Despite the fact that the height of the Great Wall of China is about ten meters, climbing it is much easier than descending. The ascent is cheerful, fun, fervently, but the descent is a real torture. All steps have different heights - from 5 to 30 centimeters, so you need to look extremely carefully under your feet. When descending from such a height, the main thing is not to stop, since it will be extremely difficult to continue descending after a stop. Nevertheless, the Great Wall of China is the place where every tourist wants to visit.
Despite such difficulties, the tourist will be provided with vivid impressions for a lifetime, and he will be able to feel like a 100% local resident. After all, it is not for nothing that the Chinese like to repeat the words of Mao Zedong: whoever has not climbed the Wall is not a Chinese. The Great Wall of China from space is also a frequently requested tourist request, as the grandiose structure has a unique view from space.
The Great Wall of China is the largest architectural monument that has ever been erected by human hands. Its total length (including branches) is almost nine thousand kilometers (however, some researchers argue that the length of the Great Wall of China actually exceeds 21 thousand km). The width of the wall is from 5 to 8 meters, the height is about ten. Some facts say that at one time it was used as a road, and in some places additional fortifications and fortresses were erected near it.
Who built the Great Wall of China and how did it happen? Officially, the construction of the wall began in the third century BC by order of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The original purpose of the construction was to protect the country from barbarian raids. It fixed the borders of the Chinese empire, which at that time consisted of several conquered kingdoms, and thus contributed to the formation of a single state. It was also intended for the Chinese themselves, since it was supposed to prevent them from leaving the country, returning to a semi-nomadic way of life and merging with the barbarians.
The Great Wall of China is also interesting because it fits extremely organically into the surrounding landscape and it can even be argued that it forms an integral composition with it. And all because during construction it smoothly went around mountains, spurs, hills, deep gorges.
In our time, the Great Wall of China and its length leaves tourists with an ambiguous opinion about themselves. On the one hand, restoration work has been carried out in some places, lighting and illumination have been added. On the other hand, in places where tourists are a rare occurrence, it is completely abandoned, and the few travelers who get on it have to wade through thick bushes, crumbling steps and areas that are dangerous to such an extent that you almost need to crawl through them (Otherwise you can break).
The height of the walls of this amazing structure is on average about seven and a half meters (if we take into account the rectangular teeth, then all nine), the width at the top is 5.5 m, at the bottom - 6.5 m. Two types of towers are built into the wall, mainly - rectangular shape:
- The towers that existed before construction are less wide than the wall;
- The towers that were built at the same time as it were erected every two hundred meters.
The wall provides for the presence of signal towers - from them the soldiers watched the enemies and transmitted signals.
Where does the wall start?
The Great Wall of China begins in the northern city of Shanhai-guan (it is located on the shores of the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea) and is the easternmost point of the Long Wall (this is how the Chinese call this structure).
Considering that for the Chinese the Great Wall of China symbolizes an earthen dragon, its head is the Laoluntou (Dragon's Head) tower, from which this grandiose structure originates. Moreover, it is interesting that Laoluntou is not only the beginning of the Great Wall of China, but also the only place in China where it is washed by the sea, and it itself goes directly 23 meters into the bay.
Where does the wall end
From Laoluntou, the Great Wall of China zigzags across half the country to the Center of China and ends near the city of Jiayuguan - it is here that it is best preserved. Despite the fact that the fortpost was built here in the XIV century, it was constantly restored and strengthened, thanks to which, over time, it became the best outpost of the Celestial Empire.
According to one of the legends, the craftsmen calculated the amount of material needed for the construction of the walls so accurately that when the construction was completed, only one brick remained, which, as a symbol of respect for the ancient builders, was subsequently placed on the arch. outer wall gate to the west.
An outpost was erected near Jiayuyoshan Mountain and it consists of a semicircular outer adobe wall in front of the main gate, a moat, an earthen rammed embankment and an inner wall. As for the gates, they are located on the eastern and western sides of the outpost. Here is the Yuntai Tower - it is interesting because on its inner walls you can see carved bas-reliefs of heavenly kings and Buddhist texts.
Lost section of wall
A few years ago, on the border with Mongolia, scientists found a fragment of a wall that was erected during the Han Dynasty, about which the researchers had no idea before. Five years later, its continuation was discovered already in the territory of neighboring Mongolia.
building a wall
One Chinese legend says that the mortar used to hold the stones together was made from a powder prepared from the bones of people who died while working on a construction site. Naturally, this is not true: building mixture ancient masters cooked from ordinary rice flour.
Interesting facts say that up to the era of the reign of the Qin dynasty, any materials at hand were used in the construction of walls. To do this, layers of clay, small pebbles were laid out between the rods, sometimes unbaked, sun-dried bricks were used. It is because of the use of such building materials that the Chinese called their wall the “earth dragon”.
When the representatives of the Qin dynasty came to power, stone slabs were used to build the wall, which were laid back to back on the rammed earth. True, the stone was used mainly in the east of the country, since it was not difficult to get it there. In the western lands, it was difficult to access, so the walls were built from a rammed embankment.
pre-construction
The construction of the Long Wall began in the third century BC, even before the unification of the kingdoms into one empire, when they fought with each other. More than one million people took part in its construction, which was 1/5 of the total Chinese population.
First of all, it was needed in order to protect the cities, which turned into large trading centers, from nomads. The first walls were adobe structures. Since at that time a single Celestial Empire did not yet exist, several kingdoms began to build them around their possessions at once:
- Kingdom of Wei - circa 352 BC;
- The kingdoms of Qin and Zhao - about 300 BC;
- Yan Kingdom - circa 289 BC
Emperor Qin Shi Huang: Beginning of construction
After Shi Huangdi united the kingdoms at war with each other into one country, the Celestial Empire became an extremely powerful power. It was then that the commander Meng Tian received the order to begin construction (primarily near the ridge of the Yingshan mountain range).
For the construction, first of all, existing walls were used: they were strengthened and connected to new sections. At the same time, the walls separating the kingdoms were demolished.
They built the wall for ten years, and the work was extremely difficult: difficult terrain for such work, lack of proper food and water, numerous epidemics and hard work. As a result, more than one thousand people died here (therefore, this wall is unofficially called the longest cemetery on the planet).
The Chinese had a whole funeral ceremony specifically for those who lost their lives in construction work. While the relatives of the deceased were carrying the coffin, there was a cage with a white rooster in it. According to legend, the cries of the bird kept the spirit of a dead person awake until the funeral procession crossed the Long Wall. If this is not done, then the spirit of the deceased will wander along the structure that destroyed him until the end of the century.
Researchers claim the construction of the wall played an important role in the overthrow of the Qin dynasty.
Construction during the Han Dynasty
When the Han Dynasty (206 BC -220 AD) began to rule the country, construction continued to the west, and thus reached Dunhuang. In addition, at that time it was connected to watchtowers located in the desert (their main purpose was to protect caravans from nomads).
Representatives of the Han Dynasty reconstructed the already existing walls and completed about ten thousand kilometers more (which is twice as much as their predecessors). About 750 thousand people took part in the construction.
