This is probably one of the few buildings of mankind, which has gathered around itself so many interested scientists, researchers, historians, and even ordinary tourists. People from all over the world come to stare at the Great Wall of China. It is rightfully considered one of the most grandiose structures ever created by mankind. The main symbol of China, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
During the time that has flown from the time of construction to the present day, this building has been rebuilt more than once, something has been completely destroyed, considering it unnecessary or superfluous, something has been completed, adjusting to today's requests. But, one way or another, this historical monument has survived to this day and is ready to welcome tourists.
By the way, few people know that once Mao Tse-Tung wrote an expression near the entrance. According to him, a Chinese who has not seen this monument cannot be called a real Chinese.
Today, the wall is considered a majestic monument, a national symbol, a landmark and a hallmark of China. After all, this building has witnessed many events in the history of the Chinese Empire.
This grandiose building begins in the city of Shanhai-guan. From there, the wall stretches across half the country and ends in Central China. To some, its location resembles the movements of a snake, and the Chinese themselves associate it with the take-off of a dragon. Probably, it is precisely because of such associations that she has become a national symbol for the people of China.
The length of the Great Wall of China is 8851.8 kilometers. The width of the wall ranges from 5 to 8 meters, and in some places the height has reached 10 meters.
The construction is so strong that one section, which is 750 kilometers long, was once turned into a real road. In some places, fortresses and fortifications were built near the wall, which has a historical and logical explanation.
The most popular sections of the wall among tourists are Simatai and Badaling.. There is nothing surprising in this, because they are located next to, 75 kilometers from the capital.
By the way, there is a widespread myth that the Great Wall can be seen even from space. Astronauts say that this is not so - no one has ever seen a wall from space with the naked eye.
Construction history
Construction of the Great Wall of China began in the 3rd century BC. Historians have not even argued about who built the Chinese wall. This idea belonged to Emperor Qin Shi Huang. In history, he became famous as a cruel ruler, longing for change. During his reign, he completely changed the life of his people. This was especially felt by aristocrats and princes, from whom the emperor took away privileges and subordinated them to himself.
Historians argue that the original purpose of building the Great Wall of China was to protect the emperor's possessions from raids by nomadic tribes. But the researchers deny themselves, saying that the then northern tribes did not pose any particular danger to the emperor and his country. Therefore, it was pointless to defend against raids in this way. And on this basis, historians have deduced a new version: the purpose of such a huge construction was to mark the borders of the Chinese empire, which was supposed to prevent the Chinese from merging with the nomads.
221 BC - 300 thousand people arrived at the northern border of the Chinese Empire. Commander Meng Tian led the parade. These people were given the task of erecting a wall of stones and bricks where the earthen ramparts had been. It is worth noting that most of the wall passed in hard-to-reach places, which, of course, made the work of its builders difficult. To keep the construction under control, all people were divided into 34 bases, around which settlements appeared over time.
The building of the wall began with towers. There were 25,000 of them then. I must say that they differed significantly from each other, had different density and size. But all such structures were drawn to real fortifications. Their average length was 12 meters.
The distance between the towers was measured by "arrow flights", which should have been equal to two. Protective structures (towers) were interconnected by a wall, the height of which reached seven meters. By the way, the width of the wall was measured by a line of eight people.
There is a very interesting story, or rather a legend, about how the boundary of the Great Wall was determined. The emperor decided to go around his possessions on a horse. His route became the boundary of the wall. And places for towers were designated in areas where the ruler's horse stumbled.
The protective function of the wall is also questioned by the fact that during its construction, the features of the area were taken into account. So, for example, in the north it separates mountainous areas unsuitable for life from fertile lands. On this occasion, scientists expressed their opinion. According to them, this structure was intended to separate the fertile south of the Chinese Empire from the nomadic north.
Wall of bones
Until 213 BC, the builders managed to bring to mind most of the wall. Peasants were also brought in to help the soldiers. Most of the commoners could not work for a long time in such conditions and at such an accelerated pace, and died of exhaustion. What did they do with their bodies? They were immured in the wall.
Since historians made public this historical fact, there have been many statements on this subject. Some called the Great Wall of China "the longest cemetery in the world". Someone reproachfully said that the wall was built on human bones. And such thoughts are not without reason: about 400,000 Chinese are immured in the wall. At that time, the people considered this huge construction site a great disaster. These motifs can be found in ancient Chinese songs, fairy tales and legends.
Whatever it was, no matter what they said, but even the nickname "the longest cemetery in the world e" will not be able to scare away tourists who want to touch ancient history, look at the greatest buildings of the Chinese people.
The further fate of the wall
After waiting for the death of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, in 210 BC, the people rebelled and overthrew the Qin dynasty. This made it possible to suspend the construction of the wall. A period of stagnation began in the fate of the Chinese Wall. Further, the story says that not all emperors undertook to complete the construction of the defensive structure. Many had high hopes for the troops, and the wall, as an opportunity to strengthen the borders of the empire, was neglected.
When the Mongol khan came to power, the wall was completely abandoned. Its restoration began only in the 15th century.
How to get to the Great Wall of China
To see this grandiose monument of the Chinese Empire, you can go in several ways:
- go on a tour
- take a taxi
- take the train express
Please note that among other expenses, you will need to buy an entrance ticket to the wall, which costs 45 yuan.
