Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building projects ever carried out. It stretches about 1,500 miles from Bo Hai off the Yellow Sea in the East to the Gansu province in the West. It is so large it can be seen from space. A majority of the wall was built between 500-3000 years ago. It is believed to be the largest graveyard in history because bones of the workers that died during construction were utilized along with the material to build the wall. “The wall served to mark the boundary between the agricultural civilization of China and the civilization of the nomadic tribes of the north and northwest†(www.travelchinaguide.com).
"The Great Wall was considered to be a great asset to the first emperor, Chin Shih-Huang-Ti, known the founder of the Chin Dynasty. He and other states of north China joined together and extended the separate walls built by earlier states to serve as a defensive barrier against the nomads, especially the Turkish tribes. It took roughly ten years to complete and long hours of hard labor. Each stone is believed to be equal to one human life lost in its building. The cost of the wall in money and lives may have been a factor in the fall of the Chin Dynasty." (AOL's Academic Assistance Center).

The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty of many constructions. The emperors of this dynasty were advised to build high walls and to prepare enough supplies to resist the nomadic invaders. Therefore, the reconstruction of the Great Wall was in full swing and reached a massive scale. Instead of just restoring the Wall, the Wall was strengthened, improved and extended with more effective techniques then those used by the Chin Dynasty. (www.travelchinaguide.com) “As a result of the effort, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, coated with bricks, covered some 7,300 kilometers stretching from the Yalu River on the east to Jiayu Pass on the west and it became an impenetrable barrier at that time. In fact, it is in the Ming Dynasty that this great defensive project that lasted over 1000 years was finally completed” (Encyclopedia Britannica p. 405-406).

"The Great Wall stands 12 feet wide and 25 feet tall. The length is about 4000 miles long with a series of watchtowers standing 40 feet high and 100-200 yards apart. Along the top runs a 13-foot wide roadway. Behind the wall are intervals of permanent camps for troop guard stations" (Compton’s Encyclopedia Online v4.0, 2000). The effectiveness of the wall depended on the ability of the troops to move quickly to any point while under attack. Since the time the Great Wall has been extended, destroyed, and rebuilt, it still stands and has become one of major tourist attractions in the world. (AOL's Electric Library, Collier's Encyclopedia).

The present day wall is not entirely the wall of Shih Huang-Ti or Han. New sections were built and older sections were rebuilt on other sites. In some places, parallel sections were added, making the wall two or three lines in depth. "The last major work on the wall took place during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Chinese People's Republic has also undertaken some res