Great Wall
- Built: 3rd century BCE
- Chinese/Japanese: 万里長城 (Wànlǐ Chángchéng / Banri no chôjô)
The Great Wall of China is a lengthy defensive stone wall, intersected by periodic watchtowers, gates, and other defensive structures, which extends some 2,400 km across northern China. Originally constructed in the 3rd century CE by the First Emperor of Qin to help guard against horse-riding nomadic groups to the north such as the Xiongnu[1] and others, it was significantly restored, upgraded, and expanded during the Ming dynasty. Much of what survives of the wall today dates to the reign of the Chenghua Emperor of Ming (r. 1465-1488).[2]
The Great Wall is today a World Heritage Site and is easily one of the most famous structures in the world.
History
The Wall was originally built, in its earliest form, by corvée labor at the orders of Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of Qin, near the end of the 3rd century BCE. It was significantly expanded by Emperor Wu of Han (Hàn Wǔdì) a century later.[3]
Despite its size and fame as a defensive structure, the Great Wall has also famously failed to keep out invaders on numerous occasions, perhaps most famously and impactfully failing to prevent the Mongol and Manchu conquests of China in the 13th and 17th centuries respectively. Additionally, in 1550 a band of Mongols led by Altan Khan is said to have simply moved around, or between, sections of the Wall to make their way all the way to the gates of Beijing; in the end, they were convinced to leave peacefully.
Qing forces passed beyond the Wall as early as 1638, to raid areas in Shandong province] and elsewhere. Though a crucial pass known as Sanhuaiguan was still well-guarded by Ming forces as late as 1643, the following year, Ming general Wu Sangui made the fateful decision to allow the Manchus through the pass so that they might help defeat the rebellion of Li Zicheng, which threatened to destroy the Ming; by the end of 1644, the Manchus had taken control of Beijing and placed a Manchu ruler on the imperial throne.[4]
References
- Gallery labels, Tobu World Square.[1]
- ↑ Conrad Schirokauer, et al, A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations, Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 55-57.
- ↑ Schirokauer, 246.
- ↑ Albert Craig, The Heritage of Chinese Civilization, Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 33.
- ↑ Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 30-33.