Bus tours
A guided tour is the easiest way. For those who do not know Chinese or are afraid to travel alone, a group of tourists and a guide at the head is a great option.
Tour buses are waiting for tourists in Yabaolu, Tiananmen and Qianmen. In addition, such information can be found at the reception of any hotel.
Prices for such pleasure are acceptable, from 100 to 500 (depending on the number of people in the group). But the price, most often, includes only travel to Badaling. You will have to buy the entrance ticket and meals yourself. But after visiting the wall, you will be taken to the tombs of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.
The only disadvantage of this option is the limited tour. You cannot decide when and where to go, because you need to focus on other tourists. Therefore, if you want to spend the whole day on the Great Wall of China, then bus tours are not for you. Although in most cases there is nothing to do there all day. 
Taxi ride
You can get to the historical monument by hiring a private car with a driver. In Yabaolu, those offering such services are more than enough. You can also order a car through the hotel, but it will be a little more expensive.
The cost of a taxi can fluctuate around 400-800 yuan. But do not forget that food and an entry ticket again remain on your shoulders.
This method is much more convenient than the previous one, the driver will take you anywhere, because here only you are in command of the parade.
By train express to Badaling
Especially for the Chinese Olympics, an express train was built for those wishing to visit the section of the wall located in Badaling. The journey takes an hour and a half. The train departs from Beijing North Station, located at Xizhimen Subway Station - Circle Line Intersection. Directly from the subway station there are signs saying "Beijing Railway Station North".
From here, the express goes to the wall - Xizhimen Station The cost of the trip will be minimal, and will cost no more than 20 yuan per person in both directions. Tickets are sold directly at the station. The train schedule is constantly changing, but the express departs every hour. Numbers of all trains departing for Badaling begin with S2. Please note that the station is not the final one and you need to get off together with the main crowd of passengers, you can’t go wrong.
Of the minuses, it is worth noting that you will encounter huge queues, and you will have to go standing up.
Before the trip, be sure to eat well and buy water, as everything is very expensive on the wall. At the same Xizhimen station there is a large shopping center, there are many cafes and fast food places, such as Burger King and McDonald's.
Don't forget to dress warmly as the wall is on a hill and there is often a strong piercing wind.
The Great Wall of China is a grandiose structure in the entire history of mankind, which performs a defensive function. The reasons for the creation of such a large-scale building were formed long before the start of a long construction. Many principalities of the north and the kingdoms of China in general built protective walls against raids of enmity and simple nomads. When all the kingdoms and principalities united (3rd century BC), an emperor named Qin Shi Huang began the centuries-old and difficult construction of the Chinese Wall with all the forces of China.
shanhai guan is the city where the Great Wall of China begins. It is from there that it stretches in wavy bends, skirting more than half of the borders of Central China. The width of the wall is on average 6 meters, and the height is about 10. At some point in time, the wall was even used as a good level road. On some sections of the wall there are fortresses and fortifications as additions.
2450 meters - this is the length of the Chinese wall, although the total length, taking into account all the branches, bends and meanders, is almost 5000 km. From such a large and infinite size, many legends, myths and fairy tales have long been formed, for example, one of the most common is that the wall can be seen from the Moon and Mars. In fact, the Wall of China is only visible from orbit and satellite imagery.
According to a popular legend, a huge imperial army was spent on the construction of the wall, and this is about 300,000 people. In addition, tens of thousands of peasants were accepted and involved in construction, as the number of builders decreased for various reasons, and it was necessary to compensate for this with new people. Fortunately, there are no problems with the "human resource" in China to this day.
The geographical location of the wall is very interesting in itself: it is a symbol that divides the country into two parts - the north belongs to the nomads, and the south belongs to the landowners.
Another interesting and tragic fact is the longest and largest cemetery in the world in terms of the number of burials. About how many people were buried during the construction, and for all the time in general, history is silent. But the number is certainly incredibly large. The remains of the dead are found even today.
During the entire existence of the wall, it was restored more than once: it was reconstructed from the 14th to the 16th century, and then from the 16th to the 17th. one tower to another).
As a means of defense, the wall proved to be very bad, because such a height is not a hindrance for a large enemy. Therefore, for the most part, the guards did not look at the north side, but at the south. The reason is that it was necessary to keep an eye on the peasants who wanted to leave the country, avoiding taxes.
Today, in the 21st century, the Great Wall of China is an officially recognized symbol of its country, known throughout the world. Many of its sections have been reconstructed for tourism purposes. One part of the wall passes directly next to Beijing, which is a winning option, because it is in the capital that the largest number of tourists arrive.
“There are roads that are not followed; there are armies that are not attacked; there are fortresses over which no one fights; there are places for which no one fights; there are orders of the sovereign, which are not carried out.
"War Craft". Sun Tzu
In China, you will definitely be told about the majestic monument several thousand kilometers long and about the founder of the Qin dynasty, thanks to whose command the Great Wall of China was built more than two thousand years ago in the Celestial Empire.
However, some modern scholars very much doubt that this symbol of the power of the Chinese empire existed until the middle of the 20th century. So what do tourists see? - you say ... And tourists are shown what was built by the Chinese communists in the second half of the last century.
According to the official historical version, the Great Wall, designed to protect the country from the raids of nomadic peoples, began to be erected in the 3rd century BC. by the will of the legendary Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, the first ruler to unite China into one state.