Construction during the Ming Dynasty
Sections of the wall that have been well preserved to this day, from 1368 to 1644. built by the Ming Dynasty. To do this, they used brick and stone blocks, which made the structure much stronger and more reliable than before. It was at this time that the Great Wall of China was built in Shanhaiguan and connected to the western outpost of Yumenguan.
The effectiveness of the wall as a defense structure
Despite the fact that the Chinese managed to build a wall of impressive proportions, it was no good as a defense structure: the enemies easily found poorly fortified areas, in extreme cases, they simply bribed the guards.
An example of the effectiveness of this structure as a defensive structure can well serve as the words of the medieval historian Wang Sitong, who said that when the authorities announced the construction of a wall in the east of the country, the barbarians would attack from the west. They easily destroyed the walls, climbed over them and robbed - what they wanted and where they wanted. When they left, the walls began to be built again.
Despite all the criticisms, in our time, the Chinese have given their wall a new meaning - it has come to symbolize the invincibility, endurance and creative power of the nation.
What breaks down the wall
Fragments of the wall, which are far from the tourist pilgrimage, are in a terrible state. At the same time, it is not only time that destroys them. The facts say that in Gansu province, due to the irrational way of farming, almost all underground springs, therefore, in recent times, this area has become the site of the strongest sandstorms. Because of this, about forty kilometers of the wall (out of fifty) have already disappeared from the face of the earth, and the height has decreased from 5 to 2 meters.
A few years ago, in Hebei province, a section of the wall, the length of which was about thirty-six meters, fell apart due to days of heavy rain.
Quite often, local residents disassemble the wall when they are going to build a village where it passes, or they simply need building stone to build their houses. Other facts indicate that the wall is being destroyed during the construction of the highway, railway etc. Some "artists" raise their hands to paint the walls with graffiti, which also does not contribute to the integrity of the image.
“There are roads that are not followed; there are armies that are not attacked; there are fortresses over which no one fights; there are places for which no one fights; there are orders of the sovereign, which are not carried out.
"Art of War". Sun Tzu
In China, you will definitely be told about the majestic monument several thousand kilometers long and about the founder of the Qin dynasty, thanks to whose command the Great Wall of China was built more than two thousand years ago in the Celestial Empire.
However, some modern scholars very much doubt that this symbol of the power of the Chinese empire existed until the middle of the 20th century. So what do tourists see? - you say ... And tourists are shown what was built by the Chinese communists in the second half of the last century.
According to the official historical version, the Great Wall, designed to protect the country from the raids of nomadic peoples, began to be erected in the 3rd century BC. by the will of the legendary emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, the first ruler to unite China into one state.
It is believed that to this day has reached Great Wall, built mainly in the era of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and in total there are three historical periods of active construction of the Great Wall: the Qin era in the 3rd century BC, the Han era in the 3rd century and the Ming era.
In essence, under the name "Great Wall of China" unite at least three major projects in different historical eras, which, according to experts, in total have a total length of the walls of at least 13 thousand km.
With the fall of the Ming and the establishment of the Manchu Qin Dynasty (1644-1911) in China, construction work ceased. Thus, the wall, the construction of which was completed in the middle of the 17th century, was mostly preserved.
It is clear that the construction of such a grandiose fortification required the Chinese state to mobilize huge material and human resources, to the limit.
Historians claim that at the same time up to a million people were employed in the construction of the Great Wall and the construction was accompanied by monstrous human casualties (according to other sources, three million builders were involved, that is, half of the male population of ancient China).
It is not clear, however, what final meaning the Chinese authorities saw in the construction of the Great Wall, since China did not have the necessary military forces, not only to defend, but at least to reliably control the wall throughout its entire length.
Probably due to this circumstance, nothing is specifically known about the role of the Great Wall in the defense of China. However, the Chinese rulers have been building these walls for two thousand years. Well, it must be that we simply cannot understand the logic of the ancient Chinese.
However, many sinologists are aware of the weak persuasiveness of the rational motives proposed by the researchers of the subject, which must have prompted the ancient Chinese to create the Great Wall. And to explain the more than strange history of the unique structure, they utter philosophical tirades with something like this:
“The wall was supposed to serve as the extreme northern line of the possible expansion of the Chinese themselves, it was supposed to protect the subjects of the “Middle Empire” from switching to a semi-nomadic way of life, from merging with the barbarians. The wall was supposed to clearly fix the boundaries of Chinese civilization, to contribute to the consolidation of a single empire, just made up of a number of conquered kingdoms.
Scientists were simply struck by the blatant absurdity of this fortification. The Great Wall cannot be called an ineffective defensive object; from any sane military point of view, it is blatantly absurd. As you can see, the wall runs along the ridges of hard-to-reach mountains and hills.
Why build a wall in the mountains, where not only nomads on horseback, but even a foot army is unlikely to reach?! .. Or were the strategists of the Celestial Empire afraid of an attack by tribes of wild rock climbers? Apparently, the threat of invasion by hordes of evil climbers really frightened the ancient Chinese authorities, because with the primitive construction technique available to them, the difficulties of building a defensive wall in the mountains increased incredibly.
And the crown of fantastic absurdity, if you look closely, you can see that the wall branches in some places where mountain ranges cross, forming mockingly meaningless loops and forks.
It turns out that tourists are usually shown one of the sections of the Great Wall, located 60 km northwest of Beijing. This is the area of Mount Badaling (Badaling), the length of the wall is 50 km. The wall is in excellent condition, which is not surprising - its reconstruction on this site was carried out in the 50s of the 20th century. In fact, the wall was rebuilt, although it is claimed that on old foundations.
There is nothing more to show the Chinese, there are no other credible remnants of the supposedly existing thousands of kilometers of the Great Wall.
Let us return to the question of why the Great Wall was built in the mountains. There are reasons here, except for those that may have been recreated and extended, perhaps the old fortifications of the pre-Manchu era that existed in the gorges and mountain defiles.
Building an ancient historical monument in the mountains has its own advantages. It is difficult for an observer to ascertain whether the ruins of the Great Wall really go thousands of kilometers mountain ranges as he is told.
In addition, in the mountains it is impossible to establish how old the foundations of the wall are. For several centuries, stone buildings on ordinary soil, brought in by sedimentary rocks, inevitably sink several meters into the ground, and this is easy to check.
But on rocky ground, this phenomenon is not observed, and it is easy to pass off a recent building as very ancient. And besides, there is no large local population in the mountains, a potential inconvenient witness to the construction of a historical landmark.
It is unlikely that initially fragments of the Great Wall north of Beijing were built on a significant scale, even for China at the beginning of the 19th century this is a difficult task.
It seems that those several tens of kilometers of the Great Wall that are shown to tourists, for the most part, were first erected under the Great Pilot Mao Zedong. Also a Chinese emperor in his own way, but still it cannot be said that he was very ancient.
