David Zhang

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China was the ultimate defense. Built between the 6th and 7th century B.C., this fascinating project lasted over 2,000 years. It was the key to protecting agriculture and protecting China from northern invaders. The Great Wall of China was originally built out of stone, wood, grass, and earth. This made a very solid, hard wall. The advantages of this huge wall allowed China to make many other important advances, such as making gunpowder and other weaponry. The construction of the wall took lots of labor. Men had to carry parts of the wall, brick by brick, on their backs in order to make the Great Wall. Not only was the Great Wall hard to construct, it took time and effort. Many workers lost their lives to make the Great Wall. The project took more than 20 dynasties to make! Each dynasty contributed to the project. For example, the Qi and Wei dynasties built smaller sections of the wall and the Ming Dynasty built greater portions of the Wall. The Great Wall of China was a symbol of power, representing a main part in Chinese history. The emperor who started the construction of the Great Wall of China was Shi Huangdi. In Chinese, the wall is called Wan-Li Qang-Qeng . It was over 5,000 kilometers long and the thickness of the wall varied from 4.5 meters to 9 meters depending where you were, and it was at 7.5 meters tall. In the Ming Dynasty, the wall was enlarged to 6,400 kilometers long and added many extra defenses, such as mounted cannons and watchtowers. Though many people think the Great Wall of China as one continuous wall, it is actually a collection of short walls that follow the crests of hills on the southern edge of the Mongolian plain. The wall was proved unsuccessful, since it was discontinuous, and the Mongolians went around it. The Great Wall was so big; it could be seen from the Earths moon. The rumors that the Great Wall of China are visible from the moon are untrue. It is widely known that the Great Wall of China could be seen from our moon with a naked eye, but it could only be seen with an aided eye. This phenomenal project was one of the Seven Wonders of the

Ancient World. As time passes though, parts of the Wall have been vandalized or destroyed for construction.

Works Cited
http://www.thechinaguide.com/index.php?action=activity/greatWallOfChina http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/greatwall/Allabout.html http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/greawall.htm