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The Great Wall of China (TC: 中國長城; SC: 中国长城, Pinyin: Zhōnggúo Chángchéng), also called Great Wall of 10,000 Li (SC: 万里长城, Pinyin: Wànlĭ Chángchéng), is an ancient Chinese fortification, built to protect the Empire of China since the 3rd century BC against the raids of 'barbarians' from Mongolia and Manchuria. The main purpose of the Wall was not to prevent people from crossing but rather to prevent them from bringing their horses.
The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,400 - 6,700 km, from the boundary with Korea on the Yalu River (Yalu Jiang) to the Gobi desert.
History
The Wall was built during the reign of The First Emperor, the main leader of the short-lived Qin dynasty. The Wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but rather was created by the joining of several local walls built by the Warring States. It has been renovated and extended by several later dynasties, getting most of its current shape during the Ming Dynasty. The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could scale the wall, but to
insure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses.
There have been four major discrete constructions and renovations:
- 208 BC (the Qin Dynasty)
- 1st century BC (the Han Dynasty)
- 1138 - 1198 (the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period)
- 1368 (the Ming Dynasty)
The Ming Dynasty Great Wall starts on the eastern end at Shanhai Pass (山海关 shān hǎi guān), Qinhuangdao, in Hebei Province next to Bohai Gulf. Spanning nine provinces and 100 counties, it ends on the western end at Jiayu Pass (嘉峪关 jiā yù guān) located in northwest Gansu Province. Jiayu Pass was intended to greet travelers along the Silk Road. Even though The Great Wall ends at Jiayu Pass, there are watchtowers (烽火台 fēng huǒ tái) extending beyond Jiayu Pass along the Silk Road. These towers communicated by smoke to signal invasion.
The Manchus crossed the Wall by convincing a crucial general Wu Sangui to open the gates of Shahai Pass and allow the Manchus to cross. Legend has it that they took three days for the Manchu armies to pass. After they conquered China, the Wall was of no strategic value as the people who the Wall was intended to keep out were ruling the country (becoming the Qing Dynasty).
The government ordered people to work on the wall, and workers were under constant danger of being attacked by brigands. Because many people died while building the wall, it is often called the "longest cemetery on Earth".
Major Gates
'First Gate Under Heaven', under repairs.
Significant passes (關口 simplified: 关口) include:
Condition
While some portions near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in most locations the Wall is in disrepair, serving as a playground for some villages and a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti. Parts have been bulldozed because the Wall is in the way of construction projects. The China Great Wall Society works to preserve the Wall. Through June 2003, the Chinese government still had no laws written to protect the Wall nationwide. However, Beijing has enacted local legislation which would prohibit visits to the "wild Great Wall" or parts not open to the public; this has been in force since August 2003.
Watchtowers and Barracks
Storehouse and barracks near Beijing
The wall is interrupted by defensive fighting stations, to which wall defenders may retreat if overwhelmed. Each tower has unique and restricted stairways and entries to confuse attackers.
Barracks and administrative centers are located at larger intervals.
Specialized defense weapons
Reproduction Personal Weapons
In addition to the usual miltary weapons of the period, specialized wall defense weapons were used. Reproductions of these weapons are displayed at the wall.
Materials
The materials used are those available near the site of construction. Near Beijing the wall is constructed from quarried limestone blocks. In other locations it may be quarried granite or fired brick. Where such materials are used two finished walls are erected with earth and rubble fill placed in between with a final paving to form a single unit. In the extreme western desert locations where good materials are scarce the wall was constructed from dirt rammed between rough wood tied together with woven mats.
Recognition
The Wall is sometimes included in lists of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World," but was of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks.
The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-color radar image from the Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994
In 1938, Richard Halliburton's Second Book of Marvels stated that the Great Wall is the only man-made object that can be seen from the moon. This statement has persisted, assuming urban legend status and sometimes entering textbooks. If taken to mean that the Great Wall can be seen with the unaided eye from the distance of the moon, it is untrue.
However, from low earth orbit, about a thousand times nearer than the moon, it may be visible under favorable conditions. The Great Wall is only a few meters wide and is comparable to many other structures, such as highways and airport runways. Astronauts give varying reports. This variation is not surprising; amateur astronomers know that features on the moon that are dramatically visible at times can be undetectable on others, due to changes in lighting direction.
One shuttle astronaut reported that "we can see things as small as airport runways [but] the Great Wall is almost invisible from only 180 miles (290 km) up." Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually viewing the Grand Canal near Peking. He did succeed in spotting the Great Wall with binoculars but stated that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." Recently, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he couldn't see it at all. An Apollo astronaut reported that no human structures at all were visible at a distance of a few thousand miles.
Meanwhile, veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 160 km to 320 km high, the Great Wall of China is indeed visible to the naked eye."
Regardless of how visible the Great Wall is when viewed by the unaided eye from low earth orbit, the notion that the Great Wall has a unique and superlative visibility, exceeding that of other great public works, is a myth.
See also
External links
de:Chinesische Mauer
es:Gran Muralla China
fr:Grande Muraille de Chine
it:Grande muraglia
ja:万里の長城
nl:Chinese Muur
pl:Wielki Mur Chiński
fi:Kiinan muuri
zh:中国长城
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