It is believed that the Great Wall, built mainly in the era of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), has survived to this day, and in total there are three historical periods of active construction of the Great Wall: the Qin era in the 3rd century BC, the Han era in 3rd century and Ming era.
In essence, under the name "Great Wall of China" unite at least three major projects in different historical eras, which, according to experts, in total have a total length of the walls of at least 13 thousand km.
With the fall of the Ming and the establishment of the Manchu Qin Dynasty (1644-1911) in China, construction work ceased. Thus, the wall, the construction of which was completed in the middle of the 17th century, was mostly preserved.
It is clear that the construction of such a grandiose fortification required the Chinese state to mobilize huge material and human resources, to the limit.
Historians claim that at the same time up to a million people were employed in the construction of the Great Wall and the construction was accompanied by monstrous human casualties (according to other sources, three million builders were involved, that is, half of the male population of ancient China).
It is not clear, however, what final meaning the Chinese authorities saw in the construction of the Great Wall, since China did not have the necessary military forces, not only to defend, but at least to reliably control the wall throughout its entire length.
Probably due to this circumstance, nothing is specifically known about the role of the Great Wall in the defense of China. However, the Chinese rulers have been building these walls for two thousand years. Well, it must be that we simply cannot understand the logic of the ancient Chinese.
However, many sinologists are aware of the weak persuasiveness of the rational motives proposed by the researchers of the subject, which must have prompted the ancient Chinese to create the Great Wall. And to explain the more than strange history of the unique structure, they utter philosophical tirades with something like this:
“The wall was supposed to serve as the extreme northern line of the possible expansion of the Chinese themselves, it was supposed to protect the subjects of the “Middle Empire” from switching to a semi-nomadic way of life, from merging with the barbarians. The wall was supposed to clearly fix the boundaries of Chinese civilization, to contribute to the consolidation of a single empire, just made up of a number of conquered kingdoms.
Scientists were simply struck by the blatant absurdity of this fortification. The Great Wall cannot be called an ineffective defensive object; from any sane military point of view, it is blatantly absurd. As you can see, the wall runs along the ridges of hard-to-reach mountains and hills.
Why build a wall in the mountains, where not only nomads on horseback, but even a foot army is unlikely to reach?! .. Or were the strategists of the Celestial Empire afraid of an attack by tribes of wild rock climbers? Apparently, the threat of invasion by hordes of evil climbers really frightened the ancient Chinese authorities, because with the primitive construction technique available to them, the difficulties of building a defensive wall in the mountains increased incredibly.
And the crown of fantastic absurdity, if you look closely, you can see that the wall branches in some places where mountain ranges cross, forming mockingly meaningless loops and forks.
It turns out that tourists are usually shown one of the sections of the Great Wall, located 60 km northwest of Beijing. This is the area of Mount Badaling (Badaling), the length of the wall is 50 km. The wall is in excellent condition, which is not surprising - its reconstruction on this site was carried out in the 50s of the 20th century. In fact, the wall was rebuilt, although it is claimed that on old foundations.
There is nothing more to show the Chinese, there are no other credible remnants of the supposedly existing thousands of kilometers of the Great Wall.
Let us return to the question of why the Great Wall was built in the mountains. There are reasons here, except for those that may have been recreated and extended, perhaps the old fortifications of the pre-Manchu era that existed in the gorges and mountain defiles.
Building an ancient historical monument in the mountains has its own advantages. It is difficult for an observer to ascertain whether the ruins of the Great Wall really go thousands of kilometers across mountain ranges, as he is told.
In addition, in the mountains it is impossible to establish how old the foundations of the wall are. For several centuries, stone buildings on ordinary soil, brought in by sedimentary rocks, inevitably sink into the ground by several meters, and this is easy to check.
But on rocky ground, this phenomenon is not observed, and it is easy to pass off a recent building as very ancient. And besides, there is no large local population in the mountains, a potential inconvenient witness to the construction of a historical landmark.
It is unlikely that initially fragments of the Great Wall north of Beijing were built on a significant scale, even for China at the beginning of the 19th century this is a difficult task.
It seems that those several tens of kilometers of the Great Wall that are shown to tourists, for the most part, were first erected under the Great Pilot Mao Zedong. Also a Chinese emperor in his own way, but still it cannot be said that he was very ancient.
Here is one of the opinions: you can falsify what exists in the original, for example, a banknote or a picture. There is an original and you can copy it, which is what forgers and counterfeiters do. If the copy is well made, it can be difficult to identify the fake, to prove that it is not the original. And in the case of the Chinese wall, it cannot be said that it is a fake. Because there was no real wall in antiquity.
Therefore, the original product of modern creativity of hardworking Chinese builders has nothing to compare with. Rather, it is a kind of quasi-historically substantiated grandiose architectural creativity. A product of the famous Chinese desire for order. Today it is a great tourist attraction worthy of entering into the Guinness Book of Records.
Here are the questions asked Valentin Sapuno in :
one . From whom, in fact, was the Wall supposed to protect? The official version - from nomads, Huns, vandals - is unconvincing. By the time the Wall was created, China was the most powerful state in the region, and possibly the whole world. His army was well armed and trained. This can be judged very specifically - in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, archaeologists unearthed a full-scale model of his army. Thousands of terracotta warriors in full gear, with horses, wagons, were supposed to accompany the emperor in the next world. The northern peoples of that time did not have serious armies, they lived mainly in the Neolithic period. They could not pose a danger to the Chinese army. There is a suspicion that from a military point of view, the Wall was of little use.
