As mentioned above, this wall was
built to protect China from intruders. This monument is situated in northern
China from the west to the east including Jiayu Pass in Gansu Province and the
mouth of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province.
Under the Ming Dynasty in 1368,
the wall was revived and extended further. It is not possible to give the exact
time period which it took to build the wall but by the comparison of the
starting to end period, one can state that lot of time and years were spent to
complete this marvelous wall.
Various Dynasties that were
involved in the construction and completion of the China Wall as below:
·
The Great Wall was started
in the 7th century B.C by Qing Shi Huang
·
The first parts were
completed about 200 B.C
·
The last parts were added
over 200 years during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
The above information was derived
from the Internet whereby many stories and different information gives the time
period. Further, various generations and emperors were involved in this
construction leading to a large period of time and considering the length (6000
KM) of the wall, the construction time period was extended.
The great wall was built with a
lot of components such as lime, bricks, blocks of rocks and stones - this
variety of materials was only for the eastern section of the wall. That
means each side have their own materials; for example, the western sections of
the Great Wall did not use the same materials, but rather used mud, straw,
grass and pounded earth in wooden frames. The workers constructing that wall
did not use a specific resource of the material but they used what was useful
for this wall around them; that means if they are working in the mountains they
will use the crude rocks and if they are working in the jungle they will use
the body of the trees but in the Ming Dynasty time they used the bricks due
mainly to technology. Depending on the historical data, the workforce was
divided into three groups: soldiers, common people and criminals.
Since the Qin Dynasty (221BC -
206BC) period, the construction of the Great Wall was one of the biggest
projects where the Emperor - Qin Shihuang had ordered millions of people to
complete the project
The main
construction group included mostly soldiers. During the building of the Wall of
Northern Qi (550-5570) and during the Qin Dynasty, around 300,000 soldiers were
involved in the building of the Wall (which took place after General Meng Tian
conquered the Huns). It took over 9 years to complete the work. To keep the
soldiers happy, the Court arranged for widows to marry them.
The common
public was called in to support the building of the Wall. The Northern Qi’s
wall required 18,000,000 workers. While the section of Sui’s Wall in Inner
Mongolia required more than1, 000,000 workers. Other than the 300,000 soldiers,
Qin’s wall was completed by an additional 500,000 common men.
To complete the wall, even the
criminals were forced to build stating it as their punishment. During the day,
they were required to patrol the wall, and at night, build and extend the wall.
Over 4 years of hard labor was required per the laws at that time.
Nowadays, China is one of the most interesting countries for
the tourists because it has a lot of nice places such as the great wall. It has
lasted till now and this is a strong role to make China a favorable place. There
are 10 million visitors every year and this will play a good role to refresh
the economy and the reputation.
References:
"China's Great Wall Crumbles as Tourism Soars :
Discovery News : Discovery News." Discovery News. N.p., n.d. Web.
28 Apr. 2013.
<http://news.discovery.com/earth/great-wall-of-china-deteriorating.htm>.
"Great Wall Labor Force, Workers Building the
Wall." China Travel Agency with 24/7 Tour Service - TravelChinaGuide.
N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/construction/labor_force.htm>.
"Great Wall Tours: Packages to Mutianyu Great Wall,
Badaling Great Wall, Jinshanling and more Great Wall of China Tours -
Tour-Beijing.Com." Beijing Tour: Beijing Tours, Beijing China Tours -
Tour-Beijing.Com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.tour-beijing.com/great_wall/>.
"Great Wall of China tourists cram on to wonder of the
world - Mirror Online." Mirror Online: Number one for news, opinion,
sport & celebrity gossip. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/great-wall-of-china-tourists-cram-1360883>.
"How long did it take to build the Great Wall of
China." The Q&A wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_did_it_take_to_build_the_Great_Wall_of_China>.
"What was the material building the Great Wall?." China
Tours 2013, Yangtze River Cruise, Visit Our China. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr.
2013. <http://www.visitourchina.com/china_great_wall/faq_01.htm>.
"Who built the Great Wall of China." The
Q&A wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
<http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_built_the_Great_Wall_of_China>.
