The Great Wall of China

December 31, 2022

The Great Wall of China

"The Great Wall of China (traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; simplified Chinese: 万里长城; pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng, literally "ten thousand li wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC, with selective stretches later joined by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

Apart from defense, other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration.

The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. During this time and the subsequent Warring States period, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Han, Yan, and Zhongshan all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly of stone or by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.

King Zheng of Qin conquered the last of his opponents and unified China as the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty ("Qin Shi Huang") in 221 BC. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the sections of the walls that divided his empire among the former states. To position the empire against the Xiongnu people from the north, however, he ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. "Build and move on" was a central guiding principle in constructing the wall, implying that the Chinese were not erecting a permanently fixed border.

Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. The human cost of the construction is unknown, but it has been estimated by some authors that hundreds of thousands of workers died building the Qin wall. Later, the Han, the Northern dynasties and the Sui all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. The Tang and Song dynasties did not undertake any significant effort in the region. Dynasties founded by non-Han ethnic groups also built their border walls: the Xianbei-ruled Northern Wei, the Khitan-ruled Liao, Jurchen-led Jin and the Tangut-established Western Xia, who ruled vast territories over Northern China throughout centuries, all constructed defensive walls but those were located much to the north of the other Great Walls as we know it, within China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia and in modern-day Mongolia itself."

-taken from wikipedia

The wall at Gubei Water Town.

The nearly vertical wall at Jiankou.

The wall at Jiankou.

The wall at Gubeikou.

The wall at Jiankou.

Construction of the various parts of the "Great Wall" throughout history.

The wall at Huangyaguan.

The wall at Jinshanling.

The wall at Mutianyu.

The wall at Simatai.

The wall at Laolongtou.

The wall at Chenjiapu.

The wall at Gubeikou.

A train moves through a break in the Great Wall of China, at Jiayuguan, built in the Ming Dynasty (1372 CE), once part of the Old Silk Road, photographed on October 14, 2003. Image via TheAtlantic. Goh Chai Hin/AFP/Getty Images.

A 124-mile (200-kilometer) stone section of the Great Wall along the middle of the Yinshan Mountains in central Inner Mongolia is shown in this April 1, 1998 photo. Discovered by archaeologists from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the section was part of the original wall built during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE). Image via TheAtlantic. AP Photo/Wang Yebiao, Xinhua.

A 14th century fortress at the Great Wall in Jiayuguan, on September 15, 2009. Image via TheAtlantic. CC BY-SA Sigismund von Dobschütz.

The Simatai section of the Great Wall in Miyun county, about 120 km (74 miles) north of Beijing, on July 5, 2010. UNESCO has designated Simatai Great Wall as one of the World Cultural Heritage sites. Reuters/Bobby Yip.

An older section of the Great Wall, in Lengkou, near Qinhuangdao, China. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

Workers from the Chinese cultural relic department measure a sector of the Great Wall in Beijing, China, on March 14, 2006. China Photos/Getty Images.

Part of the Great Wall near Dongjiakou village. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

A tree, seen through an archway outside a watchtower on a section of the Great Wall of China that is decaying and overgrown with vegetation, near Xiang Shui Hu village, on September 30, 2012. Reuters/David Gray.

A taxi drives beside an ancient section of the Great Wall near Sanguan Pass, west of Yinchuan, by the foothills of the Helan Shan Mountains in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on June 25, 2007. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

A section of the wall near Beijing. CC BY Saad Akhtar.

Zhuizishan Great Wall, near Huludao, Liaoning Province. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

Great Wall at Huanghuacheng, Beijing. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

A woman is helped to the top of a mound at the Dajingmen Great Wall, once used as a watchtower overlooking the historic garrison town of Zhangjiakou, some 180 kilometers north of Beijing, in China's northern Hebei province, on May 24, 2006. Unlike other Great Wall sites nearer to Beijing which have been restored for tourism, the wall around Dajingmen Gateway, which marked China's northern border dating back to the early Ming Dynasty (around 1368) and rebuilt again in 1546 during the Qing Dynasty, has been left largely untouched.Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images.

Naziyu Great Wall in autumn colors. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

A battered section of the Great Wall of China, at Jinshanling, northeast of Beijing, is seen in this December 29, 1999 photo. AP Photo/Greg Baker.

A visitor walks on the Luanling section of the Great Wall, in Huairou District, about 80 km (50 miles) from downtown Beijing, on May 7, 2011. Reuters/Jason Lee.

Chinese tourists walk on a rebuilt section of the Great Wall of China, near Jiayuguan, in Gansu province, on October 11, 2005. The section, known as the Shiguan Gorge Overhanging Great Wall, is believed to have been built in the 16th century and had crumbled to almost nothing before being rebuilt in 1987. AP Photo/Greg Baker.

Remnants of the Great Wall at Shuidonggou, in Yinchuan, China. CC BY-SA Kim Siefert.

The western end of the Great Wall, near Jiayuguan, on May 30, 2007. CC BY Michael Goodine.

Chinese hikers make their way up a section of the Great Wall that is decaying and overgrown with vegetation located near Xiang Shui Hu village, located 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Beijing, on September 30, 2012. Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, the 6,400 km (4,000 miles) wall draws millions of tourists every year, mostly to restored sections near the capital, Beijing. But away from the tourist trail, some parts of the wall are being allowed to crumble away. Reuters/David Gray.