The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall

It is said when seen our planet from space, the Great Wall is a conspicuous construction on earth. Great wall of China was an ancient gigantic defensive project. It is one of the largest construction projects ever completed in China.

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall are from the Ming Dynasty.

Great Wall of China is one of the greatest wonders of the world. It winds its way westward over the vast territory of China from the bank of the Yalu River and ends at the foot of snow-covered Qilianshan and Tianshan mountains. It is seldom that we see such a gigantic project in China or elsewhere in the world. The Chinese call it the Wall of 10,000 li. Its size is better seen on a map or from an aerial photograph.

Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along theSilk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.

The main Great Wall line stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km. This is made up of 6,259 km sections of actual wall, 359 km of trenches and2,232 km of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km.

The collection of walls known today as the Great Wall of Chinawas referred by a number of different names. The current English name evolved from enthusiastic accounts of "the Chinese wall" from early European travelers; by the end of the 19th century "the Great Wall of China" became the name of the walls. In Chinese, they are most commonly known as changcheng, meaning "long wall". The term can be found in the Records of the Grand Historian (1st century BC), where it referred to the walls built by the Warring States, and most particularly, the walls of Qin Shi Huang. The notion of it being "ten thousand li" long (figuratively meaning "endless"), as reflected in the full Chinese name of the Great Wall in modern times Wanli Changcheng), also comes from the Records, though the words "Wanli Changcheng" were rarely used together in pre-modern times—a rare example being the Book of Song written in 493, where it quotes the frontier general Tan Daoji.

Historically, the dynasties after Qin avoided using the term changcheng to refer to their own "Great Walls", as the term was said to evoke imagery of Qin's tyranny. Instead, historical records indicate the use of various terms such as "frontier", "rampart"  "barrier", "outer fortresses", and "border wall", in addition to poetic and folk names like "purple frontier" and "earth dragon". Only in modern times did changcheng become the catch-all term to refer to the long border walls regardless of location or dynastic origin, equivalent to the Western term "Great Wall".

Today, the Great wall has lost its strategic importance and has become a world-renowned tourist attraction. The laboring people of different dynasties demonstrated their intelligence and wisdom while building this great project. They left behind a precious heritage deserving our everlasting care. Badaling section, Juyong pass and Cloud Terrace were listed as important historical monuments under special preservation by the Chinese government in 1961. The Great Wall was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world heritages.

Nowadays you can see the Great Wall around Beijing, there are several well-preserved walls here. There is a saying in China, “One who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero”. So if you go to China, you have to visit the Great wall.
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