2. Why is a significant part of the wall built in the mountains? It passes along ridges, over cliffs and canyons, meanders along impregnable rocks. So defensive structures are not built. In the mountains and without protective walls, the movement of troops is difficult. Even in our time in Afghanistan and Chechnya, modern mechanized troops do not move over mountain ridges, but only through gorges and passes. To stop the troops in the mountains, small fortresses dominating the gorges are enough. Plains stretch north and south of the Great Wall. It would be more logical and many times cheaper to put up a wall there, while the mountains would serve as an additional natural obstacle to the enemy.
3. Why does a wall with a fantastic length have a relatively small height - from 3 to 8 meters, rarely where up to 10? This is much lower than in most European castles and Russian kremlins. A strong army equipped with assault techniques (stairs, mobile wooden towers) could, by choosing a weak spot on a relatively flat piece of terrain, overcome the Wall and invade China. This is what happened in 1211, when China was easily conquered by the hordes of Genghis Khan.
4. Why is the Great Wall of China oriented to both sides? All fortifications have battlements and curbs on the walls on the side facing the enemy. In the direction of their teeth do not put. This is pointless and would make it difficult to service the soldiers on the walls, the supply of ammunition. In many places, the battlements and loopholes are oriented deep into their territory, and some towers are shifted there, to the south. It turns out that the builders of the wall assumed the presence of the enemy from their side. With whom were they going to fight in this case?
Let's start with an analysis of the personality of the author of the idea of the Wall - Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC).
His personality was extraordinary and in many ways typical of an autocrat. He combined a brilliant organizational talent and statesmanship with pathological cruelty, suspicion and tyranny. As a very young 13-year-old man, he became the prince of the state of Qin. It was here that the technology of ferrous metallurgy was first mastered. Immediately it was applied to the needs of the army. Possessing more advanced weapons than their neighbors equipped with bronze swords, the army of the Qin domain quickly conquered a significant part of the country's territory. From 221 BC a successful warrior and politician became the head of a united Chinese state - an empire. Since that time, he began to bear the name Qin Shi Huang (in another transcription - Shi Huang Di). Like any usurper, he had many enemies. The emperor surrounded himself with an army of bodyguards. Fearing assassins, he created the first magnetic weapon control in his palace. On the advice of experts, he ordered to put an arch made of magnetic iron ore at the entrance. If an incoming person had an iron weapon hidden, magnetic forces pulled it out from under the clothes. The guards immediately kept up and began to find out why the incoming wanted to enter the palace armed. Fearing for power and life, the emperor fell ill with persecution mania. He saw conspiracies everywhere. He chose the traditional method of prevention - mass terror. At the slightest suspicion of disloyalty, people were seized, tortured and executed. The squares of Chinese cities were constantly resounding with the cries of people who were cut into pieces, boiled alive in cauldrons, fried in frying pans. Hard terror pushed many to flee the country.
Constant stress, the wrong way of life shook the emperor's health. A duodenal ulcer broke out. After 40 years, symptoms of early aging appeared. Some wise men, but rather charlatans, told him a legend about a tree growing across the sea in the east. The fruits of the tree supposedly cure all diseases and prolong youth. The emperor ordered to immediately supply the expedition for fabulous fruits. Several large junks reached the shores of modern Japan, established a settlement there, and decided to stay. They rightly decided that the mythical tree does not exist. If they return empty-handed, the cool emperor will swear a lot, or maybe come up with something worse. This settlement later became the beginning of the formation of the Japanese state.
Seeing that science is not able to restore health and youth, he unleashed anger on scientists. The "historical", or rather hysterical decree of the emperor read - "Burn all books and execute all scientists!" Part of the specialists and works related to military affairs and agriculture, the emperor, under pressure from the public, nevertheless amnestied. However, most of the priceless manuscripts burned down, and 460 scientists, who were then the color of the intellectual elite, ended their lives in cruel torment.
It was to this emperor, as noted, that the idea of the Great Wall belongs. Construction work did not start from scratch. There were already defensive structures in the north of the country. The idea was to combine them into a single fortification system. What for?
The simplest explanation is the most realistic
Let's resort to analogies. The Egyptian pyramids had no practical meaning. They demonstrated the greatness of the pharaohs and their power, the ability to force hundreds of thousands of people to do any, even a senseless action. There are more than enough such structures on Earth, aimed only at exalting power.
Likewise, the Great Wall is a symbol of the power of Shi Huang and other Chinese emperors, who picked up the baton of grandiose construction. It should be noted that, unlike many other similar monuments, the Wall is picturesque and beautiful in its own way, in harmony with nature. Talented fortifiers who know a lot about the oriental understanding of beauty were involved in the work.
There was a second need for the Wall, more prosaic. Waves of imperial terror, tyranny of feudal lords and officials forced the peasants to flee en masse in search of a better life.
The main route was to the north, to Siberia. It was there that the Chinese men dreamed of finding land and freedom. Interest in Siberia as an analogue of the Promised Land has long excited ordinary Chinese, and it has long been common for this people to spread all over the world.
Historical analogies suggest themselves. Why did Russian settlers go to Siberia? For a better share, for land and freedom. Fleeing from royal wrath and lordly tyranny.
