The Great Wall of China

Introduction

The Great Wall of China is the longest, oldest and most famous of the world. It was considered as such in 1987 by the World Heritage by UNESCO. The Great Wall of China stretches up to 8851.8 kilometers from the eastern to the western part through northern part of China. It has a long illustrious history spanning thousands of years. It is the most important defensive construction in China's military history. It was built from the Western Zhou dynasty to the Ming dynasty and was something that has stood for a culture for over two thousand years. Indeed, The Great Wall is much more than a wall and it represents China, both today and in the part. By studying the purpose and construction method in each dynasty, one can see how the Great Wall has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its society and culture.

History

The construction history of the Great Wall of China is very old. There is a historical record that traces the construction of the origin of the Wall to defensive fortification back to the year 656 B.C. It can be dated to the Western Zhou dynasty. However, the Great Wall of China at that time was only a lineup of forts standing to defend the people from the attacks by the Yanyun, which was an old nomadic tribe in the northern part of China.

At time of the Warring States from 221 to 476 B.C, seven powerful states appeared; they are Qin, Qi, Han, Yan, Chu, Wei, and Zhao. Because each state had its own politics, they warred and annexed each other to consolidated power. They were very much involved in the construction of the Great Wall in order to protect each other. The Walls stretched in four different directions instead of being in on straight line and it also differed in length from quite a few hundred miles to 2000 miles.

The emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty from 221 to 206 absorbed the other six states and unified China. To keep the China's Borders, he ordered his workers to join these scattered walls and further extensions to form the basis of the present Great Wall in order to defense to prevent the barbarians who were to come from the north, therefore, creating a Great Wall in the central and Northern part of China. As the barbarian good at riding and shooting, but the militaries of Qin Dynasty are not good at that. Qin Shi Huang contribution to design the Great wall can reduced their force and is considered to be of great importance as it ensured peace for the people in the northern part of China against the barbarians and established a pattern of defense for future generations.

Qin Shi Huang added 1200 miles to the Great Wall of China during his reign. The Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty was divided into three sections; the eastern section, the middle section, and the western section. The eastern section , mostly ...