The Great Wall, or [P 004 / Wan Li Chang Cheng], in North China was undoubtedly one of the world's most mammoth construction projects. The wall today stretches from Shanhaiguan Pass on the Gulf of Bohai to Jiayuguan Pass in the Gobi Desert, running through five provinces and two autonomous regions. But awe-inspiring as it may have been to the hundreds of thousands of people involved in creating the wonder, it cannot, as some claim, be seen from the moon or any other planet. Also, the wall was not built as a continuous project or in one direction. In some areas there are more than 20 separate [L3 301 / walls].
The idea today is sometimes put forward that the wall arose from cultural attitudes. However, it was based more on circumstance than culture. The wall did not emerge from shared cultural thinking, rather from divided political thinking.
The Chinese built walls for one main purpose - [P 006 / border protection]. Although there were stages when wall building was proposed as part of a solution to Chinese security and foreign policy problems, the wall is more commonly seen as a symbol of China's distinction between the civilized peoples and the [G 03 / barbarians]. However, much wall building was not the result of a determined policy, rather of indecision and political stalemate. Basically, the Ming and other dynasties could not compromise or reach peacefully negotiated agreements with their non-Chinese neighbors over issues such as trade; the wall is a product of that failure.
Never an aesthetic pursuit, wall building was part of Chinese defense systems and generally used most when attempts at peace with [G 14 / nomadic] tribes broke down. This policy may not have always worked to the extent that emperors hoped. Nevertheless, the wall was excellent as a highway for moving men and goods across country that would otherwise have been [P 017 / impassable]. Five reasons justified its construction:
1. Mobile defense was no longer needed.
2. It reduced raids.
3. Its height made a good vantage point.
4. Border defenses were clearly marked.
5. Transportation of supplies was made easier.
The [M 002 / Han and the Ming] were the [N 001 / largest and most impressive wall builders] - the Han Great Wall stretched [M 004&M005 / 6,200 miles] from Dunhuang in Gansu Province, west to Xinjiang. Due to differing security policies and different attitudes towards their neighbors, not all dynasties built walls. The Song Dynasty (960-1279), for instance, built none, but the tribes they fought built many to defend from attacks on each other or by the [G 12 / Mongols].
ARCHITECTURE:
Successive dynasties introduced walls with different [L3 305 / widths and heights], [G 16 / parapets], [L3 306 / battlements] and [L3 307 / towers]. [L3 308 / Signalling methods] and methods of defense also varied. Although the wall was never meant to be beautiful, some of the towers and gates have [P 009 / superb detail] in addition to various architectural styles. Temples and shrines, tea houses and clock towers can also be found along the length of the wall.
Construction was divided into fortress towns, castles, garrison cities, mountain-pass cities, stronghold cities, city walls, watch towers, wall towers and furnace mounds for smoke signals. Each fortress town controlled a number of sub-areas including mountain passes, castles and signal posts. These were all connected to form the defense network.
METHODS:
The very first Chinese wall construction - thought to have originated in 1,700BC - used the tamped earth method. These `hangtu,' or earthen walls, were made by filling earth between planks and then tightly pounding it down. The four-and-one-half-mile wall of Erligang in Henan could date from this period and is the best example of this method. Other early walls used twigs, clay and [L3 309 / gravel].
By the end of the 16th century, [I 001 / brick and stone] began to be used. This method, however, took much longer to construct than pounded earth structures. Stone slabs were used as the foundation for sections of the wall utilizing masonry. It was also faced with stone and the middle filled with rubble, lime, earth and small stones. The top of the wall was layered with bricks that were pointed to prevent water seepage. Various plaques with builders' names can be found at intervals. These may have been used to punish builders for poor work.
Transporting men to the building site was a feat in itself. However, delivering building materials was a mammoth project. Human chains were used, as well as shoulder poles and carts. Large rocks were hauled up with pulleys or levers. Donkeys and goats were also rounded up: donkeys hauled bricks in baskets and goats carried bricks tied to their horns. Little is known of the actual construction process, therefore much is a matter of conjecture. For example it is thought that peasant labor, although suitable for earth walls, was not sufficiently skilled to cope with stone. Masons, therefore, must have been brought in.
BUILDING ERAS:
ZHOU:
The earliest [L3 303 / construction on the wall began] in 435BC with the simplest of structures and continued with varying degrees of enthusiasm until 1644. It ran through [M 004 / Tibet, across four provinces] - Hebei, Gansu, Shanxi and Shaanxi - and was said to be [L3 304 / 2,500 miles long].