To stop the uncontrolled migration to the north, undermining the unlimited power of the emperor and the nobles, they created the Great Wall. She would not have held back a serious army. However, the Wall could block the way for peasants walking along mountain paths, burdened with simple belongings, wives and children. And if the peasants went to the breakthrough further away, led by a sort of Chinese Yermak, they were met by a rain of arrows because of the teeth facing their own people. There are more than enough analogues of such unhappy events in history. Consider the Berlin Wall. Officially built against the aggression of the West, it aimed to stop the flight of the inhabitants of the GDR to where life was better, or at least seemed to be. With a similar goal, in Stalin's time they created the most fortified border in the world, nicknamed the "Iron Curtain", for tens of thousands of kilometers. Maybe not by chance, the Great Wall of China in the minds of the peoples of the world has acquired a double meaning. On the one hand, it is a symbol of China. On the other hand, it is a symbol of Chinese isolation from the rest of the world.
There is even an assumption that the "Great Wall" is not a creation of the ancient Chinese, but of their northern neighbors..
Back in 2006, the President of the Academy of Fundamental Sciences, Andrei Alexandrovich Tyunyaev, in the article “The Great Wall of China was built ... not by the Chinese!”, made an assumption about the non-Chinese origin of the Great Wall. In fact, modern China appropriated the achievement of another civilization. In modern Chinese historiography, the task of the wall was also changed: initially it protected the North from the South, and not the Chinese south from the "northern barbarians". Researchers say that the loopholes of a significant part of the wall face south, not north. This can be seen in the works of Chinese drawings, a number of photographs, on the most ancient sections of the wall that were not modernized for the needs of the tourism industry.
According to Tyunyaev, the last sections of the Great Wall were built in a similar way to Russian and European medieval fortifications, the main task of which is protection from the effects of guns. The construction of such fortifications began no earlier than the 15th century, when cannons were widely spread on the battlefields. In addition, the wall marked the border between China and Russia. At that period of history, the border between Russia and China ran along the “Chinese” wall.” On the map of Asia of the 18th century, which was made by the Royal Academy in Amsterdam, two geographical formations were marked in this region: Tartaria (Tartarie) was located in the north, and China (Chine) was located in the south, the northern border of which ran approximately along the 40th parallel, i.e. exactly along the Great Wall. On this Dutch map, the Great Wall is marked with a heavy line and labeled "Muraille de la Chine". From French, this phrase is translated as “Chinese wall”, but it can also be translated as “wall from China”, or “wall that delimits from China”. In addition, other maps confirm the political significance of the Great Wall: on the 1754 map Carte de l’Asie, the wall also runs along the border between China and Great Tartary (Tartaria). The academic 10-volume World History contains a map of the Qing Empire in the second half of the 17th - 18th centuries, which shows in detail the Great Wall, which runs exactly along the border between Russia and China.
The following are the proofs:
ARCHITECTURAL wall style, now located on the territory of China, is captured by the features of the building "handprints" of its creators. Elements of the wall and towers, similar to fragments of the wall, in the Middle Ages can only be found in the architecture of the ancient Russian defensive structures of the central regions of Russia - the "northern architecture".
Andrey Tyunyaev offers to compare two towers - from the Chinese wall and from the Novgorod Kremlin. The shape of the towers is the same: a rectangle, slightly narrowed upwards. From the wall inside both towers there is an entrance blocked by a round arch, lined with the same brick as the wall with the tower. Each of the towers has two upper "working" floors. Round-arched windows were made in the first floor of both towers. The number of windows on the first floor of both towers is 3 on one side and 4 on the other. The height of the windows is approximately the same - about 130-160 centimeters.
Loopholes are located on the upper (second) floor. They are made in the form of rectangular narrow grooves about 35-45 cm wide. The number of such loopholes in the Chinese tower is 3 deep and 4 wide, and in the Novgorod one - 4 deep and 5 wide. On the top floor of the “Chinese” tower, square holes go along its very edge. There are similar holes in the Novgorod tower, and the ends of the rafters sticking out of them, on which the wooden roof rests.
The situation is the same in comparison of the Chinese tower and the tower of the Tula Kremlin. The Chinese and Tula towers have the same number of loopholes in width - 4 each. And the same number of arched openings - 4 each. On the upper floor, between the large loopholes, there are small ones - near the Chinese and Tula towers. The shape of the towers is still the same. In the Tula tower, as in the Chinese one, white stone is used. The arches are made in the same way: at the Tula gate - at the "Chinese" - entrances.
For comparison, you can also use the Russian towers of the Nikolsky Gate (Smolensk) and the northern fortress wall of the Nikitsky Monastery (Pereslavl-Zalessky, 16th century), as well as a tower in Suzdal (mid-17th century). Conclusion: the design features of the towers of the Chinese wall reveal almost exact analogies among the towers of the Russian Kremlin.
And what does the comparison of the preserved towers of the Chinese city of Beijing with the medieval towers of Europe say? The fortress walls of the Spanish city of Avila and Beijing are very similar to each other, especially in that the towers are located very often and have practically no architectural adaptations for military needs. Peking towers have only an upper deck with loopholes, and are laid out at the same height as the rest of the wall.
Neither the Spanish nor the Peking towers show such a high resemblance to the defensive towers of the Chinese Wall, as the towers of the Russian Kremlin and fortress walls show. And this is an occasion for reflection for historians.