Here is one of the opinions: you can falsify what exists in the original, for example, a banknote or a picture. There is an original and you can copy it, which is what forgers and counterfeiters do. If the copy is well made, it can be difficult to identify the fake, to prove that it is not the original. And in the case of the Chinese wall, it cannot be said that it is a fake. Because there was no real wall in antiquity.
Therefore, the original product of modern creativity of hardworking Chinese builders has nothing to compare with. Rather, it is a kind of quasi-historically substantiated grandiose architectural creativity. A product of the famous Chinese desire for order. Today it is a great tourist attraction worthy of entering into the Guinness Book of Records.
Here are the questions asked Valentin Sapuno in :
one . From whom, in fact, was the Wall supposed to protect? The official version - from nomads, Huns, vandals - is unconvincing. By the time the Wall was created, China was the most powerful state in the region, and possibly the whole world. His army was well armed and trained. This can be judged very specifically - in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, archaeologists unearthed a full-scale model of his army. Thousands of terracotta warriors in full gear, with horses, wagons, were supposed to accompany the emperor in the next world. The northern peoples of that time did not have serious armies, they lived mainly in the Neolithic period. They could not pose a danger to the Chinese army. There is a suspicion that from a military point of view, the Wall was of little use.
2. Why is a significant part of the wall built in the mountains? It passes along ridges, over cliffs and canyons, meanders along impregnable rocks. So defensive structures are not built. In the mountains and without protective walls, the movement of troops is difficult. Even in our time in Afghanistan and Chechnya, modern mechanized troops do not move over mountain ridges, but only through gorges and passes. To stop the troops in the mountains, small fortresses dominating the gorges are enough. Plains stretch north and south of the Great Wall. It would be more logical and many times cheaper to put up a wall there, while the mountains would serve as an additional natural obstacle to the enemy.
3. Why does a wall with a fantastic length have a relatively small height - from 3 to 8 meters, rarely where up to 10? This is much lower than in most European castles and Russian kremlins. A strong army equipped with assault techniques (stairs, mobile wooden towers) could, by choosing a weak spot on a relatively flat piece of terrain, overcome the Wall and invade China. This is what happened in 1211, when China was easily conquered by the hordes of Genghis Khan.
4. Why is the Great Wall of China oriented to both sides? All fortifications have battlements and curbs on the walls on the side facing the enemy. In the direction of their teeth do not put. This is pointless and would make it difficult to service the soldiers on the walls, the supply of ammunition. In many places, the battlements and loopholes are oriented deep into their territory, and some towers are shifted there, to the south. It turns out that the builders of the wall assumed the presence of the enemy from their side. With whom were they going to fight in this case?
Let's start with an analysis of the personality of the author of the idea of the Wall - Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC).
His personality was extraordinary and in many ways typical of an autocrat. He combined a brilliant organizational talent and statesmanship with pathological cruelty, suspicion and tyranny. As a very young 13-year-old man, he became the prince of the state of Qin. It was here that the technology of ferrous metallurgy was first mastered. Immediately it was applied to the needs of the army. Possessing more advanced weapons than their neighbors equipped with bronze swords, the army of the Qin principality quickly conquered a significant part of the country's territory. From 221 BC a successful warrior and politician became the head of a united Chinese state - an empire. Since that time, he began to bear the name Qin Shi Huang (in another transcription - Shi Huang Di). Like any usurper, he had many enemies. The emperor surrounded himself with an army of bodyguards. Fearing assassins, he created the first magnetic weapon control in his palace. On the advice of experts, he ordered to put an arch made of magnetic iron ore at the entrance. If an incoming person had an iron weapon hidden, magnetic forces pulled it out from under the clothes. The guards immediately kept up and began to find out why the incoming wanted to enter the palace armed. Fearing for power and life, the emperor fell ill with persecution mania. He saw conspiracies everywhere. He chose the traditional method of prevention - mass terror. At the slightest suspicion of disloyalty, people were seized, tortured and executed. The squares of Chinese cities were constantly resounding with the cries of people who were cut into pieces, boiled alive in cauldrons, fried in frying pans. Hard terror pushed many to flee the country.
Constant stress, the wrong way of life shook the emperor's health. A duodenal ulcer broke out. After 40 years, symptoms of early aging appeared. Some wise men, but rather charlatans, told him a legend about a tree growing across the sea in the east. The fruits of the tree supposedly cure all diseases and prolong youth. The emperor ordered to immediately supply the expedition for fabulous fruits. Several large junks reached the shores of modern Japan, established a settlement there, and decided to stay. They rightly decided that the mythical tree does not exist. If they return empty-handed, the cool emperor will swear a lot, or maybe come up with something worse. This settlement later became the beginning of the formation of the Japanese state.
Seeing that science is not able to restore health and youth, he unleashed anger on scientists. The "historical", or rather hysterical decree of the emperor read - "Burn all books and execute all scientists!" Part of the specialists and works related to military affairs and agriculture, the emperor, under pressure from the public, nevertheless amnestied. However, most of the priceless manuscripts burned down, and 460 scientists, who were then the color of the intellectual elite, ended their lives in cruel torment.
It was to this emperor, as noted, that the idea of the Great Wall belongs. Construction works didn't start from scratch. There were already defensive structures in the north of the country. The idea was to combine them into a single fortification system. What for?
The simplest explanation is the most realistic
Let's resort to analogies. Pyramids of Egypt made no practical sense. They demonstrated the greatness of the pharaohs and their power, the ability to force hundreds of thousands of people to do any, even meaningless action. There are more than enough such structures on Earth, aimed only at exalting power.
Likewise, the Great Wall is a symbol of the power of Shi Huang and other Chinese emperors, who picked up the baton of grandiose construction. It should be noted that, unlike many other similar monuments, the Wall is picturesque and beautiful in its own way, in harmony with nature. Talented fortifiers, who know a lot about the eastern understanding of beauty, were involved in the work.
There was a second need for the Wall, more prosaic. Waves of imperial terror, tyranny of feudal lords and officials forced the peasants to flee en masse in search of a better life.
The main route was to the north, to Siberia. It was there that the Chinese men dreamed of finding land and freedom. Interest in Siberia as an analogue of the Promised Land has long excited ordinary Chinese, and it has long been common for this people to spread all over the world.
Historical analogies suggest themselves. Why did Russian settlers go to Siberia? For a better share, for land and freedom. Fleeing from royal wrath and lordly tyranny.
To stop the uncontrolled migration to the north, undermining the unlimited power of the emperor and the nobles, they created the Great Wall. She would not have held back a serious army. However, the Wall could block the way for peasants walking along mountain paths, burdened with simple belongings, wives and children. And if the peasants went to the breakthrough further away, led by a sort of Chinese Yermak, they were met by a rain of arrows because of the teeth facing their own people. There are more than enough analogues of such unhappy events in history. Consider the Berlin Wall. Officially built against the aggression of the West, it aimed to stop the flight of the inhabitants of the GDR to where life was better, or at least seemed to be. With a similar goal in Stalin's time, they created the most fortified border in the world, nicknamed the "Iron Curtain", for tens of thousands of kilometers. Maybe not by chance, the Great Wall of China in the minds of the peoples of the world has acquired a double meaning. On the one hand, it is a symbol of China. On the other hand, it is a symbol of Chinese isolation from the rest of the world.
