take power, not
because of weakness in the Wall but because of weakness in the government and the
poverty of the people. The fact is, that the cost of the wall's construction bankrupted
Dynasty after Dynasty. Invaders, such as the Mongols, took
advantage of rebellion from within and stepped into the void of power without extended
wars.
Over the past few centuries, the Great Wall has served as a source of building materials
for local farms and villages. Aerial photos show that in sections, only the top battlements
show -- the center of the wall has filled with sand and silt. The same brutal isolated
conditions which made the Great Wall a triumph of engineering and determined planning
make restoration problematic and slow.
Started in the Zhou dynasty (1134BC to 250 BC). The purpose of this structure was to stop
the 'barbarians' from crossing the northern border of China.
More than 4600 years ago, there had been continuous violent conflicts between the
agricultural Han Chinese on the south and the Non-Han
Chinese the herdsmen on the north, along the ill-defined ecological border of North China.
Pillagings and plunderings committed by the Non-Han Chinese from the north were
unabated as time passed. This menace resulted in increasing the defense efforts to stop the
Non-Han Chinese. Yan, Zhao and Qin, the three northern vassal States of the Han Chinese
during the Zhou Dynasty (1134BC to 250BC) started to erect walls along their northern
frontiers to protect themselves.
The State of Yan, whose capital is the present day
Beijing city, existed from 766BC to 222BC, erected a long wall along its northern frontier
from Liaoning Peninsula to the north of Beijing city in Hebei province.
The State of Zhao, whose capital is the present day Han Dan Xian in Hebei province,
existed from 453BC to 228BC, also constructed a long wall along its northern frontier from
the north of Beijing city to the bank along the great bend of Huang He (Yellow
River).
The State of Qin, whose capital is the present day Xi An city in Shaanxi
province, existed from 777BC to 207BC, also decided to build a long wall in its northern
frontier from the bank of the Yellow River to the plateau of Long Xi in Gansu
province.
In 246BC a very intelligent, clever, capable and harsh man became the ruler
of State of Qin. His surname was Ying and his personal name was Zheng (259BC to
210BC). He had a vision that one day he would conquer all the other States in the land and
unite this vast land into one big whole country. He accomplished his vision in 221BC after
he had conquered and subjucated all the other States in the land.
He adopted the title First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang Di). He established the
Qin Dynasty (221BC to 207BC). He introduced the Qin administrative
system through out the land. He divided his empire into 36 Prefectures. He unified weights
and measure, standardized the coinage and even unified the axle lengths of the wagons. He
was extravagant and rude to his subjects. He built roads, canals and many big palaces.
Simultaneously the various tribes of Non-Han Chinese in the north also united themselves
as a large political union which was an antagonist to the Qin Empire. The strife intensified
between the Han Chinese farmers and the Non-Han Chinese nomads. At times the Qin
armies drove their nomadic rivals back to the desert.
In order to secure the northern frontiers in 214BC Emperor Ying Zheng ordered his
greatest general Meng Tian, to mobilize all the able-bodied subjects in the country to join
up all the walls previously built, and those erected by the States of Yan and Zhao.
Thousands upon thousands of men were conscripted and forced to march north to work on
the construction. Up in the mountain wilderness, dressed only in rags in the bitter cold
northern winter, hungry and weary, they were drudgering. Brutal beatings from the
supervisors made the work even harder to bear. These unfortunate labourers were forced
to work till they were ill with exhaustion and then died.
When all the old walls were connected together it became a long, long wall and it was
called, "Wan Li Chang Cheng " (Ten Thousand Li Long Wall). It became a
permanent barrier separating the agricultural Han Chinese on the south of the Wall from
the Non-Han Chinese the nomadic cattle-raisers on the north.
What remains of the
Great Wall today can be devided up into sections. The Mutianyu(north-east) section was
built for watching and shooting at an invading enemy. It consists of several battle forts
spread about 50 meters apart. to the east, there is the Gubeikou section, where the smoke
alarms were set. The Badaling(west) section is probably the best preserved of all of the
sections, and the Jinshanling Section is known for its detailed architecture. Finally, the
Sumatai section, east of Jinshanling, is 3,000 miles long, resting mainly on a mountain ridge
surrounded by sharp rocks. This section contains 35 well preserved battle forts.
a. State--China.
II. Environmenta. Source Problems: China was threatened for centuries by invaders from its poorly defined, and poorly defended northern border. Successive Chinese Emporors perceived nomadic tribes of the North, such as the Han Chinese, and the Mongols, to be barbarians, at odds with Confucianist teachings. China wanted to protect its enormous wealth, and culture through isolation.
a. The wall stretches through several habitats in China. Most of the wall winds through
small mountain ranges of moderate to temperate climate. The wall also rests on large
steppes and plateaus.
Combinations of Act and Harm Sites(modified from Christopher Stone,The Gnat is Older than Man, 1993,p.37.) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Site of Act | Site of Harm | |
| (1)China | China | |
a. Border Conflict
III. Conflicta. Interstate [threat]
a.
Direct:
a. Yield:
Initially, the wall served as a significant deterrent to invasions.
However, the large size of the structure, and the fact that its construction bankrupted the
Ming Dynasty, made it impossible to maintain. Consequently, there are many large holes
in the wall, where it was subsequently breached.
a. State/Regional
IV. Related Information
and Sources
The Great Wall:
A Virtual Tour
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The Great Wall
Homepage
Jag, Roberts, A History of China. Alan Sutton Publishing:New York, 1996.
McNeese, Tim, The Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China; Building
History Series. Lucent Books:New York, 1997.
Peng, Xinwei, A Monetary History of China. Western Washington University
Center:Washington, 1994.