The Great Wall of China is a historic network of walls and fortresses in northern China that spans more than 13,000 kilometers. The Great Wall was conceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century B.C. as a means of stopping incursions from barbarian nomads. It is perhaps the most iconic emblem of China and its long and colourful history. The best-known and best-preserved part of the Great Wall was constructed during the Ming dynasty, from the 14th to the 17th century A.D. Despite the fact that the Great Wall never effectively kept invaders out of China, it became a potent emblem of Chinese civilization’s enduring strength.
Qin Dynasty Construction
Though the Great Wall of China dates back to the fifth century B.C., many of the defenses that make up the wall date back hundreds of years earlier, during the so-called Warring States Period, when China was divided into a number of different kingdoms. Around 220 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a united China under the Qin Dynasty , ordered that earlier fortifications between states be removed and that a number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a single system that would stretch for more than 10,000 li (a li is about one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.
The wall, which was primarily made of earth and stone, spanned almost 3,000 kilometres west into Gansu province from the China Sea port of Shanhaiguan. For optimal security, parts of the wall were overlapping in some important spots (including the Badaling stretch, north of Beijing, that was later restored during the Ming Dynasty). The Great Wall grew 15-30 feet high from a base of 15 to 50 feet and was topped by walls 12 feet or higher; guard towers were positioned at intervals along it.
Great Wall Of China through the centuries
Much of the Great Wall fell into ruin after the death of Qin Shi Huang and the end of the Qin Dynasty. A series of border tribes seized control of northern China when the Han Dynasty fell. The Northern Wei Dynasty was the most powerful of these, repairing and extending the existing wall to guard against incursions from other tribes. More than 900 miles of wall were erected or restored by the Bei Qi dynasty (550–577), while the Sui Dynasty (581–618) repaired and extended the Great Wall of China several times.
The Great Wall lost its value as a fortress with the collapse of the Sui and the advent of the Tang Dynasty, since China had beaten the Tujue tribe to the north and extended over the original border secured by the wall.
Wall building during Ming Dynasty
Despite its vast history, the Great Wall of China as we know it today was mostly built during the powerful Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).The early Ming monarchs, like the Mongols, had little interest in boundary fortifications, and wall construction was limited until the late 15th century. On the location of the old Mongol city of Dadu, the Ming emperor Yongle named Beijing as China’s new capital in 1421.
Chinese culture flourished under the Ming emperors’ strong hand, and the period saw an enormous amount of construction, including bridges, temples, and pagodas, in addition to the Great Wall. Manchus from central and southern Manchuria burst through the Great Wall and encroached on Beijing in the mid-17th century, forcing the Ming Dynasty to fall and the Qing Dynasty to rise.
Between the 18th and 20th centuries, the Great Wall became the most widely recognized symbol of China in the Western world, serving as a physical (as a manifestation of Chinese strength) and psychological (as a representation of the Chinese state’s barrier to repel foreign influences and exert control over its citizens) representation of the Chinese state’s barrier to repel foreign influences and exert control over its citizens.