There is even an assumption that the "Great Wall" is not a creation of the ancient Chinese, but of their northern neighbors..
Back in 2006, President of the Academy fundamental sciences Andrey Alexandrovich Tyunyaev, in the article “The Great Wall of China was built ... not by the Chinese!”, made an assumption about the non-Chinese origin of the Great Wall. Actually modern China appropriated the achievement of another civilization. In modern Chinese historiography, the task of the wall was also changed: initially it protected the North from the South, and not the Chinese south from the "northern barbarians". Researchers say that the loopholes of a significant part of the wall face south, not north. This can be seen in the works of Chinese drawings, a number of photographs, on the most ancient sections of the wall that have not been modernized for the needs of the tourism industry.
According to Tyunyaev, the last sections of the Great Wall were built in a similar way to Russian and European medieval fortifications, the main task of which is protection from the effects of guns. The construction of such fortifications began no earlier than the 15th century, when cannons were widely spread on the battlefields. In addition, the wall marked the border between China and Russia. At that period of history, the border between Russia and China ran along the “Chinese” wall.” On the map of Asia of the 18th century, which was made by the Royal Academy in Amsterdam, two geographical formations were marked in this region: Tartaria (Tartarie) was located in the north, and China (Chine) was located in the south, the northern border of which ran approximately along the 40th parallel, i.e. exactly along the Great Wall. On this Dutch map, the Great Wall is marked with a heavy line and labeled "Muraille de la Chine". From French, this phrase is translated as “Chinese wall”, but it can also be translated as “wall from China”, or “wall that delimits from China”. In addition, other maps confirm the political significance of the Great Wall: on the 1754 map Carte de l’Asie, the wall also runs along the border between China and Great Tataria (Tartaria). The academic 10-volume World History contains a map of the Qing Empire of the second half of XVII- XVIII centuries, which shows in detail the Great Wall, which runs exactly along the border between Russia and China.
The following are the proofs:
ARCHITECTURAL wall style, now located on the territory of China, is captured by the features of the building "handprints" of its creators. Elements of the wall and towers, similar to fragments of the wall, in the Middle Ages can only be found in the architecture of the ancient Russian defensive structures of the central regions of Russia - the "northern architecture".
Andrey Tyunyaev offers to compare two towers - from the Chinese wall and from the Novgorod Kremlin. The shape of the towers is the same: a rectangle, slightly narrowed upwards. From the wall inside both towers there is an entrance blocked by a round arch, lined with the same brick as the wall with the tower. Each of the towers has two upper "working" floors. Round-arched windows were made in the first floor of both towers. The number of windows on the first floor of both towers is 3 on one side and 4 on the other. The height of the windows is approximately the same - about 130-160 centimeters.
Loopholes are located on the upper (second) floor. They are made in the form of rectangular narrow grooves about 35-45 cm wide. The number of such loopholes in the Chinese tower is 3 deep and 4 wide, and in the Novgorod one - 4 deep and 5 wide. On the top floor of the “Chinese” tower, square holes go along its very edge. There are similar holes in the Novgorod tower, and the ends of the rafters sticking out of them, on which the wooden roof rests.
The situation is the same in comparison of the Chinese tower and the tower of the Tula Kremlin. At the Chinese and Tula towers the same number there are 4 loopholes wide. And the same number of arched openings - 4 each. On the upper floor, between the large loopholes, there are small ones - near the Chinese and Tula towers. The shape of the towers is still the same. In the Tula tower, as in the Chinese one, white stone is used. The arches are made in the same way: at the Tula gate - at the "Chinese" - entrances.
For comparison, you can also use the Russian towers of the Nikolsky Gate (Smolensk) and the northern fortress wall of the Nikitsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky, XVI century), as well as a tower in Suzdal ( mid XVII century). Conclusion: the design features of the towers of the Chinese wall reveal almost exact analogies among the towers of the Russian Kremlin.
And what does the comparison of the preserved towers of the Chinese city of Beijing with the medieval towers of Europe say? The fortress walls of the Spanish city of Avila and Beijing are very similar to each other, especially in that the towers are located very often and have practically no architectural adaptations for military needs. Peking towers have only an upper deck with loopholes, and are laid out at the same height as the rest of the wall.
Neither the Spanish nor the Peking towers show such a high resemblance to the defensive towers of the Chinese Wall, as the towers of the Russian Kremlin and fortress walls show. And this is an occasion for reflection for historians.
And here are the arguments of Sergey Vladimirovich Leksutov:
The chronicles say that the wall was built for two thousand years. In terms of defense - absolutely meaningless construction. Is it that while the wall was being built in one place, in other places the nomads freely walked around China for as much as two thousand years? But the chain of fortresses and ramparts can be built and improved within two thousand years. Fortresses are needed so that garrisons defend themselves from superior enemy forces, as well as for quartering mobile cavalry units in order to immediately go in pursuit of a detachment of robbers that crossed the border.
I thought for a long time, who and why in China built this senseless cyclopean structure? There is simply no one except Mao Tse Tung! With his inherent wisdom, he found an excellent means of adapting tens of millions of healthy men to work, who had fought for thirty years before, and knew nothing but how to fight. It is unthinkable to imagine what a mess would start in China if so many soldiers were demobilized at the same time!
And the fact that the Chinese themselves believe that the wall has been standing for two thousand years is explained very simply. A demobilization battalion arrives in an open field, the commander explains to them: “Here, in this very place, the Great Wall of China stood, but the evil barbarians destroyed it, we have to restore it.” And millions of people sincerely believed that they did not build, but only restored the Great Wall of China. In fact, the wall is built of even, clearly sawn blocks. Is it that in Europe they did not know how to cut stone, but in China they were honored? In addition, soft stone was sawn, and it is better to build fortresses from granite or basalt, or from something no less hard. And granites and basalts learned to saw only in the twentieth century. For the entire length of four and a half thousand kilometers, the wall is made up of monotonous blocks of the same size, and after all, in two thousand years, the methods of processing stone inevitably had to change. And building methods have changed over the centuries.
This researcher believes that the Great Wall of China was built to protect against sandstorms in the Ala Shan and Ordos deserts. He drew attention to the fact that on the map compiled at the beginning of the 20th century by the Russian traveler P. Kozlov, one can see how the Wall runs along the border of shifting sands, and in some places has significant branches. But it was near the deserts that researchers and archaeologists discovered several parallel walls. Galanin explains this phenomenon very simply: when one wall was covered with sand, another was erected. The researcher does not deny the military purpose of the Wall in its eastern part, but the western part of the Wall performed, in his opinion, the function of protecting agricultural areas from the elements.
Soldiers of the invisible front
Perhaps the answers are in the beliefs of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom themselves? It is difficult for us, the people of our time, to believe that our ancestors would erect barriers to repel the aggression of imaginary enemies, for example, incorporeal otherworldly beings with evil thoughts. But the whole point is that our distant predecessors considered evil spirits to be completely real creatures.