And here are the arguments of Sergey Vladimirovich Leksutov:
The chronicles say that the wall was built for two thousand years. In terms of defense - absolutely meaningless construction. Is it that while the wall was being built in one place, in other places the nomads freely walked around China for as much as two thousand years? But the chain of fortresses and ramparts can be built and improved within two thousand years. Fortresses are needed so that garrisons defend themselves from superior enemy forces, as well as for quartering mobile cavalry units in order to immediately go in pursuit of a detachment of robbers that crossed the border.
I thought for a long time, who and why in China built this senseless cyclopean structure? There is simply no one except Mao Tse Tung! With his inherent wisdom, he found an excellent means of adapting tens of millions of healthy men to work, who had fought for thirty years before, and knew nothing but how to fight. It is unthinkable to imagine what a mess would start in China if so many soldiers were demobilized at the same time!
And the fact that the Chinese themselves believe that the wall has been standing for two thousand years is explained very simply. A demobilization battalion arrives in an open field, the commander explains to them: “Here, in this very place, the Great Wall of China stood, but the evil barbarians destroyed it, we have to restore it.” And millions of people sincerely believed that they did not build, but only restored the Great Wall of China. In fact, the wall is built of even, clearly sawn blocks. Is it that in Europe they did not know how to cut stone, but in China they were honored? In addition, soft stone was sawn, and it is better to build fortresses from granite or basalt, or from something no less hard. And granites and basalts learned to saw only in the twentieth century. For the entire length of four and a half thousand kilometers, the wall is made up of monotonous blocks of the same size, and after all, in two thousand years, the methods of processing stone inevitably had to change. And building methods have changed over the centuries.
This researcher believes that the Great Wall of China was built to protect against sandstorms in the Ala Shan and Ordos deserts. He drew attention to the fact that on the map compiled at the beginning of the 20th century by the Russian traveler P. Kozlov, one can see how the Wall runs along the border of shifting sands, and in some places has significant branches. But it was near the deserts that researchers and archaeologists discovered several parallel walls. Galanin explains this phenomenon very simply: when one wall was covered with sand, another was erected. The researcher does not deny the military purpose of the Wall in its eastern part, but the western part of the Wall performed, in his opinion, the function of protecting agricultural areas from the elements.
Soldiers of the invisible front
Perhaps the answers are in the beliefs of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom themselves? We, the people of our time, find it hard to believe that our ancestors would erect barriers to repel the aggression of imaginary enemies, for example, disembodied otherworldly entities with evil thoughts. But the whole point is that our distant predecessors considered evil spirits to be completely real creatures.
The inhabitants of China (both today and in the past) are convinced that the world around them is inhabited by thousands of demonic creatures that are dangerous to humans. One of the names of the wall sounds like "a place where 10 thousand spirits live."
Another curious fact: the Great Wall of China does not stretch in a straight line, but along a winding one. And the features of the relief have nothing to do with it. If you look closely, you can find that even in the flat areas it "winds". What was the logic of the ancient builders?
The ancients believed that all these creatures could move only in a straight line and were unable to bypass the obstacles that appeared on the way. Maybe the Great Wall of China was built to block their way?
Meanwhile, it is known that Emperor Qin Shihuangdi during the construction constantly conferred with astrologers and consulted with soothsayers. According to legend, soothsayers told him that a terrible sacrifice could bring glory to the ruler and provide reliable defense to the state - the bodies of the unfortunate people buried in the wall who died during the construction of the structure. Who knows, perhaps these nameless builders today stand on the eternal guard of the borders of the Celestial Empire ...
Let's look at the photo of the wall:
masterok,
livejournal
If you ask a person anywhere in the world to name the first thing that is associated with China, there is a high probability that it will be the Wall of China. No wonder - this is really a huge, majestic structure that deserves to be mentioned. Many readers would certainly like to know what is the length of the Chinese Wall in km, when it was built, by whom, for what purpose. We will try to answer these questions briefly, but meaningfully.
Where is it?
It would seem that the answer is obvious - the Great Wall of China should be located in China. However, he is only partly true. Of course, most of it is really in the Middle Kingdom. But not all! Several hundred kilometers of the wall are in the south of Mongolia, and some segment is in the northeast of the same country. Many will probably be surprised by the fact that a small piece of the same segment runs along the southernmost border of the Chita region. Some of the most ancient sites can be found in North Korea.
The wall itself has a very complex structure - individual pieces were built tens and even hundreds of kilometers from others. Because of this, the wall is located not only in the northern part of China, but also in the central, and even eastern.
What is its length
Not only ordinary readers, but also many experts would like to know how long the Great Wall of China is. Alas, the data on this is very different. Judging by the annals, the length was the same, some modern commissions present completely different data, and other groups of specialists - the third.
So, what is the length of the Chinese Wall in km?
The Chinese themselves call it the "Wall 10,000 li long". If we consider that "li" is an ancient Chinese measure of length, equal to approximately 570 meters, then we can calculate the length - we get 5,700,000 meters, or 5,700 kilometers. A very impressive number. However, in ancient times, problems often arose when counting. Therefore, it is better to turn to modern research, since they are carried out regularly.
In 2012, a special commission was assembled to determine exactly how long the Great Wall of China is in km. They counted 21,196 kilometers - just mind-boggling. After all, the length of the planet Earth at the equator is a little more than 40 thousand kilometers. It turns out that the wall could encircle the Earth by more than half? Very doubtful. It is more likely that Chinese scientists, wanting to impress the whole world, to attract even more tourists, simply "slightly" overestimated the length of their main pride. All sites were taken into account - both existing to this day and destroyed many centuries ago. They even included in the calculations the parameters of structures erected in Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty, although they were never part of the Great Wall of China.
