The Great Wall of China was built over 2,000 years ago by Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.). (All About the Great Wall of China) In China the Great Wall is called Wan-Li-Qang-Queg which means 10,000
Li-Long Wall. (All About the Great Wall of China) The Great Wall is 25 feet tall and 15-30 feet wide. (The History Channel) Of all the sections of the Great Wall, Badaling is the most famous and largest one. It receives the most visitors, with more foreign guests from more countries visiting than any other section. The wall displays the history and culture of
China. (Travel China Guide) Many people worked on the Great Wall of China. Many as 300,000 soldiers and 500,000 commoners worked to help built the wall. (Great-Wall of China ) The building of the Great Wall was done in very hot weather and some in the bitter cold. In the earliest stages, builders rammed earth and stone into the walls. But in the Ming Dynasty they used bricks, limestone, and tiles. (Kinabaloo)
Land under Heaven “Middle Kingdom”. (Notes from Class) The second dynasty to be add into the Great Wall of China was the Hans
Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.). The method the Hans Dynasty used was similar to the Qin Dynasty but they built stronger walls. This method involved first laying down a layer of willow reeds, possibly woven. Then a layer of gravel and little water was applied and trampled solid.
After the trampling, a new layer of reeds and gravel was added. This process would be repeated until the desired height was reached. As of this day still some portions of the wall is still standing due to dry conditions. (Kinabaloo) The last dynasty to be added to the Great Wall of China was the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644). This Dynasty built the biggest, longest, strongest, and most ornate Great Wall ever.
These are the walls that we are familiar with today. (Kinabaloo) Their methods of the Great Wall building fused all that was learned by the two previous dynasties. First, a center of trampled earth was created. Then, around the firm center was applied a shell of stone and bricks. The bricks that were created by the Ming are so strong that they compare well with the ones we use today. (Kinabaloo) The last Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was a military fortification of great strength. It was expensive to build, maintain, garrison, and the resources the
Ming Dynasty spent On the Great Wall could have been spent on other military capabilities. (Kinabaloo) Fire and smoke were the most efficient means for communication. Fire was used at night and smoke during the day. Straw and dung was used for this. In
1468,set of specific meanings to these signals : a single shot and a sing fire or smoke signal implied about 100 enemies, two signals warned of 500, three warned of over a 1,000 enemies and so on. (Kinabaloo) The Great Wall took 38 years to built. It is 15 hundred miles long. Also thousands of bodies are found in the wall.