The inhabitants of China (both today and in the past) are convinced that the world around them is inhabited by thousands of demonic creatures that are dangerous to humans. One of the names of the wall sounds like "a place where 10 thousand spirits live."
Another curious fact: the Great Wall of China does not stretch in a straight line, but along a winding one. And the features of the relief have nothing to do with it. If you look closely, you can find that even in the flat areas it "winds". What was the logic of the ancient builders?
The ancients believed that all these creatures could move only in a straight line and were unable to bypass the obstacles that appeared on the way. Maybe the Great Wall of China was built to block their way?
Meanwhile, it is known that Emperor Qin Shihuangdi during the construction constantly conferred with astrologers and consulted with soothsayers. According to legend, soothsayers told him that a terrible sacrifice could bring glory to the ruler and provide reliable defense to the state - the bodies of the unfortunate people buried in the wall who died during the construction of the structure. Who knows, perhaps these nameless builders today stand on the eternal guard of the borders of the Celestial Empire ...
Let's look at the photo of the wall:
masterok,
livejournal
The Great Wall of China is the grandest defensive structure in the history of mankind. The prerequisites for the creation were formed long before the centuries-old construction. So many northern principalities and kingdoms of China built walls to protect themselves from nomadic raids. After the unification of these small kingdoms and principalities in the III century BC. Under the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang was elected emperor. It was he who, with the combined efforts of all of China, began the long construction of the Great Wall of China, designed to protect China from enemy raids.
The Great Wall of China in facts and figures
Where is the Great Wall of China located? In China. The wall originates in the city of Shanhai-guan and from there stretches in serpentine curves across half the country to Central China. The end of the wall is near the city of Jiayuguan. The width of the wall is about 5-8 meters, the height reaches 10 meters. On a stretch of 750 kilometers, the Great Wall of China was once used even as an excellent road. Near the wall in some areas there are additional fortifications and fortresses.
The length of the Great Wall of China, if measured in a straight line, reaches 2450 kilometers. And the total length, taking into account all the meanders and branches, is estimated at 5,000 kilometers. Since ancient times, myths and legends have been telling about the size of this building, it was even said that the wall can be seen from the moon. But this myth in our age of technological progress has been freely exposed. Although from space (from orbit) the Chinese Wall is visible, especially when it comes to satellite images. A satellite map, by the way, can be viewed below.
Satellite view of the wall
The history of China's grandiose structure
The beginning of the construction of the Great Wall of China dates back to 221 BC. According to legend, the army of the emperor (about 300 thousand people) was thrown into the construction. A large number of peasants were also involved here, because the loss of builders had to be constantly compensated for with new human resources, since there were no problems with this in China. There are even a number of people who believe that the Great Wall of China was built by the Russians, but let's leave that as another beautiful guess.
The main part of the wall was erected just under the Qing. The front of the work was carried out to combine the already built fortifications into a single structure and expand the wall to the west. Most of the wall was ordinary earth mounds, which were later replaced by stone and brick.
Unrestored section of the wall
Interest causes geographical position walls. It seems to divide China into two parts - the north of the nomads and the south of the farmers. Further ongoing research confirms this fact.
In combination, the longest fortification is also the longest cemetery. One can only guess about the number of builders buried here. Many were buried right here in the wall and continued building on their bones. Their remains are found today.
Based on the great mortality, many legends have surrounded the wall over the centuries. According to one of them, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was predicted that the construction of the wall would be completed either after the death of a person named Wano, or 10,000 other people. The emperor, of course, ordered to find Vano, kill him and bury him in the wall.
During the existence of the wall, they tried to restore it many times. This was done by the Han and Sui dynasties. The Great Wall of China received its modern look during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was here that earth embankments were replaced by bricks, and some sections were rebuilt. Watchtowers were also installed here, some of which have survived to this day. The main purpose of these towers was to signal the advance of the enemy. So at night, an alarm was transmitted from one tower to another with the help of a kindled fire, during the day with the help of smoke.
Watchtowers
Construction acquired a huge scope during the reign of Emperor Wanli (1572-1620). Until the 20th century, many people thought that it was he, and not Qin Shi Huang, who built this grandiose structure.
As a defensive structure, the wall proved to be bad. Indeed, for a major conqueror, the wall is not an obstacle. Only people can interfere with the enemy, but there were problems with people on the wall. Therefore, for the most part, the protection of the wall did not look to the North, but to ... South. It was necessary to keep track of the peasants, tired of taxes and work, who wanted to defect to the free north. In this regard, there is even a semi-myth that the loopholes of the Great Wall of China are directed towards China.
With the growth of China to the North, the function of the wall as a border disappeared completely and it began to decline. Like many other large structures of antiquity, the wall began to be disassembled into building materials. And only in our time (1977) did the Chinese government impose a fine for damaging the Great Wall of China.
Wall in a 1907 photograph
Now the Great Wall of China is a recognized symbol of China. Many sections have been restored again and are shown to tourists, one of the sections even passes near Beijing, which attracts millions of lovers of Chinese culture.
Badaling site near Beijing
There is another material evidence of the presence in this country of a highly developed civilization, to which the Chinese have nothing to do. Unlike the Chinese pyramids, this evidence is well known to everyone. This is the so-called The great Wall of China.
Let's see what orthodox historians have to say about this largest piece of architecture, which has recently become a major tourist attraction in China. The wall is located in the north of the country, stretching from the sea coast and going deep into the Mongolian steppes, and, according to various estimates, has a length, taking into account the branches, from 6 to 13,000 km. The thickness of the wall is several meters (on average 5 meters), the height is 6-10 meters. The wall is said to have included 25,000 towers.
A brief history of the construction of the wall today looks like this. The construction of the wall allegedly began yet in the 3rd century BC during the dynasty Qin to defend against the raids of nomads from the north and clearly define the border of Chinese civilization. The initiator of the construction was the famous "collector of Chinese lands" Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di. He rounded up about half a million people, which, with 20 million total population is a very impressive figure. Back then, the wall was a structure made mostly of earth – a huge earthen rampart.
During the reign of the dynasty Han(206 BC - 220 AD) the wall was expanded to the west, strengthened with stone and built a line of watchtowers that went deep into the desert. Under the dynasty Min(1368-1644) the wall continued to be built further. As a result, it stretched from east to west from the Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea to the western border of the modern provinces of Gansu, entering the territory of the Gobi Desert. It is believed that this wall was already built by the efforts of a million Chinese from bricks and stone blocks, which is why these sections of the wall have survived to this day in the form in which a modern tourist is already accustomed to seeing it. The Ming dynasty was replaced by the Manchu dynasty Qing(1644-1911), who did not build the wall. She limited herself to maintaining in relative order small area about, which served as the "gateway to the capital."