QIN:
The [M 002 / Qin wall], which began in 221BC, used pre-existing walls as a foundation and was built with a combination of stone and earth. These were erected with posts and boards, filled in the middle with layers of soil three or four inches thick and hammered down with mallets. Further layers were then placed on top.
The Ming walls were built using a similar method - also used in building walls of houses - although the layers were twice as thick. Hundreds of thousands of [I 006 / workers] - soldiers, convicts and peasants - are thought to have worked on the Qin wall. Beyond this there is very little agreement on the exact details. Chinese [L3 310 / records] concerning construction, including the route of the wall, are sadly lacking and open to much interpretation, speculation and apparently conflicting evidence.
MING:
The concept of the Great Wall as it exists today originated with the Ming Dynasty walls built from 1368 to 1644. The sections that remain today are almost certainly from the 16th century. The Ming wall stretched from the Yalu River in the east to Jiayuguan Pass in the west and was divided into nine [L3 311/administrative sections]. The defenses of Beijing and the Ming tombs added a further two, making a total of 11.
The [M 005 / three most important forts along the wall] were [L3313 / Jiayuguan] in Gansu province, [L3 314 / Zhuyongguan] near Beijing, and [L3 315 / Shanhaiguan] on the [M 002 / Gulf of Bohai]. In the second half of the 16th century when war with Korea broke out and the threat from the [G 11 / Manchus] increased, these fortifications became vital.
The walls were built in three stages: the first from 1368-1449, the [L3 204 / second] until the end of the 15th century, and the third from about 1540 on. At some vulnerable points, the Ming built between five and nine successive walls. A total of 4,526 miles were built and patrolled by almost 100,000 men.
Wall building escalated in the first half of the 16th century with the weakening of Ming leadership. Increasing political incompetence met the [G 12 / Mongol] threat, and walls were built with vigor. By the middle of the [L3 312 / 16th century], building walls - as opposed to the negotiations with border tribes - remained the Ming's only viable option for border defense.
Discipline and morale among the border troops manning the walls were often poor. The army sometimes preferred to profit from trade with the nomads rather than conduct endless military campaigns against them. In 1524 a proposal to strengthen defenses included five forts to protect the northeast. There followed a mutiny at Datong and another uprising in 1533. It took another six years for the work to be finished.
Walls that followed in the 1540s are thought to be entirely of Ming construction and not built on the ruins of walls from previous periods. Other fortifications included [P 003 / towers and signal-beacon platforms]. Signal systems were vital against the nomads, whose mobility gave them a great advantage in battle. By 1587, there were more than 850 towers in the Datong area and [L3316 / 72 large forts], most of which were built in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570. Only three of those constructed before 1571 were of brick; the rest were earthen.
Although the Ming walled defense system was strong at its height, it simply shifted the raiders' attention elsewhere - namely to the [L3 317 / east and west]. Conciliation between the Ming and the [L3 318 / Mongols] was briefly reached after the latter rode on Beijing in 1550. This did not last long, and wall building was stepped up once again. Construction reached its climax at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries, bringing ambitious [L3 319 / defense planning]. Fortifications east of Beijing were strengthened in 1551 and a new wall was also built around the city in 1553. Existing walls were also [L3 320 / fortified and repaired].
QING:
Under the [G 11 / Manchus] wall building came to a halt in China. Being a '[G 03 / barbarian]' tribe, they did not need walls to separate Chinese from outside peoples or to define the boundaries of China. However, during the [G 04 / Boxer Rebellion] of 1900 part of the Zhenhaiguan tower near the ocean was destroyed. Sections of the wall at Shanhaiguan were also damaged during fighting in 1922 and again in 1924 when the overthrow of the Manchu degenerated into the warlord period.
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC:
Restoration of the Great Wall by the Communists began in 1952. Although at times passed over in favor of newer symbols more in line with the new society being created, the Great Wall has nevertheless grown into one of China's premier attractions - a world-renowned relic from the past. Despite some negative connotations, the wall grew in stature over the 30 years following the takeover in 1952. In 1986 a railway worker walked the entire [P 004 / length] of it to much acclaim and jubilation.
During the Cultural Revolution walls were destroyed and the stone was used for building roads, reservoirs and other construction. Peasants also used the stone to build houses or livestock shelters. The wall at [P 001 / Badaling] - the one most visitors see - was restored in 1957 and guardrails added.
In the current campaign to restore the wall, revitalization has become synonymous with rebuilding China, giving rise to a virtual cult of the wall. The confusion is that while it has become a national icon and the center of a patriotic cult, it still stands as a symbol of oppressive rule.
