The History of the Great Wall of China - Case Study Example

The Great Wall of China Introduction The China’s Great Wall is one of the most spectacular and lasting structural feat ever conceived by the human mind. It is considered as the monument to the Chinese civilization constructed at extreme costs and under myriad sacrifices including loss of lives from hard labour for a worthy cause. The Great Wall, which is translated in Chinese as Chang Cheng was originally constructed to provide protection to the Chinese farmers from the marauding nomadic raiders who raided villages for food. The topics that follows attempt to elaborate the history of the Great Wall; the motives behind its construction; the design, materials, methods as well as the processes and labor that were applied in its construction. The history of the Great Wall of China The history of the Great Wall dates back to long before 221BC when people settled in vast China territory. The settlers adopted two main lifestyles; Farming and Nomadic lifestyles. According to ONeill (18), the farmers planted crops and grains such as wheat, millet and barley. They also kept animals such as sheepand dogs. After the harvest, the farmers stored surplus food in their granaries, enabling them to have food throughout; even when the growing season was over. Due to their farming activities, the farmers were stationed in one place. On the other hand, the nomads travelled the land in search for food for themselves and pasture for their animals. Farmers’ villages became attractive location for the nomads to get food because farmers had stores of grains. As a result, nomads began invading the villages to take food. Invasion by the nomads and other neighbors caused the farmers to group themselves in villages and develop mechanisms of protecting themselves against the raiders. This led to the creation of walls. The walls may not have effectively keep raiders away, but it gave farmers time to defend themselves or run for safety. As the time went by, the walls grew in length and height with the growing villages. The walls then extended to various parts of China and walls came to be known as the main method for defense to different parts and regions in ancient China. Reasons for erecting the massive wall of China The first and chief reason was to protect the Chinese empire against intrusions by military incursions as well as by the marauding nomadic groups from the north. The second reason was that it was used as boundary between Chinese and foreigners. Third, the path on the top of the wall acted as a transportation corridor. The people who built the Great wall used the road on top of the wall to carry supplies and soldiers use the road to patrol the border. The fourth reason was that it acted as a border control mechanism. This is evident when it was later used to control emigration and immigration. Also as a border mechanism, it was to regulate and encourage trade through imposition of duties on goods transported along the road which later became famous as the Silk Road. Construction, Reconstruction and expansion of the Great Wall of China This section highlights the pre-first Great Wall, the First Great Wall, the second Great Wall, the third Great Wall, the fourth Great Wall of China and Post Ming Period until the present day. Pre- the first Great Wall The wall preceding the first Great Wall is dated back to 685BC-645BC. During this period, the kingdoms of Qi and Chu constructed a wall between their two kingdoms. The wall incorporated natural features in the Kingdoms terrain so as to fortify the wall. The wall was constructed to River Han, which acted as a natural border and barrier between the two kingdoms. The next session of the pre- first great was constructed by the Kingdom of Qin between 461BC and 409 BC. This wall was to ensure that the state of Jin remained in the North and West of the Yellow River. The first Great Wall of China The first Great Wall of China is credited to first emperor of China, Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty in 221BC who visualized and ordered its creation. This came immediately after he had succeeded in ending regional fighting that had lasted for more than 250 years and eventually uniting several independent states in 221 BCE to form a United China. The motive of his idea was to use the wall to maintain his power and position. Therefore, the wall could effectively be useful by keeping off raiders from the northern China territories as well as marking as a boundary between Chinese and foreigners. In this approach, Emperor Shi Huangdi managed to safeguard and keep the Chinese people together and isolate them from other groups. The Wall is estimated as 5,000 kilometers in length extending from Liaodong to Lintao. The first Great Wall construction involved joining and fortification of a number of shorter walls, which had already been built by smaller Qi and Chu kingdoms, who lived within Emperor Shi Huangdi’s new empire. The joining of the walls of the two kingdoms created a wall of about 1,800 kilometers in length. Around 350 BC, Qin Dynasty