The official length is 8852 kilometers. Also very impressive! Especially when you consider the rest of its dimensions. The thickness in different areas varies from 5 to 8 meters, and the height is approximately 6-7 meters. However, there are also places where it rises by as much as 10 meters.
Even with the use of modern technology and materials, it would be very difficult to create such a colossus. But here the construction was carried out using manual labor, natural materials and the most primitive tools. So you definitely cannot refuse the Chinese in diligence.
Why is it so difficult to calculate its length?
After reading, the reader may have a question: why are there such problems and discrepancies when trying to determine what is the length of the Great Wall of China in km?
The answer is simple. The fact is that it was built not one or two years, but almost two millennia. As a result, when some sections were just completed, others were already destroyed - under the influence of rains, floods, and human activities.
When they find two segments of the wall several tens of kilometers long, between which there are no buildings, many guesses arise as to why this happened. Maybe the Chinese engineers didn't want to build anything here? Or did not have time? Or maybe the wall was here, but just collapsed over time? Therefore, some experts, trying to understand how long the Chinese Wall is, count only the sections that exist today. Others, in an effort to get more impressive numbers, take into account both destroyed and hypothetically existing ones. Of course, the discrepancies are more than serious.
So, if we talk about the parameters of such a building as the Great Wall of China, it is not possible to unambiguously name its length in kilometers.
Why was it built
Speaking about the global nature of the construction, one cannot help but wonder why it was built at all. The most obvious and popular answer is to protect Chinese lands from the enemy from the north. But it does not withstand any criticism - we will return to this later.
There is a version that she was supposed to prevent the enemy, who had captured slaves and wealth in China, to freely leave back to the north. But this version is not too plausible.
But another option has been tested by practice - it was used as a road. Wide enough for two carts to pass freely, it was not afraid of rain and mudslides. On the wall, even in the autumn slush, it was dry. Merchants and simple peasants carrying goods to the markets could quickly move from one province to another.
Also, the wall could be used as a customs post. After all, the military was on duty all the time in the towers, who checked whether all the duties were paid by the merchants. The Great Silk Road alone is crossed by the wall three times.
Some experts advocate a completely different version. When the wall began to be built, China was a bunch of fragmented, warring states and peoples. What was needed was a single great goal that would make yesterday's enemies work together, helping each other. That was the purpose of the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Useless from a military point of view
Now let's think about why it could not be used as a military facility? Everything is simple - precisely because of its length. In those days, the army of China was very small, and it defended not so much the border from the attacks of enemies, but the emperor and his entourage, as well as other feudal lords from ordinary peasants.
If you split up the entire available army, planting a small detachment in each tower, then they would not be able to resist - even a small enemy army, choosing a good direction for a strike, would easily capture a section of the fortress, killing the guards. And if you collect small detachments into large armies, then they would be at a great distance from each other - it would not be possible to control the entire length of the wall.
In addition, as mentioned above, the wall is not a straight, continuous construction, but a chain of separate sections, between which there are often gaping gaps of tens and hundreds of kilometers. What prevented the enemies from breaking through the wall, but calmly bypassing it, choosing a route through such a hole?
So the fact that she could not, with all her desire, perform a military function is quite obvious.
How many years did it take to build
Well, the question of how long the Chinese Wall is, how many kilometers it stretches, is more or less disclosed. How many years was it built? Fortunately, many written sources have been preserved that allow a fairly accurate answer to this question.
Construction began in the third century BC. Then China as such did not exist - only numerous scattered and constantly warring kingdoms. According to the chronicles, almost immediately 20% of the population - about a million people - were thrown into the construction.
The construction was completed in 1644, when the powerful Ming dynasty already ruled the united China.
Of course, construction was not carried out constantly. Sometimes they forgot about it for decades and even centuries, in order to eventually return to the construction of this amazing object.
Human losses during construction
To say how many people died during construction is even more difficult than to unambiguously answer how long the Chinese wall is. The fact is that people were crippled and died constantly: poor nutrition, primitive mechanisms, inhuman working conditions - all this affected life expectancy. But it never occurred to anyone to record or otherwise mark the deaths of people at work. Just from time to time more and more new workers were brought here.
There is a legend that for every kilometer of wall built, there was one fatal accident. But it is possible that in fact there were much more victims than 9 thousand.
The dead were treated quite simply - they were walled up in the base of the walls so as not to dig graves for them. So the Wall of China is not just an impressive building, but also a very unusual cemetery.
Legends associated with her
By the way, one of the legends is connected with the people buried in the wall. It says that one man - a simple farmer who was forced to build a wall - died and was walled into the foundation of the building. His wife - Meng Jiang Nu - was heartbroken and cried terribly. So terrible that the part of the wall where the husband was buried simply crumbled, exposing the remains and allowing them to be buried according to customs. Rumor has it that a monument was even erected on the wall in honor of this.
Another interesting legend is connected with the dragon - well, what is China without it? Allegedly, the location of the Great Wall of China was not chosen by chance. The wise dragon crawled across the earth, showing the place where it should be erected. Well, the legend is really beautiful and quite in oriental style.