In 1899, American newspapers started a rumor that the wall would soon be demolished and a highway built in its place. However, no one was going to demolish anything. Moreover, in 1984, a wall restoration program initiated by Deng Xiaoping and led by Mao Tse Tung was launched, which is still being carried out and financed by Chinese and foreign companies, as well as individuals. How many drove Mao to restore the wall is not reported. Several sections were repaired, in some places they were erected altogether anew. So we can assume that in 1984 the construction of the fourth wall of China began. Usually, tourists are shown one of the sections of the wall, located 60 km northwest of Beijing. This is the area of Mount Badaling (Badaling), the length of the wall is 50 km.
The wall makes the greatest impression not in the Beijing area, where it was erected on a not very high mountains and in remote mountainous regions. There, by the way, it is very clearly seen that the wall, as a defensive one, was made very thoughtfully. Firstly, five people in a row could move along the wall itself, so it was also a good road, which is extremely important when it is necessary to transfer troops. Under cover of the battlements, the guards could stealthily approach the area where the enemies planned to attack. The signal towers were located in such a way that each of them was within sight of the other two. Some important messages were transmitted either by drumming, or by smoke, or by the fire of bonfires. Thus, the news of the enemy's invasion from the most distant frontiers could be transmitted to the center per day!
During the restoration process, the walls were opened Interesting Facts. For example, its stone blocks were fastened together with sticky rice porridge mixed with slaked lime. Or what loopholes on its fortresses looked towards China; that on the north side the height of the wall is small, much less than on the south, and there are stairs. The latest facts, for obvious reasons, are not advertised and are not commented on by the official one - neither Chinese nor world. Moreover, when reconstructing towers, they try to build loopholes in the opposite direction, although this is not always possible. These photos show the south side of the wall - the sun is shining at noon.
However, the oddities with the Chinese wall do not end there. Wikipedia has a full map of the wall, which shows in different colors the wall we are told each Chinese dynasty built. As you can see, the great wall is not alone. Northern China is often and densely dotted with "great Chinese walls" that go into the territory of modern Mongolia and even Russia. Shed light on these oddities A.A. Tyunyaev in his work "The Chinese Wall - a great barrier from the Chinese":
“It is extremely interesting to trace the stages of the construction of the “Chinese” wall, based on the data of Chinese scientists. It can be seen from them that Chinese scientists, who call the wall "Chinese", are not very concerned about the fact that the Chinese people themselves did not take any part in its construction: every time the next section of the wall was built, the Chinese state was far from the construction sites.
So, the first and main part of the wall was built in the period from 445 BC. to 222 BC It runs along 41-42 ° north latitude and simultaneously along some sections of the river. Huanghe. At that time, of course, there were no Mongol-Tatars. Moreover, the first unification of peoples within China took place only in 221 BC. under the reign of Qin. And before that, there was the Zhangguo period (5-3 centuries BC), in which eight states existed on the territory of China. Only in the middle of the 4th c. BC. Qin began against other kingdoms, and by 221 BC. conquered some of them.
The figure shows that the western and northern border of the state of Qin by 221 BC. began to coincide with that section of the "Chinese" wall, which began to be built even in 445 BC and was built in 222 BC
Thus, we see that this section of the "Chinese" wall was built not by the Chinese of the Qin state, but northern neighbors, but precisely from the Chinese spreading to the north. In just 5 years - from 221 to 206. BC. - a wall was built along the entire border of the state of Qin, which stopped the spread of his subjects to the north and west. In addition, at the same time, 100-200 km west and north of the first, the second line of defense from Qin was built - the second "Chinese" wall of this period.
The next period covers the time from 206 BC to 220 AD During this period, sections of the wall were built, located 500 km to the west and 100 km to the north of the previous ones ... from 618 to 907 China was ruled by the Tang dynasty, which did not mark itself as victorious over its northern neighbors.
In the next period from 960 to 1279 The Song Empire was established in China. At this time, China lost dominance over its vassals in the west, in the northeast (on the territory of the Korean Peninsula) and in the South - in the north. The Sung empire lost a significant part of the territories of the Chinese proper in the north and northwest, which went to the Khitan state of Liao (part of the modern provinces of Hebei and Shanxi), the Tangut kingdom of Xi-Xia (part of the territories of modern Shaanxi province, the entire territory of modern Gansu province and Ningxia Hui autonomous region).
In 1125, the border between the non-Chinese kingdom of the Jurchens and China passed along the river. Huaihe is 500-700 km south of the places where the wall was built. And in 1141, it was signed, according to which the Chinese Sung Empire recognized itself as a vassal of the non-Chinese state of Jin, pledging to pay him a large tribute.
However, while China itself huddled south of the river. Hunahe, 2100-2500 km north of its borders, another section of the "Chinese" wall was erected. This part of the wall built from 1066 to 1234, passes through Russian territory north of the village of Borzya near the river. Argun. At the same time, another section of the wall was built 1500-2000 km north of China, located along the Greater Khingan...
The next section of the wall was built between 1366 and 1644. It runs along the 40th parallel from Andong (40°), slightly to the north (40°), through Yinchuan (39°) to Dunhuang and Anxi (40°) in the west. This section of the wall is the last, southernmost and most deeply penetrating into the territory of China ... During the construction of this section of the wall, the entire Amur region belonged to Russian territories. By the middle of the 17th century, on both banks of the Amur, there were already Russian fortresses-prisons (Albazinsky, Kumarsky, etc.), peasant settlements and arable lands. In 1656, the Daurskoye (later Albazinskoye) voivodeship was formed, which included the valley of the Upper and Middle Amur along both banks ... The “Chinese” wall built by the Russians by 1644 ran exactly along the border of Russia with Qing China. In the 1650s, Qing China invaded Russian lands to a depth of 1500 km, which was confirmed by the Aigun (1858) and Beijing (1860) treaties ... "
Badaling is the most visited section of the Great Wall of China.“A long wall of 10,000 li” is what the Chinese themselves call this miracle of ancient engineering. For a huge country with almost one and a half billion people, it has become a matter of national pride, a calling card that attracts travelers from all over the world. Today, the Great Wall of China is one of the most popular attractions - approximately 40 million people visit it every year. In 1987, the unique object was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.
Locals still like to repeat that the one who did not climb the wall is not a real Chinese. This phrase, uttered by Mao Zedong, is perceived as a real call to action. Despite the fact that the height of the structure is about 10 meters with a width of 5-8 m in different sections (not to mention not very convenient steps), there are no fewer foreigners who want to feel like true Chinese even for a moment. In addition, a magnificent panorama of the surroundings opens up from a height, which you can admire endlessly.
You involuntarily wonder how harmoniously this creation of human hands fits into the natural landscape, making up a single whole with it. The explanation of the phenomenon is simple: the Great Wall of China was laid not in the desert, but next to hills and mountains, spurs and deep gorges, smoothly bending around them. But why did the ancient Chinese need to build such a large and extended fortification? How did the construction go and how long did it last? These questions are asked by everyone who was lucky enough to visit here at least once. Answers to them have long been received by researchers, and we will dwell on the rich historical past of the Great Wall of China. She herself leaves an ambiguous impression on tourists, since some sections are in excellent condition, while others are completely abandoned. Only this circumstance in no way detracts from the interest in this object - rather, on the contrary.