extended its northern wall by over 2,000 kilometers to what is currently known as Gansu province in the west of China. The wall passed the Yulin city to the northernmost bend, which is east on the Yellow River. This wall was meant to keep marauding Eastern Hu nomads out. Finally on the first great wall, The Yan Kingdom added another wall of about 1,200 kilometers, which extended from west of Yellow River to what is currently known as Zhangjiakou city at east of Liaoning Province. The wall was further extended to as far as Pyonhyang, which is known today as North Korea. The second Great Wall The second Great Wall of China was constructed by the Han Kingdom, which overthrew the Qin Kingdom during 205BC-127 BC. The second Great Wall was more than 5,000 kilometers including the one built by Qin Kingdom. Han kingdom introduced additional defense features to the great Wall. The features included use of rammed earth to reconstruct or extend the wall. Han Kingdom cognizant of the threats of invasion by the nomads and other military incursions, they extended the wall further to the west to protect outposts and variety of commercial goods such as tea chests, bolts of silk, caskets of spices and ingots of gold. The kingdom also added a primary defense line inside Mongolia. The route to the outposts along the Hexi corridor came to be known as Silk Road. Han Kingdom in 186 AD dissolved into Wei, Shu and Wu Kingdoms. The Wei Kingdom was mandated with maintenance of the Great wall so as to keep the Rourang and Qidan nomads who lived in the northern plains at bay. Rulers of Wei Kingdom were compelled to add many other walls in and out of the Great wall to prevent the Rouran nomads from constantly breaking through the fortified walls. The inner wall to the Great wall was built in 446 AD. It extended from Juyong Pass near Badaling an area currently known as Beijing Province. It then passed through Detong to Pingxing Pass and eventually to the Yellow River. Wei and Shu Kingdoms continued constructing and extending the walls until Shu dynasty was overthrown by Tang Dynasty in 618 AD. The Tang Dynasty had a different policy and they found no use of the Great Wall. The policy involved a trade policy, which allowed trade with the nomads in the north. Consequently, the wall was neglected and only acted as a mechanism to regulate trade and levy taxes. The Tang Dynasty was later overthrown by the Jing Dynasty who continued to build and fortify the Great Wall during its reign. The Third Great Wall Jin Dynasty took over the reins of power in 1200 AD and started the process of rebuilding and constructing new walls. Their wall came to be referred as to as Great Ditch Wall, which was extended inside Mongolia. The wall constructed by Jin had ditches running alongside the walls so as to make the scaling even more difficult for the invaders. The Jin Dynasty was later overthrown by the Yuan Dynasty in 1276. Yuan Dynasty was of the Mongols, which was led by the infamous Kublai Khan. Yuan Dynasty had no use of the Great wall and let it deteriorate throughout its reigns until it was overthrown by Ming Dynasty in 1369. Ming Dynasty was comprised of indigenous Chinese who worked hard to prevent non-Chinese including the Mongols and Manchu from ruling China again. The Fourth Great Wall ODonnell (14) attests that the fourth Great wall was constructed by Ming dynasty which ruled from 1369 to 1655.The Great wall increased in length from just above 5,000 kilometers to about 7,300 kilometers including offshoots and branches. The Wall was made up of beacons, passes and fortresses. Jiayuguan fort was constructed in1372 and eight garrisons were also set up, which acted as a second line of defense to fortify the Great Ming Wall if was to be under attack. In 1449, the Great wall was also reestablished when the Ming dynasty was viciously defeated by Mongols on the battle of Tumu. In 1644, Qing Dynasty comprising of Manchu overthrew the Ming dynasty. Post Ming Period until the present Day The end of Ming dynasty marked the end of reconstruction or extension of the Great Wall. The new Kingdoms found no use of the Great wall which was left to deteriorate under the vagaries of nature such as rain, sun and wind. The last battle fought on the Great Wall was in 1938 when the Japanese broke through the eight army garrison at Gubeikou as they try matching to Beijing. There are bullets marks visible at the great Wall at Gubeikou to attest the attack. Over the years after the fall of Ming Dynasty, especially after 1938, much of the Great Wall rocks and stones have been taken by local people who used them to construct their houses. Furthermore, local governments have destroyed part of the wall to construct dams, highways, houses and other developments. In 1984, President Deng Xiaoping recognized that the great Wall was a symbol of national heritage and cultural value. As a result, he embarked on its protection and restoration. In 1987, UNESCO declared a section of the great Wall at Badaling, as a World Cultural Heritage Site. More visitors (tourists) are visiting China to see the Great