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Great Wall of China

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture

   The Great Wall in the winter
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   The Great Wall in the winter

   The Great Wall of China ( Traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; Simplified
   Chinese: 万里长城, pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng; literally "The long wall of
   10,000 Li (里)¹") is a Chinese fortification built from the 5th century
   BC until the beginning of the 17th century, in order to protect the
   various dynasties from raids by Hunnic, Mongol, Turkic, and other
   nomadic tribes coming from areas in modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria.
   Several walls, also referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built
   since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between
   220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; this
   wall was located much further north than the current wall built during
   the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.

   The Great Wall is the world's largest man-made structure, stretching
   over a formidable 6,352 km (3,948 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the
   Bohai Sea in the east, at the limit between " China proper" and
   Manchuria (Northeast China), to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of
   Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region . Along most of its arc, it roughly
   delineates the border between North China and Inner Mongolia.

Notable areas

   The “North Pass” of Juyongguan Pass is known as the Badaling. This
   particular area of the Great Wall is where most tourists visit. When
   used by the Chinese to protect their land, this wall was well manned by
   guards so as to guard China’s capital, Beijing. However, Badaling is
   very difficult to access. Made out of stone and bricks from the hills,
   this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters high, and 5 meters wide.

   Representing the Ming Great Wall, Jinshanling is considered to have the
   most striking sights of the Great Wall. It runs 11 kilometers long,
   ranges from 5 to 8 meters in height, and 6 meters across the bottom,
   narrowing up to 5 meters across the top. Wangjinglou is one of
   Jinshanling’s 67 watchtowers, rising 980 meters above sea level.

   ShanHaiGuan Great Wall is referred to as the “Museum of the
   Construction of the Great Wall”, because of a temple, the Meng Jiang-Nu
   Temple, built during the Song Dynasty. The ShanHaiGuan Great Wall is
   known for many different things, both with the construction of the
   wall, and also its history.

   The first pass of the Great Wall was located on the ShanhaiGuan (known
   as the “Number One Pass Under Heaven”), the first mountain the Great
   Wall climbs, Jia Shan, is also located here, as is the Jiumenkou, which
   is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge.

Characteristics of the Wall

   Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from earth,
   stones and wood. Due to the difficulty in transporting the large
   quantity of materials required for construction, builders always tried
   to use local resources. Over the mountain ranges, the stones of the
   mountain were exploited and used; while in the plains, earth was rammed
   into solid blocks to be used in construction.

   Before and during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), because the earth
   buildings could withstand the strength of small arms such as swords and
   spears and there was low technology of productivity, the Great Wall was
   primarily built by stamping earth between board frames. Consequently,
   only walls of just earth or earth with gravel inside were built. No
   fortresses were constructed along the wall, and no bricks were used in
   the gates at the wall's passes. Much of these sections have eroded away
   by now. During the time following the Han Dynasty (202-220 AD), earth
   and crude stones remained common building tools.

   Bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall during the Ming
   Dynasty, as well as materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. Bricks
   were easier to work with than earth and stone as their small size and
   light weight made them convenient to carry and augmented construction
   speed. Additionally, they could bear more weight and retain their
   integrity than rammed earth. Stone, though more difficult to use, can
   better hold well under its own weight than brick. Consequently, stones
   cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer
   brims, and gateways of the wall.

   The steps that form the Great Wall of China are very steep and tall in
   some areas of the wall. Tourists often become exhausted climbing the
   wall, and traverse no more than a mile because of this reason. Along
   the wall on either side, are “holes” where the builders of the Great
   Wall didn’t place any bricks. They are a little over a foot tall, and
   about 9 inches in width. These holes were used to shoot arrows out of
   when being attacked.

Condition

   The Great Wall at Mutianyu, near Beijing
   Enlarge
   The Great Wall at Mutianyu, near Beijing

   While some portions near tourist centers have been preserved and even
   reconstructed, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair, serving as a
   playground for some villages and a source of stones to rebuild houses
   and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and
   vandalism. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of
   construction sites. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near
   developed tourist areas are often plagued with hawkers of tourist
   kitsch. After one of the many runs for charity along the Great Wall,
   H.J.P Arnold questioned several runners about the status of the wall. A
   typical response was "The wall was clearly discernible and only
   moderately eroded along 22% of the run. The Wall was usually
   discernible but frequently broken/eroded 41% of the run, and scarcely
   discernible and almost totally eroded 37% of the run."

