The Great Wall of China

Great-Wall-of-China

Snaking through the landscape of northern China as a dragon covered with scales brown, the Great Wall stretches of desert to the sea. It is like a Dragon, the wall has a mythical aura and an important place in Asian culture – and the world.

Archaeologists disagree about when the first parts of the wall were built, but may have been erected around the seventh century BC What we know is that work has begun to connect various architectures built during the third century BC The work continued until the seventeenth century, resulting in a structure that extends for about 6500 km across China.

The vision of an almost continuous wall belonged to Qin Shi Huang, the unifier of the empire, the founder of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC). Under his rule, the Great Wall took immense proportions that it has today. The defensive walls that separate rival territories were then linked together to form a continuous land barrier against barbarian invaders from the North.

Emperors who came after increased the length of the wall, but the medieval kings of the Ming Dynasty made it their main initiative, covering the walls with stones and bricks, adding innovations. Next to the roads considered strategic over the mountains, they raised no fewer than 20 walls parallel to confuse invaders.

Finally, the Great Wall reached a colossal scale. Had on average 7 m thick and enough space on top for five soldiers riding to walk side by side. The wall, thus served as a high way for soldiers and merchants. In addition, guards in towers could send signals – using barrels, smoke from burning dung of wolves, or cannon fire – even the emperor in Beijing.

Paradoxically, the wall was not a totally effective line of defense. Many attackers could break the barrier. Each sentinel was a potential weakness, because they could be bribed. In mid-1600, on a heavily fortified crossing over the mountain near the Yellow Sea, a general traitor simply left Manchu soldiers on horseback crossing. The invaders marched to Beijing, has established a new dynasty and did not continue the work of the Great Wall – which had not, ultimately, prevented the invasion. During the three centuries that followed, much of the wall collapsed or were overgrown.

Today, many parts of the Great Wall was rebuilt to face the arrival of a new modern army of squatters – about 10 000 tourists every day.

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