Wall. How The Great Wall of China was built The choice of materials used to construct the Great wall was done based on availability, terrain and the strategic position of the wall to the kingdom’s interests. The materials used include but not limited to soil, Adobe, cliffs, granites, bricks and wood (Evans 12). Other materials were lime and rice water. The materials were either locally available or were brought from many miles away using horse drawn carts. The soil in form of tampered and rammed earth was used during the reign of Qin and Han. Tampered and rammed earth was used to build walls at the loess Plateau in areas such as Datong, Jiayuguan and in Mongolia. The walls made from soil were also found at Walute and at Yangguan. Adobe was made up of packed clay and dried in the sun. The packed clay was cemented together using clay as mortar to form a wall. The wall from adobe was more versatile as compared with that of rammed and tampered earth. Adobe was easier to make and was wide to support men in top of them and even supported mounted horses. The main disadvantage was that adobe deteriorated unevenly and was not long lasting especially under heavy rain or friction. Ming Dynasty made walls using adobe in the western regions. Nearly the entire walls in Jiayuguan and the Gansu Province were made of Adobe. The wooden planks were used to construct moulds that were used to temper the earth. The bricks used were sun-baked and kiln-fired bricks. The sun-baked bricks were used during the Qin and Han dynasties. On the other hand, kiln-fired bricks were used by the Ming Dynasty. They were used to make grade one walls at Jinshan, Xifengkou, Panjiakou and Shanhaiguan. Wall made of kiln-fired bricks were more durable and made great swathes brick walls. They were used throughout the northeast of China from the Yalu River to Datong. The mortar made from line and rice water made the bricks strong and durable and the resulting brick wall was almost impervious to the rains. These bricks were also easy to form into different shapes, easy to transport and it constructed very smooth-sided walls which made it extremely difficult for the invaders to scale. The kiln-fired bricks fortified by mortar were used to make inner and outside wall, which was filled in the interior with rubble. These bricks were used to make fortifications, battlements and surfaces. The stones were mainly simple dry stone piles which were rough or un-worked surfaces local rocks. The simple stones were used by Qin and Han while Ming used smooth worked rocks. The stones were extensively used throughout the mountainous regions of Hebei Provinces and Beijing. The base of part of the Ming wall which was about 2,150 miles long was made of granite blocks. Cliffs were also used to construct some part of the wall. The cliffs were naturally occurring were used to make the Great Wall of China along the rivers and mountains. The mountains were evenly hewed to form smooth sided cliffs, which were hard for the enemy to scale. Use of cliff walls is evident at Uangyaguan in the province of Tianjin. Design of the Great Wall of China According to Richardson (15), nobody knows the original architect of the great Wall. Evans (13) acknowledges that the Great Wall of China exhibits some respectable levels of rich architectural design and innovations considering that the time was ancient. The wall was about 20 feet (6.1 meters) wide. The towers were about 40 feet (12.2 meters) high and were linked together by the wall. The horse ways were made of bricks and stones and were strong and wide enough to allow about five armored men at once. The Ming dynasty graded the walls into three levels. Grade one was considered superior and was made of foundation slabs, stones and bricks. The outer and inner wall was filled with stone or rubble. The walls were fortified by brick and surfaces were made of bricks. Grade one walls were constructed on important passes in Gubeikou, Mutianyu, Jinchanling and Shanhaiguan. Furthermore, Badaling, Mutianyu and Jiankou are very good examples with grade one superior stone wall. Grade two walls were medium in strengths and it made use of bricks on the outer wall and local small stoners on the inner wall. The walls were built at Jiumenkou Water Pass. Grade three walls were considered weakest of the three levels. They were made of stones, cliff walls or single brick walls. The walls were built in Huangyaguan and Simatai. During Ming Dynasty, larger walls were made where the outer wall were made of smooth worked rocks while the inner side of the wall was made of rough hewn rock, plastered with rammed earth and the interior was filled with rubbles. In addition, during Ming Dynasty, the bottom of the wall was made of large hewn stone slabs. The tops of the walls, surfaces of the wall and battlement were completed using kiln-fired bricks. The key structures that were part of the Great wall included passes, garrisons, gates, pits, watch towers, beacons and temples. All this structures were strategically placed at different places near the wall, on the wall or in the wall so as