Watchtowers and barracks

   Watchtower
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   Watchtower

   The wall is complemented by defensive fighting stations, to which wall
   defenders may retreat if overwhelmed. With more than 10,000 watch
   towers (which were used to store weapons, house troops, and send smoke
   signals), each tower has unique and restricted stairways and entries to
   confuse attackers. Barracks and administrative centers are located at
   larger intervals.

   Communication between the army units along the length of the Great
   Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warn garrisons
   of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built
   upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their
   visibility.

Recognition

   The Great Wall of China in 1907, as photographed by Herbert Ponting.
   Over the centuries, there had been a number of attempts to build some
   sort of fortification or earthworks along this route, but the wall that
   appears here was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
   Enlarge
   The Great Wall of China in 1907, as photographed by Herbert Ponting.
   Over the centuries, there had been a number of attempts to build some
   sort of fortification or earthworks along this route, but the wall that
   appears here was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

   The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

   Mao Zedong had a saying, Simplified Chinese: 不到长城非好汉, Traditional
   Chinese: 不到長城非好漢, pinyin: Bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn, roughly
   meaning "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall".

From outer space

   Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels said the Great
   Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon, and a Ripley's
   Believe It or Not! cartoon from the same decade makes a similar claim.
   This belief has persisted, assuming urban legend status, sometimes even
   entering school textbooks. Arthur Waldron, author of the most
   authoritative history of the Great Wall, has speculated that the belief
   might go back to the fascination with the "canals" once believed to
   exist on Mars. (The logic was simple: If people on Earth can see the
   Martians' canals, the Martians might be able to see the Great Wall.)
   The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-color radar image from the
   Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994
   Enlarge
   The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-colour radar image from the
   Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994

   In fact, the Great Wall is only a few meters wide - similar in size to
   highways and airport runways - and is about the same colour as the soil
   surrounding it. It cannot be seen by the unaided eye from the distance
   of the moon, much less from Mars. If the Great Wall were visible from
   the moon, it would be easy to see from near-Earth orbit, but from
   near-Earth orbit it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect
   conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other manmade objects.

   Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but
   discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near
   Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it
   wasn't visible to the unaided eye." US Senator Jake Garn claimed to be
   able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle
   orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several US
   astronauts. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he could not see it at
   all.

   Veteran US astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 160 km
   to 320 km high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the
   naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the
   International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot
   of other objects. And you have to know where to look."

   Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: "I do not believe
   that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I
   could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they've seen
   the Wall of China from Earth orbit. ... I've asked various people,
   particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in
   the daytime, and the ones I've talked to didn't see it."

   Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the
   International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct
   that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it.
   Based on the photograph, the state-run China Daily newspaper concluded
   that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under
   favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look .

   These inconsistent results suggest the visibility of the Great Wall
   depends greatly on the seeing conditions, and also the direction of the
   light (oblique lighting widens the shadow). Features on the moon that
   are dramatically visible at times can be undetectable at other times
   due to changes in lighting direction; the same would be true of the
   Great Wall.
   Enlarge

   Based on the optics of resolving power (distance. versus the width of
   the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, metres for large
   telescopes) an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings some
   four thousand miles in diameter (such as the Australian land mass)
   would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon. But the Great Wall
   is of course not a disc but more like a thread, and a thread a foot
   long would not be visible from a hundred yards away, even though a
   human head is.

Gallery

   Great Wall Summer 2006

                         Great Wall Summer 2006

                                               Great Wall Roof Carvings

   Flag of the People's Republic of China
   World Heritage Sites in China

   Building Complex in Wudang Mountains | Capital Cities and Tombs of the
   Ancient Koguryo Kingdom | Classical Gardens of Suzhou | Dazu Rock
   Carvings | Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa | Great Wall |
   Huanglong | Imperial Palaces in Beijing and Shenyang | Imperial Tombs
   of the Ming and Qing Dynasties | Jiuzhaigou Valley | Lijiang | Longmen
   Grottoes | Lushan National Park | Historic Centre of Macau | Mausoleum
   of the First Qin Emperor | Mogao Caves | Mount Emei and Leshan Giant
   Buddha | Mount Huangshan | Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan Irrigation
   System | Mount Taishan | Mount Wuyi | Mountain Resort and its Outlying
   Temples, Chengde | Peking Man Site, Zhoukoudian | Ping Yao | Sichuan
   Giant Panda Sanctuaries | Summer Palace | Temple & Cemetery of
   Confucius and Kong Family Mansion, Qufu | Temple of Heaven | Three
   Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas | Villages in Southern Anhui:
   Xidi and Hongcun | Wulingyuan | Yinxu | Yungang Grottoes

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