Great Wall of Different Dynasties:
Great Wall of Zhou Great Wall of Qin Great Wall of Han Great Wall of Jin Wall of Northern & Southern Dynasties Great Wall of Sui Great Wall of Ming
Great Wall Chronology
The history of the Great Wall is said to start from the Spring and Autumn Periods when seven powerful states appeared at the same time. In order to defend themselves, they all built walls and stationed troops on the borders. At that time, the total length of the wall had already reached 3,107 miles, belonging to different states.
In 221 BC, the Emperor Qin absorbed the other six states and set up the first unified kingdom in Chinese history. In order to strengthen his newly born authority and defend the Huns in the north, he ordered connecting the walls once built by the other states as well as adding some sections of his own. Thus was formed the long Qin's wall which started from the east of today's Liaoning Province and ended at Lintao, Gansu Province.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the Huns became more powerful. The Han court started to build more walls on a larger scale in order to consolidate the frontier. In the west, the wall along the Hexi corridor, Yumenguan Pass, and Yangguan Pass was built. In the north, Yanmenguan Pass and Niangziguan Pass in Shanxi were set up. Many more sections of the wall extended to Yinshan Mountain and half of the ancient Silk Road was along the Han's wall.
The Northern Wei, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou Dynasties all built their own sections but on a smaller scale than the walls in the Han Dynasty. The powerful Tang Dynasty saw peace between the northern tribes and central China most of the time, so few Great Wall sections were built in this period.
The Ming Dynasty is the peak of wall building in Chinese history. The Ming suffered a lot by disturbances from minority tribes such as the Dadan, Tufan and Nuzhen. The Ming court from its first emperor to the last ceaselessly built walls in the north. The main line started from Jiuliancheng near the Yalu River in the east to the Jiayuguan Pass in the west and measured over 4,600 miles. Besides adding many more miles of its own, the Ming emperors ordered enlargement of the walls of previous dynasties into double-line or multi-line walls. For example, out of Yanmenguan Pass were added three big stone walls and 23 small stone walls. Eleven Garrisons were distributed along the main line of the wall. The countless walls, fortresses, and watch towers made the country strongly fortified. In the early Qing Dynasty, some sections of the walls were repaired and several sections were extended. This great engineering work stopped in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
Owing to its long history, natural disasters and human activities, many sections of the Great Wall are severely damaged and disappearing. Being a world-famous engineering project and witness to the rise and fall of Chinese history, the Great Wall, needs us to take immediate action to protect it!
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Travelers' Voices on Great Wall History
1.
Jun. 29,2009 20:54 Reply
Mr.boilma(phillipines) said:
what is great wall china?
Jun. 29,2009 21:57
Ms.lily replied:
The Great Wall of China is a long wall located in the north of China which was built to protect the people living to the south of the wall from being attacked by the northern nomadic tribe in ancient times.
Jul. 2,2009 04:03
Ms.KAREENA replied:
ITS A HISTORICAL BUILDING
2.
Jun. 29,2009 20:57 Reply
Mr.justine cute(philippines) said:
these wall is so very old and for me it is so beautiful place
Jun. 29,2009 21:56
Mr.One replied:
I agree. It is a nice place to teach my son the Chinese history.
3.
Jun. 26,2009 13:47 Reply
Mr.shahnawaz(India) said:
They are brave who built wall of china
i respect him because they made for secure country.
it's realy wonder .
4.
Jun. 16,2009 04:46 Reply
Mr.Jhonny cool(WA) said:
Did you know it's not a myth that you can see it from the moon.
Jun. 19,2009 22:02
Ms.Ruth(China) replied:
It's a rumor. The Great Wall cannot been seen from the moon.
5.
Jun. 15,2009 05:15 Reply
Mrs.to cool(uk) said:
who ordered them yo build it
Jun. 19,2009 21:59
Ms.Ruth(China) replied:
Hi, Mrs too cool, just read the comments carefully. You will find your questions have been asked by many people. Who ordered them to build it? Of course, it's the rulers of that dynasty. In the Qin Dyansty, it's the Emperor Qin Shi Huang. In the Ming Dynasty, as I know, the Emperor Chengzu ordered to build the Great Wall.
6.
