Introduction
The Great Wall, also called The Ten Thousand Li Wall is a masterpiece of many kinds. It is a masterpiece of communication, architecture, military strategy, and economic strategy. It is no wonder the Chinese built a wall around themselves, the Chinese tend to think in walls. They build walls around houses, put screens around dining tables, and build other forms of walls.
The wall is immense by any standards, it has over one thousand castles along it and over ten thousand beacon towers. It is the structure that has been being built for the longest period of time, two thousand years. It is currently being restored.
History
The Great Wall has a rich and long history. This is because the wall was built over Two Thousand years by several different city states then by different dynasties. The city states that built walls are the Chu, Qi, Zhonghan, Wei, Zheng, Han Qin, Yan, Zhou. The dynasties that built sections of the wall are Qin, Itan, Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui, Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Ming.
Function
The main point of the wall is to prevent invasion to maintain stability of people. It also was built to open wasteland to grow food and grains, by protecting land to boost production in the frontier. The wall also assisted in the Silk trade route by providing protection for the traders.
The wall was used for defense, and it was designed for the purpose. The wall was designed to be a complete defensive system, and as such it was directly related the defense branch of the current ruling dynasty's Board of War.
Defensive Nature
The Great Wall's basic principle of protection is to, “protect the land by dividing; control bit by bit, in sequence.” Protection was often needed from the Huns, but often protection is just needed from nomadic peoples. For example in the Ming Wall was 4666 miles long. It was divided into 12 garrison areas. The garrison had a General Staff Headquarters from which the garrison was controlled. During peace the troops in the garrison guarded the part of the wall for which they were responsible. During war the troops in the garrison areas were commanded by the Board of War. The General Staff Headquarters, located in one of the larger towns along the wall, was directed by the Board of War. The size of the garrison was very dependent on the size of the area. Below the General Staff Headquarters they were circuits that would be commanded by a lower ranking officer and it would control ten gate towers. Passes were important for the purpose of defense. The commander of each pass had his headquarters near an important pass. Passes and Castles were important strategic points along the Great Wall, which supported the wall.
Communication
The wall's communication system consisted of over 10,000 beacon towers that were constructed 10 meters tall and 40 meters apart and were used for passing military information quickly and accurately. This system was perfected over two thousand years ago. This system worked very well information could be passed over 333 miles in a matter of minutes.
This system was used to pass information up chain of command from the circuits to the General Staff Headquarters the to the Board of War, and if necessary to the Emperor.
Construction
The construction of the wall varied from dynasty to dynasty and area to area. The wall was always built to make use of local materials and labor. For example, a section of the wall built in the desert would make use of mounded up sand with logs placed around it, or the stone in a wall would be from a local source. The wall often made use of the local formations, such as large rocks, and it follows the lay of the land, such as being stepped long a mountain. The wall was usually seven to eight meters but where the terrain was steep it was three to four meters shorter, likewise were the terrain was flat the wall was taller. The outer wall was higher than the inner for defensive reasons. The base of the wall was usually six an a half meters and it was about six meters at the top. This trapezoid like construction created a very stable wall, which is probably most of the reason major sections of the wall are still in existence. At certain intervals in the inside wall there was a gate built of brick or stone. Guards could go to the top of the wall through this passage.
Some sections of the wall were built of stone slabs filled with smaller stones and mortar, which makes it very solid. The top of the wall was 3 or 4 layers of bricks, then on top of this was white plaster. This combination was so good not even wild grass could grow on it.
In other places the wall was made of rammed earth. These were made of tree trunks or boards placed in around of mounds of dirt. This style of wall is most prominent around Jiayuguan.
Summary
The Great Wall of China is an extensively large and diverse system. The wall affects Military, Politics, Cultural, and Agriculture. The Wall also provided stability for the Chinese and is one of the reasons that we have such a wealth of art from the ancient Chinese. The Wall is also a symbol of China. In effect the Wall and China are inseparable.