to support or reinforce the defense mechanism of the Great Wall. For example, archways referred to as gates were constructed into the wall to allow passage of trade and troops in and out of China in places such as Gubeikou, Zhangjiakou and Jiankou. Doors were made of double woods, which were reinforced with metal plating and large copper nails. The towers, beacons and platforms were constructed into the wall so as to fortify the wall or were used to call for reinforcements. Platform towers that were open at the top were constructed into the wall at frequent intervals of about 100 meters so as to fortify the stretched wall, especially at the corners. The platform towers were strategic places in the wall where the troops could gather and fight their enemies. The Great Wall was made using different process and materials depending on the period and the rulers. During the Qin and Han Dynasty most of the wall was made of tampered and rammed earth. The method used to build the Great wall was hang-tu method which uses the hand. Hang is a Chinese word translated as beaten and hu is used to mean earth. The laborers built the hang-tu wall by literally beating down layers of earth. The wooden forms were made and then several inches of earth (soil), twigs and rocks were dumped inside and compacted to remove air spaces by trampling down with feet and other tools. The wooden mould were filled to about 7 centimeters in depth and tampered before another layer was added. Once the walls reached the desired height, the wooden forms were removed and strong solid walls were revealed. The constructors ensured that the wall tapered towards the top to improve it stability. In addition, reeds were laid in the construction to act as binding materials for the sand and clay so as to increase its strength. The process of making adobe was using the wooden mould to pack clay and then dry the molded clay to dry in the sun. The packed clay was then cemented together using clay as mortar to form a wall. The adobe walls were also plastered with loess to increase its durability. The mountains sides were evenly hewed to form smooth sided cliffs walls. The Great Wall of China was built by men. Some of whom were prisoners while the others were men from all over China who had been compulsorily enrolled. The prisoners did the hard job. It is believe that more than 3 million men were used and majority of them died as a result of hard labour (Evans 18). Summary and Conclusion The Great Wall of China is estimated to be about 6,325 kilometers in length including its branches. It ranges between 15 feet and 30 feet thick and reaches as high as 25 feet. The wall winds like a snake through China’s varied terrain through the desert, mountains, plains, plateaus and along the river. Qin, Han and Ming dynasty were actively involved in the construction and maintenance of Great Wall for over 1800 years. The main reason for building the wall was to protect the Chinese from the military incursions and nomad raiders. The Wall preceding the Great wall dates back to 685BC-645BC and the next session of the pre- first great was constructed by the Kingdom of Qin between 461BC and 409 BC. The first Great Wall of China is credited to first emperor of China, Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty in 221BC who visualized and ordered its construction. The second Great Wall of China was constructed by the Han Kingdom, which overthrew the Qin Kingdom during 205BC-127 BC. Han kingdom introduced additional defense features to the great Wall. Jin Dynasty took over the reins of power in 1200 AD and started the process of rebuilding and constructing new walls, which came to be known as the third Great Wall. The wall incorporated ditches running alongside the walls so as to make the more difficult for the invaders. The fourth Great wall was constructed by Ming dynasty which ruled from 1369 to 1655. The end of Ming dynasty marked the end of reconstruction or extension of the Great Wall. The new Kingdoms found no use of the Great wall which was left to deteriorate under the vagaries of nature such as rain, sun and wind. The materials used to construct the Great Wall included but not limited to soil, Adobe, cliffs, granites, bricks and wood as well as lime and rice water. The key structures that were part of the Great wall included passes, garrisons, gates, pits, watch towers, beacons and temples. It is believed that more than 3 million men were used and majority of them died as a result of hard labour. In 1984, President Deng Xiaoping recognized that the great Wall was a symbol of national heritage and cultural value and in 1987, UNESCO declared a section of the Great Wall at Badaling, a World Cultural Heritage Site. Works Cited Evans, Thammy. Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China. Connecticut: Bradt Travel Guides, 2006. ODonnell, Kerri. The Great Wall of China. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. O’Neill, Joseph R. Great Wall of China. Minnesota: ABDO, 2010. Richardson, Adele. The Great Wall of China. Minnesota: The Creative Company, 2005. Read More