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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with "*''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, inter..."
*''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 [[Qin Shihuangdi|First Emperor]] [[Qin Dynasty|of Qin]] to help guard against horse-riding nomadic groups to the north such as the [[Xiongnu]]<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 55-57.</ref> 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]]).<ref>Schirokauer, 246.</ref>
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 [[corvee|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.<ref>Albert Craig, ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 33.</ref>
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 [[Yuan Dynasty|Mongol]] and [[Qing Dynasty|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.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 30-33.</ref>
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels, Tobu World Square.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/54288257594/in/photostream/]
<references/>
[[Category:Historic Buildings]]
[[Category:Yayoi Period]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
*''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 [[Qin Shihuangdi|First Emperor]] [[Qin Dynasty|of Qin]] to help guard against horse-riding nomadic groups to the north such as the [[Xiongnu]]<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 55-57.</ref> 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]]).<ref>Schirokauer, 246.</ref>
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 [[corvee|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.<ref>Albert Craig, ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 33.</ref>
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 [[Yuan Dynasty|Mongol]] and [[Qing Dynasty|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.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 30-33.</ref>
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels, Tobu World Square.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/54288257594/in/photostream/]
<references/>
[[Category:Historic Buildings]]
[[Category:Yayoi Period]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