Vandalism and fraud
At various times, the Great Wall was often used as ... a source of building materials. Landed peasants, not thinking too much about the value of the building, calmly dismantled it into bricks for their needs. And it began many centuries ago and continues to this day. Only in the middle of the 20th century, the authorities caught on and imposed a fine for such sabotage - 5,000 yuan (about 48,000 rubles). True, in remote provinces this stops people weakly - many do not even know about such a ban and punishment.
In many places you can even buy such a brick - it is quite inexpensive, about 50 yuan (less than 500 rubles). However, when exporting from the country, serious problems may well arise. And what prevents scammers from slipping an ordinary brick made a few days ago under the guise of an ancient artifact? Therefore, it is better to refrain from such purchases.
The main binder was not concrete, as they would do now, but slaked lime mixed with rice porridge.
On average, 40 million tourists visit the Great Wall of China in one year - both from China and from all over the world.
Although there is an opinion that this is the only building that can be seen from space with the naked eye, this is not so - although the wall is long enough, its small width makes this impossible.
In 1987, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, being China's greatest landmark.
Conclusion
This can be the end of the article. Now you know, if not everything, then a lot about such an amazing building as the Great Wall of China: length in kilometers, width, purpose, years of construction and much more. Surely this will allow you to significantly expand your horizons.
The visiting card of the Celestial Empire - the Great Wall of China - has been under the protection of UNESCO since 1987 as a historical heritage of the whole world. According to the decision of the public, it is considered one of the new wonders of the world. There is no other defensive structure of this length on the planet.
Parameters and architecture of the "wonder of the world"
Contemporaries calculated the length of the grandiose Chinese fence. Taking into account the sections that have not been preserved, it is 21,196 km. According to some studies, 4000 km have been preserved, others give a figure - 2450 km, if you connect the starting and ending points of the ancient wall with a straight line.
In some places, its thickness and height reaches 5 m, in others it grows up to 9–10 m. Rectangles of 1.5-meter battlements complement the wall from the outside. The widest section of the wall reaches 9 m, the highest from the ground is 7.92 m.
Real fortresses were built at the outposts. On the most ancient sections of the wall, every 200 m of fences there are towers made of bricks or stones of the same style. They contain platforms for observation and loopholes with rooms for storing weapons. The farther from Beijing, the more common towers of other architectural styles.
Many of them have signal towers without interior spaces. From them, sentinels kindled a fire, signaling danger. For that time it was the fastest way to warn. According to legend, during the reign of the Tang clan, women were planted as sentinels on the towers, who were deprived of their legs so that they would not leave the post without permission.
"The longest cemetery in the world"
The beginning of the construction of a grandiose Chinese structure dates back to the 7th century BC, the end - to the 17th century. According to historians, at least 10 rulers of small Chinese provinces made efforts to build it. They fenced their possessions with high mounds of earth.
Qin Shi Huang united the lands of small principalities into a single empire, ending the two-hundred-year era of the Warring States. With the help of defensive fortifications, he decided to ensure reliable protection of the state from the raids of nomads, especially the Huns. He ruled China from 246-210 BC. In addition to defense, the wall fixed the borders of the state.
According to legend, the idea was born after the prediction of the court soothsayer about the destruction of the country by nomads who would come from the north. Therefore, they originally planned to build a wall on the northern borders of the country, but then continued to build in the west, turning China into an almost impregnable possession.
According to legend, the direction and place of the construction of the wall was indicated to the emperor by a dragon. In his footsteps, the border was laid. Some researchers claim that the view of the wall from above resembles a soaring dragon.
Qin Shi Huang appointed the most successful general Meng Tian to lead the work. Combining the already existing earthen ramparts, they were strengthened and completed by more than half a million slaves, peasants, prisoners of war and prisoners. The emperor was an opponent of the teachings of Confucius, so he shackled all the Confucian scientists and sent them to the construction site.
One of the legends says that he ordered them to be immured in the wall as a sacrifice to the spirits. But archaeologists have not found confirmation of the rituality of single burials found in the towers. Another legend tells of a farmer's wife, Meng Jiang, who brought clothes to her husband, who was mobilized to work on a construction site. But by then he had died. No one could say where he was buried.
The woman lay down against the wall and cried for a long time until a stone fell out, revealing the remains of her husband. Meng Jiang brought them to her native province and buried them in the family cemetery. It is possible that workers who participated in the construction were buried in the wall. Therefore, the people called it the "wall of tears."
A two-millennium building
The wall was completed and rebuilt in parts, from various materials - earth, brick, stones. Active construction was continued in 206-220 by the Han emperors. They were forced to strengthen the defense of China from the raids of the Huns. Earth ramparts were strengthened with stones to protect them from destruction by nomads. All the rulers of China monitored the safety of defensive structures, except for the emperors of the Mongolian Yuan clan.
Most of the grandiose structures that have survived to the present day were built by the emperors of the Ming family, who ruled China in 1368-1644. They were actively engaged in the construction of new fortifications and the repair of defensive structures, because the new capital of the state - Beijing - was only 70 kilometers away, so high walls were a guarantee of its safety.
During the reign of the Manchu Qing clan, the defensive structures lost their relevance, because the northern lands were under its control. They stopped paying attention to the grandiose structure, the wall began to collapse. Its restoration began at the direction of Mao Zedong in the 50s of the twentieth century. But during the "cultural revolution" most of it was destroyed by opponents of ancient art.
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