The Great Wall of China: One of the Greatest Wonders of the World.

Can you imagine carrying a heavy humongous stone over 3 feet tall and the weight of 100 to 300 pounds!? The Great Wall is made out of millions of these stones and other types of materials. Each one of the stones have to be in an exact shape or the enemies can take control and break in.

Construction The Great Wall is made mostly out of granite and bricks. Bricks were used most often because its light weight made the construction much quicker. In the Gobi Desert, the workers would create pounded earth to continue building the wall. However, these parts were destroyed much easier than other parts of the wall.

Construction The Great Wall was constructed with natural materials such as stone and compacted soil. Before the use of bricks, workers would use stone, compacted soil, and rarely wood because it will catch on fire very easily. The Great Wall took up 3 million cubic meters of earth work.

Beliefs of the Great Wall The belief of the Great Wall is that it is told that the Chinese made the Great Wall twist and turn not only to protect China but to make it represent the long back of the mighty dragon! By making the Great Wall like the dragon’s back, it would be a good omen and will lead the Chinese to victory!

Purpose of the Great Wall To prevent troops from the north invading Chinese territory. To defend China from attacking Mongols. Built as a defense against ferocious nomadic tribes.

Parts of the Great Wall A part of the wall is the watch tower. Watch towers were at regular intervals of 180 meters on the wall. Watch towers hold weapons, house troops, and can also create fire signals to warn China of an attack being held. Most signal towers were built on hilly areas for visibility.

Parts of the Great Wall Beacon towers were spaced at intervals of 15 to 30 miles along the wall. Beacon towers could send messages faster than horse riding. Signal towers contained approximately 3 people to create a fire. Some parts of the wall were connected and made tougher for further attacks.

Construction During the Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty first constructed the wall with just loose stone. Then the wall was constructed by a wooden rectangular frame filled with loose soil. After the frame was filled, workers would arrive and stomp on the soil until it was four inches thick. This unusual process had to be repeated many times, because it would only ascend 4 inches each time it was done.

History The Han dynasty extended the wall and made it more durable. They even constructed the wall in the Gobi Desert. The Han’s process of making the wall started in 206 B.C.

History The Ming dynasty added the most modifications to the Great Wall. The Ming dynasty also added major adjustments to the wall. Workers even made little holes in the watch towers for look out. The Ming dynasty added the two ways of the Qin and the Han dynasty’s process to construct the Great Wall.

How long is the Great Wall and how long did it take to build? The Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of China. Construction Period: About 2,000 years from the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC) to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644

As you can see, the Great Wall is a great part of history and yours.

Video: The Great Wall of China