The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty

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world. It stretches from Yalv River in the east, to Jiayuguan Pass in the west, and has total length of 7350 km. It twists and turns along the mountain ridges, which just like a huge dragon f ies in China’s territory. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty is that is the latest, the lar gest-scale, the solidest and the best equipped Great Wall throughout China’s history. It mainly consists of Wall, Watch Tower and Pass etc. The most intact and representative period of the Great Wall is Great Wall at Badaling in Beijing City . Jiayuguan Pass, Juyongguan Pass, Shanhaiguan Pass and other famous passes are the important military bases of the Great Wall. Juyongguan Pass is located in northwest part of Changping District in Beijing. With towering mountains, overlapped green peaks and accidented topography, Juyongguan Pass controls the passage southward Beijing, and has already become a key town of military defense. Some dynasty-changing wars, for instance Jin destructed the Liao Dynasty , the Ming Dynasty demised the Yuan Dynasty and Li Zichang overthrow the Ming Dynasty, were all started from conquering Juyongguan Pass. Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province is the start point in west of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, and its P a s s C i t y i n i t i a l l y constructed in 1372. As a solid military fortress, Jiayuguan Pass controls the key passages to hinterland inside the Pass.

Watch Tower, which is a l s o c a l l e d a s ” Wa t c h Platform”, constructs on the wall according to the change of mountain ridges and the need of defense. There are about tens or h u n d r e d s o f m e t e r s between every two Watch To w e r s . T h e s e Wa t c h Towers shape uniquely and has greatly enriched the visual rhythm of Great Wall. Generally, the Hollow Watch Tower has 2 or 3 floors and arrow windows in four directions. The ground floor can station soldiers and store foods and weapons. Upper parts of the Hollow Watch Tower are Platform Tops, which often has eaves providing shelters for soldiers. Other platforms are used to light and hold the warning signal fire. Solid Watch Tower only has the climbing passage and doesn’t have any arrow windows.

Origin of the Great Wall

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (from the 8th century BC to 221 BC), the north-located states such as Yan, Zhao all constructed several phrases of “Long Wall” along their state borders for defending against the invasion of Huns. Later, the First Qin Emperor widened, lengthened and connected these walls, and made it as the shelter of defending Huns. This was the beg inning of the world-famous “Great Wall”. From then on, many dynasties have constructed Great Wall, but they are out of shapes because were constructed with rammed earth. The brick-and-stone Great Wall people see nowadays was constructed in Ming Dynasty for defending north minorities come southward, so it is called as “The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty”.