Chapter 23 Section 3 The Great Wall of the Great Wall

The Great Wall is one of the architectural wonders of the world. It is said that when American astronauts landed on the moon and looked down at the earth, there were only two artificially constructed projects. One was the sea reclamation project in the Netherlands, and the other was the Great Wall in China.The Great Wall has been regarded as a symbol of ancient Chinese civilization and is famous all over the world. The construction of the Great Wall began in the Warring States Period.At that time, Qin, Zhao, Wei, Qi, Yan, Chu and other vassal states built the Great Wall to defend against the invasion of northern nomads and self-defense of various countries.After Qin Shihuang annexed the six countries, in order to prevent the sudden attack of the Huns in the north, he launched a huge project to build the Great Wall in 213 BC, connecting the original Great Walls of Qin, Yan, Zhao, and Wei and expanding them.A total of 300,000 migrant workers were requisitioned for the entire project, and it took more than 10 consecutive years to complete. It started from Lintao, Gansu (now Min County) in the west, followed the Yellow River to Linhe in Inner Mongolia, reached Yinshan in the north, Yanmenguan in Shanxi in the south, and Liaodong in the east. The Great Wall is more than 3000 kilometers long.

In addition to rebuilding the Qin Great Wall in the Han Dynasty, the Shuofang Great Wall in the south of Hetao, Inner Mongolia, and the west section of the Great Wall in Liangzhou were also built.The western section of the Great Wall in Liangzhou starts from Juyanhai, Inner Mongolia (in today's Ejina Banner) in the north, along the Eji River, passes through Jinta in Gansu, and ends in Anxi, Dunhuang, and Yumen Pass in the west and enters Xinjiang.According to the records of the Han bamboo slips unearthed in Juyan, the Great Wall has "a flint for five miles, a pier for ten miles, a fort for thirty miles, and a city for a hundred miles", forming a strict defense system.

The Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui, and Jin dynasties after the Han Dynasty all partially rebuilt the Great Wall, and it was fully rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty.The Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty starts from Jiayuguan in the west and ends at Shanhaiguan in the east, with a total length of about 13,000 li.The entire reconstruction process lasted for more than 100 years, which shows the vastness and arduousness of the project.The Great Wall that people see now is mainly the Great Wall rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, and there are only some relics of the former Great Wall. The Great Wall, which stretches for more than ten thousand miles, passes through steep mountains, quicksands, and valleys. The arduousness of the project is unimaginable. High level of construction, engineering management and military technology.