What makes the Great Wall of China so extraordinary - Megan Campisi and Pen-Pen Chen
The Great Wall of China is a fortification of the barrier in northern China westbound miles east 13.171 21.196 km Jiayuguan Pass in the west of the mountains Hushan in Liaoning Province in the east, ending the Gulf of Bohai It crosses eleven municipalities provinces or ten, according to some authorities and two autonomous regions of inner Mongolia and Ningxia construction of the wall began in the Qin dynasty 221-206 BC under the first emperor Shi Huangti and continued for hundreds of years in many dynasties the Great Wall in the present day is almost entirely the work of the Ming dynasty 1368-1664 CE who added distinctive viewpoints and expanded the length and breadth of the national monument wall now famous fell into disuse after the Ming dynasty, when the Qing dynasty 1644-1912 CE took over and expanded the borders of China to the north, which makes the wall obsolete efforts of restoration and conservation has begun in earnest in the EC in 1980, and the wall was declared a Site of UNESCO World Heritage in 1987 CE.
During the time known as the Warring States Period of 476-221 BC, the different regions of China fought for control of the country during the collapse of the Zhou Dynasty Eastern 771- 226 BC A state was the winner of this fight the state of Qin is pronounced chin and gives China its name the general who led the win Qin Ying Zheng was the prince who took the name Qin Shi Huangti first emperor after conquering other states.
Shi Huangti ordered the construction of the Great Wall to consolidate his empire Seven war States had each wall along their border defense, which Shi Huangti destroyed after taking office as a sign that the whole of China was now one, the emperor decreed a large wall would be built along the northern border to defend against the mounted warriors of the Mongolian nomads Xiongnu; there would be no more walls marking the boundaries between separate states in China because there would be no separate states The Wall ran along a line further north than the current, marking what was then the border between China and Mongolia plains the wall was built by conscripts do not want and convicts who were sent north in the custody throughout China in order Shi Huangti was not a benevolent ruler and was more interested in his own greatness than the good of his people his wall has not been considered by the Chinese people under the Qin dynasty as a symbol of national pride and unity, but as a place where people were sent to work for the emperor until death.
The present wall, whose image is so well known, is not the Shi Huangti wall c 221 BCE It is actually very little original wall remains today when the Qin Dynasty fell in 206 BCE, the country divided by civil war known as the Chou-Han Contention, fought between Xiang Yu general Chou and Liu Bang Han, the two leaders who had emerged as the most powerful those who had contributed to overthrow the Qin dynasty When Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu in 202 BC at the battle of Gaixia he became the first emperor of the Han dynasty and continued construction of the wall as a defense it was also the first emperor to use the wall as a means to regulate trade along the silk road better known as the silk road from Europe to China.
The following dynasties have all made their own contributions and repair the wall until the Ming Dynasty 1368-1664 EC launched a massive construction project to protect the country against the invading nomads from Mongolia, same incentive that played a role in the original vision of Shi Huangti This similarity purpose may explain the belief that the current dates Wall of the Qin Ming dynasty built the wall with more than 25,000 massive watchtowers and whose height ranges from 16-26 feet 5-8 meters, feet 20 through 6m and the bottom 16 feet through the first five meters.
In addition to creating the massive wall, the Ming Dynasty also attached their most important agricultural center, Liaoning Province, behind a walled fortification known as Liaoning Wall also known as the Wall Liaodong This wall was a source of controversy between China and North Korea since 2009 Ec when the Chinese government said they had recently discovered parts of the Great Wall near the border with North Korea by the Hushan mountains of North Korea said the great newly discovered Wall actually belongs to them and is not part of China's great Wall the disputed section of wall is no doubt part of Liaoning wall This wall in no case can not be compared to the great Wall and do was never built to be It was a simple defensive barrier, built to impede the northern Liaoning invasions and was built of earth, magpie rre, and everything was available Moats were dug on either side of the wall to prevent further an invading force.
Ultimately, the Liaoning Wall and the Great Wall were equally useless to repel invading Manchu invasions of North began in 1600 c EC and continued until 1644 CE when the Great Wall was opened to Chinese invaders again in turmoil right now as rebellion was mounted against the Ming Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui 1612-1678 CE, who had himself declared emperor, opened the Great Wall to the Manchus in a case where they the helping to defeat the rebels instead, the Manchus took power, expelled the Ming dynasty and established the Qing dynasty 1644-1912 cE victory Manchu on Ming meant that China border was now some distance north of the Great Wall, and as it was of no use to the defense, it was neglected and fell into disrepair until the advent of the Republic of China in 1912 ec When it was considered useful in the control of immigration and emigration.
In a sign that the whole of China was now one, the emperor decreed a large wall would be built along the northern border.
There were efforts over the years to maintain the structure, but no concerted effort existed until recently, in 1980 CE when the wall was a priority for the Chinese government as a tourist attraction and source of income he has not Site was designated UNESCO World Heritage Ec until 1987, but even with this designation the wall disintegrates slowly today, according to historians and preservationists who monitor the site, there are only about 600 miles 372 km from the left wall in stable condition.
There are many false modern ideas about the Great Wall of China The best known and most often repeated is that he is the only human structure on earth that can be seen from space; this is not true The origin of this assertion is English essayist Sir Henry Norman, who wrote in 1895 that the wall was the only work of man over the visible world of the moon His observation was based on the that people on earth could see craters and channels on the moon, and if someone on the moon would be able to see something as long as massive as the wall on land Many people seem believe that the application of the wall can be seen from the moon is based on the first -Hand accounts of the astronauts or the work of scientists and astronomers, but it is actually the creation of a man who wrote when space travel n ' even not be modern and scientific scholars and those who traveled to the moon, have debunked this request repeatedly.
Other fallacies on the wall is that it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, it dates from the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC and it was built as a symbol of national pride the last two requests, as we saw above, are manifestly false, as the first; the seven wonders of the ancient world were all located in the Mediterranean region of Greece Egypt and Turkey The Great Wall is however among those chosen as one of the seven modern wonders of the world by the New 7 Wonders Foundation in 2007 CE The Grand Wall is visited by over four million people a year, and although it can not be seen from the moon, is among the best known structures built by man in the world.
Emily Mark studied history and philosophy at the University of Tianjin, China and English at SUNY New Paltz, NY She has published historical essays and poetry His made his writing debut in Travel Magazine Travel Timeless .
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Written by Emily Mark published August 22, 2015 in the following license Creative Commons Attribution This license lets others remix, tweak, and build on that non-commercial content, as long as the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.
China is a country in East Asia whose culture is considered the oldest still existing in the world the name of China comes from the Sanskrit Cina derived from the name of Qin Dynasty Chinese, pronounced Chin, which was translated Cin as the Persians and seems to have become popularized by the trade along China's silk road continue reading.
Shi Huangti 259-210 BC, also known as Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shih Huandi, Shih Huan Ti was the first emperor of a unified China The name means First Emperor Shi Huangti and is a title, not a own name Qin dynasty, founded pronounced Chin gave its name to China and it was he who initiated the construction of the Great keep reading.
Great Wall of China Ancient History Encyclopedia, great, wall, china, antique.