The history of the construction of the Great Wall of China
In the III century BC, one of the rulers of the Celestial Empire was Emperor Qing Shi Huang. His era was during the Warring States period. It was a difficult and controversial time. The state was threatened from all sides by enemies, especially the aggressive Xiongnu nomads, and it needed protection from their treacherous raids. Thus was born the decision to build an impregnable wall - high and long, so that no one could disturb the peace of the Qin empire. At the same time, this building should have been, to put it modern language, demarcate the boundaries of the ancient Chinese kingdom and promote its further centralization. The wall was also intended to solve the issue of “the purity of the nation”: by fencing off the barbarians, the Chinese would be deprived of the opportunity to enter into marriage relations with them and have children together.
The idea of building such a grandiose border fortification was not born out of the blue. There have already been precedents. Many kingdoms - for example, Wei, Yan, Zhao and the already mentioned Qin - tried to build something similar. The Wei state erected its wall around 353 BC. e .: adobe construction separated it from the kingdom of Qin. Later, this and other border fortifications were connected to each other, and they formed a single architectural ensemble.
The construction of the Great Wall of China started along the Yingshan - mountain system in Inner Mongolia, it is in the north of China. The emperor appointed commander Meng Tian to coordinate its course. The work ahead was large. Previously built walls had to be strengthened, connected with new sections and lengthened. As for the so-called "inner" walls, which served as borders between separate kingdoms, they were simply demolished.
The construction of the first sections of this grandiose object took a total of a decade, and the construction of the entire Great Wall of China stretched for two millennia (according to some evidence, even as much as 2,700 years). At its various stages, the number of people simultaneously involved in the work reached three hundred thousand. In general, the authorities attracted (more precisely, forced) about two million people to join them. These were representatives of many social strata: slaves, peasants, and military personnel. The workers worked in inhuman conditions. Some died from overwork as such, others became victims of severe and incurable infections.
To comfort, at least relative, did not have the area itself. The construction ran along the mountain ranges, skirting all the spurs extending from them. The builders moved forward, overcoming not only high rises, but also many gorges. Their sacrifices were not in vain - at least from the point of view of today: it was precisely such a landscape of the area that determined the unique appearance of the miracle building. Not to mention its size: on average, the height of the wall reaches 7.5 meters, and this is without taking into account the rectangular battlements (with them all 9 meters are obtained). Its width is also not the same - at the bottom 6.5 m, at the top 5.5 m.
The Chinese in everyday life call their wall "earth dragon". And it is by no means accidental: at the very beginning, any materials were used in its construction, primarily rammed earth. It was done like this: first, shields were woven from reeds or rods, and clay, small pebbles and other improvised materials were pressed in layers between them. When Emperor Qin Shi Huang took over, they began to use more reliable stone slabs, which were laid right next to each other.
Surviving sections of the Great Wall of China
However, not only the variety of materials determined the heterogeneous appearance of the Great Wall of China. The towers also make it recognizable. Some of them were built before the wall itself appeared, and were built into it. Other elevations appeared simultaneously with the stone "border". It is not difficult to determine which were before and which were erected after: the first ones have a smaller width and are located at an unequal distance, while the second organically fit into the building and are exactly 200 meters apart from each other. They were usually erected rectangular, in two floors, equipped with upper platforms with loopholes. Observation of enemy maneuvers, especially when they were advancing, was carried out from signal towers located here, on the wall.
When the Han Dynasty came to power, ruling from 206 BC to 220 AD, the Great Wall of China was expanded in westbound to Dunhuang. During this period, the object was equipped with a whole line of watchtowers that went deep into the desert. Their purpose is to protect caravans with goods, which often suffered from nomadic raids. To this day, mainly sections of the wall, erected in the era of the Ming dynasty, which ruled from 1368 to 1644, have survived. They were built mainly from more reliable and durable materials - stone blocks and bricks. Over the three centuries of the reign of the named dynasty, the Great Wall of China "grew" significantly, stretching from the coast of the Bohai Bay (Shanhaiguan outpost) to the border of the modern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province (Yumenguan outpost).
Where does the wall begin and end?
The man-made border of Ancient China originates in the north of the country, in the city of Shanghai-guan, located on the shores of the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea, which once had strategic importance on the borders of Manchuria and Mongolia. This is the most eastern point Long wall of 10,000 li. The Laoluntou tower is also located here, it is also called the “dragon's head”. The tower is also notable for being the only place in the country where the Great Wall of China is washed by the sea, and it itself deepens into the bay by as much as 23 meters.
The westernmost point of the monumental structure is located in the vicinity of the city of Jiayuguan, in the central part of the Celestial Empire. Here is the Great Wall of China the best way. This site was built back in the 14th century, so it might not stand the test of time either. But it survived due to the fact that it was constantly strengthened and repaired. The westernmost outpost of the empire was built near Jiayuyoshan Mountain. The outpost was equipped with a moat and walls - internal and semicircular external. There are also main gates located on the western and eastern sides of the outpost. The Yuntai Tower stands proudly here, considered by many almost as a separate attraction. Inside, Buddhist texts and bas-reliefs of ancient Chinese kings are engraved on the walls, which arouse the constant interest of researchers.
Myths, legends, interesting facts
For a long time it was believed that the Great Wall of China could be seen from space. Moreover, this myth was born long before the flights to low Earth orbit, in 1893. Not even an assumption, but a statement was made by The Century magazine (USA). Then they returned to this idea in 1932. Robert Ripley, a well-known showman at the time, claimed that the structure could also be seen from the moon. With the advent of the era of spaceflight, these claims were largely refuted. According to NASA experts, the object is barely visible from the orbit, from which to the Earth's surface is about 160 km. The wall, and then with the help of strong binoculars, was able to see the American astronaut William Pogue.
Another myth takes us directly to the time of the construction of the Great Wall of China. An ancient legend says that a powder prepared from human bones was allegedly used as a cementing mortar that held the stones together. It was not necessary to go far for “raw materials” for him, given that many workers died here. Luckily, this is just a legend, albeit a creepy one. The ancient masters really prepared the adhesive solution from powder, only the basis of the substance was ordinary rice flour.
There is a legend that a great fiery Dragon paved the way for the workers. He also indicated in which areas the wall should be erected, and the builders steadily followed in his footsteps. Another legend tells of a farmer's wife named Men Jing Niu. Upon learning of the death of her husband at the construction site, she came there and began to cry inconsolably. As a result, one of the sites collapsed, and the widow saw the remains of her beloved under it, which she was able to take and bury.
It is known that the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow. But few people know that they were prompted by the construction of a grandiose facility that had begun: the workers needed convenient fixture, with which it would be possible to transport building materials. Some sections of the Great Wall of China, which were of exceptional strategic importance, were surrounded by protective ditches filled with water or left in the form of ditches.
Great Wall of China in winter
Sections of the Great Wall of China
Several sections of the Great Wall of China are open for tourists to visit. Let's talk about some of them.