May. 31,2009 08:00 Reply
Ms.rehana(Pakistan) said:
it is a beautiful historical place to visit.and i thought,that how great was that engineer who built this GREAT CHINA WALL. thanks
Jun. 1,2009 21:37
Ms.My(USA) replied:
Is is beautiful, breath taking and just amazing... I was there last week. Definitely my favorite spot
Jun. 8,2009 20:40
Mr.smartiepants(china) replied:
Well, if you want to thank the engineer, you might as well thank the first emperor because he thought of it being built in order to protect his people.
Jun. 17,2009 19:38
Mrs.cool(mex.) replied:
the first empoer was shi hudgi
7.
Jun. 5,2009 00:41 Reply
Mrs.kelly-ann(NL) said:
where are the people, who died, buried?
Jun. 5,2009 21:25
Ms.johnson(washington) replied:
they are burned to ashes and were put into the stone and that is why its nickname is the long graveyard
Jun. 6,2009 02:41
Ms.maddie(Australia) replied:
yes, i have heard that the thousands of people that died, were buried under the wall.
Jun. 11,2009 10:40
Mr.ROBBIE4949(Australia) replied:
An individual's life in ancient China would not have had the value we place on a persons life today. Human beings of lower social status would be used in much the same way as building materials in order to complete a project. The great wall of China probably consumed many lives, this would have been of little concern to the Emperor I would imagine. His main concern would be to protect his kingdom from invaders.
Jun. 17,2009 19:36
Ms.cool(mex.) replied:
if people died during the wall they where turn to ashes. but recently people have discoverd that no one is actullay buried under there it is just a myth.
8.
May. 7,2009 14:53 Reply
Mr.ana (California)(us) said:
What kind of people build the great wall of china?...
May. 8,2009 03:23
Mr.ABC replied:
Prisoners, common people and soldiers in ancient times built the wall.
May. 9,2009 13:36
Ms.know it all(usa) replied:
farmers, what Mr. ABC said is wrong
May. 11,2009 15:35
Mr.JOHN(CA) replied:
THE SOIDERS AND THE SLAVES.
May. 11,2009 19:22
Ms.Ellixia(Australia) replied:
Mr. ABC is right but he forgot to add slaves aswell but I cant seem to back that information up
May. 19,2009 17:21
Ms.wang(China) replied:
actually, the emperor made soldiers to "grab" as much as people as they could. since they needed laborers to built the wall, every person is demanded to participate in this long period project. go see the legend of meng jiang nu. it is very famous.
May. 22,2009 03:40
Ms.LV(China) replied:
Actually most of you are correct, but forgot to mention young kids because as of those times each families were only allowed to have 2 (the most) children.
May. 28,2009 02:58
Mr.Zhang(China) replied:
Slaves,all kinds of people because the soldiers had orders that every man and some strong woman must be working on the wall no matter they want to or not.
Jun. 6,2009 02:44
Ms.sarah(Australia) replied:
all sorts of people built the wall,like: slaves and pesants,theives and any one who was on the wrong side of the emperor or who annoyed him.
Jun. 12,2009 01:42
Mr.m.usman(Pakistan) replied:
they are very brave and done a great work for the nation china
Jun. 13,2009 22:14
Mr.ateeq(pakistan) replied:
the brave, hard struggler, people made the great wall of china.
Jun. 17,2009 19:33
Ms.cool(mex.) replied:
yes prisoners did make but other pepole did too. maybe if you didnt have a job you would work on it. yes soliders did go for people. in total about 300,000 people worked on it
9.
Jun. 17,2009 19:27 Reply
Ms.cool(mex.) said:
The Great Wall of China is one of the most known to people. Tourists all over the world come here just to be in its present. Some even dare to walk it.
Shi Huangdi the first emperor of China was the one to think of the idea. After thinking it over, the wall began its birth in 221 B.C. It ended in 204 B.C. All though parts of the wall where made, Shi Huangdi took credit because he made 1,200 miles of the wall.
10.
Jun. 15,2009 00:23 Reply
Ms.Special^-^(France) said:
So Who designed the great wall of china
Jun. 15,2009 01:36
Mr.Walle replied:
The Great Wall of China is not designed by someone but built by ancient Chinese people of successive dynasties according to the needs.