Great Wall of China – The Chinese Dragon

Arts Entertainments

When viewed from above, the Great Wall of China looks like a dragon zigzagging over the tops of the mountains. The Chinese call it “Wan Li Chang Cheng” which means “Wall of 10,000 Li”. (10,000 pounds = 5,000 km)

In reality, the Great Wall is 7,200 km long. As for the height, it is 4.5 m to 9 m. As for the depth, it is 4.5 m to 8 m. The entire structure was built by hand using stone, bricks, earth, sand, straw, wood, clay, or whatever was available depending on the terrain.

Three major Chinese dynasties, Qin (221-207 BC), Han (206 BC-220 AD), and Ming (1368-1644 AD), built the Great Wall of China. They all had one purpose: to keep out the “barbarian” Huns from the north who frequently invaded Chinese border areas. In all, tens of millions of people worked on the Great Wall. Many died.

Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, is credited with starting this massive project 2,200 years ago. By connecting the old sections with the newly built ones, the Qin dynasty erected 4,800 km of wall in 10 years, more than a km per day!

After Qin, the Han dynasty extended the Great Wall through the Gobi desert. Watch towers were added to the walls. The spirals of smoke produced by burning wood and straw mixed with wolf manure worked as an alarm system. A plume of smoke meant that a force of 100 men was attacking; two columns reported more than 500 men approaching, and so on.

The Great Wall of China that we know today was built by the Ming dynasty 600 years ago. By then the old wall was in ruins. The Ming rulers rebuilt most of it over a period of 200 years. That the wall is still in good condition today is due to an invention from that time, the addition of rice flour to make super strong bricks and mortar!

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