Introduction to the Great Wall What is it about?

The Great Wall, also known as the "Great Wall", is a general term for the large-scale military projects built by ancient China at different times to resist the invasion of the alliance of nomadic tribes in northern China. At the same time, it is also the crystallization of the great strength and wisdom of the Chinese nation. According to historical records, there were two dynasties that built the Great Wall for more than 5,000 kilometers

The first is the Great Wall built by Qin Shi Huang from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east; The second is the Great Wall built by the Han Dynasty from the Hexi Corridor in the west to the Liaodong in the east, which is more than 10,000 li. The ruins of these Great Walls are distributed in more than 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in today's China, including Beijing, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Xinjiang, Tianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan and Shandong. In the long years of Chinese history, many feudal dynasties have built it many times in order to consolidate their rule, and thousands of working people in ancient China have contributed wisdom and sweat to it, making it a great wonder of the world.

Whether it is a dragon-like city wall, or a production process and a more scientific firing brick and tile workshop. Therefore, the output of brick products has increased greatly, and bricks and tiles are no longer precious building materials, so the inner and outer eaves of the city wall in many places of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty are built with huge bricks. At that time, it was all manual construction and manual handling of building materials, and the city wall was built with bricks of small weight and the same size, which was not only convenient for construction, but also improved the construction rate and improved the construction level.

Secondly, many of the gates of the pass are mostly made of blue bricks to form long-span arches, some of which have been severely weathered, but the entire city gate is still majestic, showing the superb skill of masonry arches at that time. Judging from the architectural decoration on the castle tower of the pass, the production techniques of many stone carvings and bricks are extremely complex and fine, reflecting the ingenuity of the craftsmen at that time.

During the long years of Chinese history, many feudal dynasties built it many times in order to consolidate their rule; Located in the northern part of China, the city stretches from Shanhaiguan in Bohai Bay in Hebei Province in the east to Jiayuguan in inland Gansu Province in the west. It traverses seven provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions including Hebei, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu, with a total length of about 6,700 kilometers and about 13,300 miles, and has the reputation of "the Great Wall of Ten Thousand Miles" in the world. According to records, Qin Shi Huang used nearly one million laborers to build the Great Wall, accounting for 1 20 of the total population of the country at that time.

It is conceivable that without the hard work of a large number of people, it would have been impossible to complete this great and arduous project, which contains the blood, sweat and wisdom of the ancient working people.

The Great Wall of China is one of the great projects in ancient China. It was built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (770 476 BC), and the surviving one was built by the Ming Dynasty. From Jiayuguan in Gansu Province in the west, to Hushankou on the bank of the Yalu River in Ningdandong in Liaotu in the east, it spans Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Mongolia, Hebei, Liaoning and other places.

There are relevant entrances along the dangerous or traffic points, such as Shanhaiguan, Juyong Pass, Niangzi Pass, etc. It is simply called the Great Wall. The Great Wall was originally built by the Yan and Zhao factions of the Warring States Period, in order to defend against the invasion of foreign races in the north.

Extended information: 1. The origin of the name of the Great Wall: The name of the Great Wall began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when the Great Wall was produced. "Historical Records of the Chu Family" contains: "King Xuan of Qi took the mountains to build the Great Wall, east to the sea, west to Jeju, more than 1,000 miles, in order to prepare for Chu. ”

2. The purpose of building the Great Wall: In ancient times, we could not completely defeat the nomads, and in order to strengthen the consolidation of the country, we could only build the Great Wall. When Kublai Khan fought the Song Dynasty and directly bypassed the Great Wall and attacked from the west, the Great Wall seemed to be of little use, but this was only a minority.

The construction of the Great Wall consumes manpower, material resources, and financial resources, but it does play a great role in previous wars.

3. The significance of building the Great Wall: The Great Wall has been built for more than 2,000 years, although it has lost its defensive role, it still stands majestically, showing the long history of the Chinese nation, reflecting the great achievements of ancient Chinese construction engineering technology, showing the strong perseverance and wisdom of the working people of all ethnic groups in ancient China, and embodying the strategic thinking of active defense formed in China since ancient times.

As a defensive project, the Great Wall is mainly composed of three parts: passes, city walls, and beacon towers.

1. Pass:

The pass is generally composed of a square or polygonal city wall, a city gate, a city gate tower, and an urn city. There are also Luo Cheng and Guess Xiao Moat. Among them, the city wall is the main project of the Great Wall, and the inner and outer eaves walls are mostly covered with giant bricks and stones, filled with loess and gravel, and the height is generally about 10 meters.

The top is 4 5 meters wide, and there are horse paths and stairways for the upper and lower city walls. On the outer eaves of the city wall, there are battlements for lookouts and shooting, and on the inner eaves wall, there is a wall (or women's wall) about 1 meter high.

2. City wall: The city wall is the link that connects Xiongguan, passes, enemy platforms, etc. The average height is about 7.8 meters, and in places with steep hills, the walls are relatively low.

The average width of the wall base is about one meter, the top is wide one meter, and the section is small and large into a trapezoid. The wall knots mainly include plate rammed earth walls, adobe walls, brick walls, etc. Other structural facilities are:

Coupon door. Battlements. Castle Tower.

3. Beacon:

The beacon tower is a building that uses beacon fire and smoke to transmit military information.

The Great Wall is not just a single city wall, but a complete defense engineering system composed of various fortifications such as city walls, enemy towers, gates, dungeons, camps, guard posts, and beacon towers in the town city. This defense engineering system is commanded and controlled by military command systems at all levels.

The interior of the Great Wall.

The walls are the main part of the city walls, with an average height of meters, and some sections are as high as 14 meters.

The Great Wall system has a large number of beacons as an intelligence transmission system, which is the oldest but most effective way of transmitting information.

The castle is divided into an acropolis, a fortress or a thousand households and a fortress according to the rank, and is arranged on the inner side of the Great Wall according to the requirements of the defense system and military system, and there are those outside the wall.

Guancheng is the most concentrated defensive stronghold on the defense line of the Great Wall. The location of the fortress was very important, and it was chosen to defend the terrain in order to resist the powerful invaders with a small number of troops.