Great Wall of China Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts

ContentsQin Dynasty Construction The Great Wall of China Through the CenturiesWall Rosetta Stone V3 Building During the Ming DynastySignificance of the Great Wall of China .topic-toc Qin Dynasty Construction Though the beginning of the Great Wall of China can be traced to the third century B.C., many of the fortifications included in the wall date from hundreds of years earlier, when China was divided into a number of individual kingdoms during the so-called Warring States Period. Around 220 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, ordered that earlier fortifications between states be removed and a number of existing walls along the northern border be joined into a single system that would extend for more than 10,000 li (a li is about one-third of a mile) and protect China against attacks from the north.Construction of the Wan Li Chang Cheng, or 10,000-Li-Long Wall, was one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken Rosetta Stone Spanish Latin by any civilization. The famous Chinese general Meng Tian directed the project, and was said to have used a massive army of soldiers, convicts and commoners as workers. Made mostly of earth and stone, the wall stretched from the China Sea port of Shanhaiguan over 3,000 miles west into Gansu province. In some strategic areas, sections of the wall overlapped for maximum security (including the Badaling stretch, north of Beijing, that was later restored by the Ming dynasty). From a base of 15 to 50 feet, the Great Wall rose some 15-30 feet high and was topped by ramparts 12 feet or higher; guard towers were distributed at intervals along it.The Great Wall of China Through the Rosetta Stone Spain Spanish CenturiesWith the death of Qin Shi Huang and the fall of the Qin dynasty, much of the Great Wall fell into disrepair. After the fall of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), a series of frontier tribes seized control in northern China. The most powerful of these was the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535 A.D.), which repaired and extended the existing wall to defend against attacks from other tribes.