The closest outpost to Beijing, the modern capital of the PRC, is Badaling (it is also one of the most popular). It is located north of the Juyongguan pass and is only 60 km from the city. It was built in the era of the ninth Chinese emperor - Hongzhi, who ruled from 1487 to 1505. Along this section of the wall are signal platforms and watchtowers, which offer a magnificent view if you climb its very high point. In this place, the height of the object reaches an average of 7.8 meters. The width is sufficient for 10 pedestrians or 5 horses to pass.
Another outpost quite close to the capital is called Mutianyu and is located 75 km from it, in Huaizhou, the urban subordination area of Beijing. This section was built during the reign of the Longqing (Zhu Zaihou) and Wanli (Zhu Yijun) emperors of the Ming Dynasty. At this point, the wall takes a sharp turn towards the northeastern regions of the country. The local landscape is mountainous, there are many steep slopes and cliffs. Zastava is notable for the fact that three branches of the “great stone border” converge at its southeastern tip, and at a 600-meter height.
One of the few sites where the Great Wall of China has been preserved almost in its original form is Simatai. It is located in Gubeikou Village, 100 km northeast of Miyun County, Beijing Municipality. This section stretches for 19 km. In its southeastern part, which still impresses with its impregnable view even today, there are partially preserved observation towers (14 in total).
The steppe section of the wall originates from the Jinchuan Gorge - this is east of the county town of Shandan, in the Zhangye district of Gansu province. In this place, the structure stretches for 30 km, and its height varies between 4-5 meters. In ancient times, the Great Wall of China was supported on both sides by a parapet that has survived to this day. The gorge itself deserves special attention. At a height of 5 meters, if you count from its bottom, you can see several carved hieroglyphs right on a rocky cliff. The inscription translates as "Jinchuan Citadel".
In the same province of Gansu, north of the Jiayuguan outpost, at a distance of only 8 km, there is a steep section of the Great Wall of China. It was built during the Ming period. He received this view due to the specifics of the local landscape. The bends of the mountainous terrain, which the builders had to take into account, “lead” the wall to a steep descent right into the crevice, where it goes straight. In 1988, the Chinese authorities restored this site and opened it to tourists a year later. From the watchtower you have a magnificent panorama of the surroundings on both sides of the wall.
Steep section of the Great Wall of China
The ruins of the Yangguan outpost are located 75 km southwest of the city of Dunhuang, which in ancient times served as a gateway to the Celestial Empire on the Great Silk Road. In the old days, the length of this section of the wall was approximately 70 km. Here you can see impressive heaps of stones and earthen ramparts. All this leaves no doubt: there were at least a dozen watch and signal towers here. However, they have not survived to our time, except for the signal tower north of the outpost, on Mount Dundun.
The section known as the Wei Wall originates in the town of Chaoyuandong (Shaanxi Province), located on the west coast of the Changjian River. Not far from here is the northern spur of one of the five sacred mountains of Taoism - Huashan, belonging to the Qinling Range. From here, the Great Wall of China moves towards the northern regions, as evidenced by its fragments in the villages of Chengnan and Hongyan, of which the former is best preserved.
Measures to save the wall
Time did not spare this unique architectural object, which many call the eighth wonder of the world. The rulers of the Chinese kingdoms did everything in their power to counteract the destruction. However, from 1644 to 1911 - the period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty - the Great Wall was practically abandoned and suffered even more destruction. Only the Badaling section was maintained in order, and that because it was located near Beijing and was considered the “front gate” to the capital. History, of course, does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, but if it were not for the betrayal of the commander Wu Sangui, who opened the gates of the Shanhaiguan outpost to the Manchus and let the enemy through, the Ming dynasty would not have fallen, and the attitude towards the wall would have remained the same - careful.
Deng Xiaoping, the founder of economic reforms in the PRC, paid great attention to the preservation of the country's historical heritage. It was he who initiated the restoration of the Great Wall of China, the program of which started in 1984. It was financed from a variety of sources, including funds from foreign business structures and donations from individuals. To raise money in the late 80s, an art auction was even held in the capital of the Celestial Empire, the course of which was widely covered not only in the country itself, but also by the leading television companies in Paris, London and New York. A lot of work was done with the proceeds, but the sections of the wall that are far from the tourist centers are still in a deplorable state.
On September 6, 1994, the thematic Museum of the Great Wall of China was inaugurated in Badaling. Behind a building that resembles a wall with its appearance, she herself is located. The institution is intended to popularize the great historical and cultural heritage this, without exaggeration, a unique architectural object.
Even the corridor in the museum is stylized under it - it is distinguished by its sinuousness, along its entire length there are “passages”, “signal towers”, “fortresses”, etc. The tour makes you feel as if you are traveling along the real Great Wall of China: so everything is well thought out and realistic.
Note to tourists
There are two funiculars on the Mutianyu section, the longest of the completely restored fragments of the wall, located 90 km north of the capital of China. The first is equipped with closed cabins and is designed for 4-6 people, the second is an open lift, similar to ski lifts. Those suffering from acrophobia (fear of heights) are better off not taking risks and prefer a walking tour, which, however, is also fraught with difficulties.
Climbing the Great Wall of China is easy enough, but the descent can turn into real torture. The fact is that the height of the steps is not the same and varies between 5-30 centimeters. You should go down them with the utmost care and it is advisable not to stop, because after a pause it is much harder to resume the descent. One tourist even calculated: climbing the wall at its lowest point involves overcoming 4,000 (!) steps.
Time to visit how to get to the Great Wall of China
Tours to the Mutianyu site from March 16 to November 15 are held from 7:00 to 18:00, in other months - from 7:30 to 17:00.
The Badaling site is available for visits from 6:00 to 19:00 at summer period and from 7:00 to 18:00 in winter.
You can get acquainted with the Symatai site in November-March from 8:00 to 17:00, in April-November - from 8:00 to 19:00.
A visit to the Great Wall of China is provided both as part of excursion groups and individually. In the first case, tourists are delivered by special buses, which usually depart from Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Yabaolu and Qianmen streets, in the second, public transport or a private car with a driver hired for the whole day is available to inquisitive travelers.
The first option is suitable for those who are in China for the first time and do not know the language. Or, on the contrary, those who know the country and speak Chinese, but at the same time want to save money: group tours are relatively inexpensive. But there are also costs, namely the significant duration of such tours and the need to focus on other members of the group.
Public transport to get to the Great Wall of China is usually used by those who know Beijing well and at least speak and read Chinese. A trip by regular bus or train will cost less than even the most attractive group tour. There is also a time saving: an independent tour will allow you not to be distracted, for example, by visiting numerous souvenir shops, where guides love to take tourists so much in the hope of earning their commission on sales.
Renting a driver with a car for the whole day is the most comfortable and flexible way to get to the section of the Great Wall of China that you choose for yourself. The pleasure is not cheap, but it is worth it. Wealthy tourists often book a car through a hotel. You can catch it just on the street, like an ordinary taxi: this is how many metropolitan residents earn money, readily offering their services to foreigners. Just do not forget to take a phone number from the driver or take a picture of the car itself, so that you don’t have to look for it for a long time if the person leaves or drives off somewhere before you return from the tour.