When you said that you have been to China as a sight seeing tourist,
invariably people will ask you whether you have you visited The Great
Wall Of China.
Why
are people so obsessed with this ancient fortress monument? Well, as
someone who have taken a sightseeing tour of the Great Wall, I can sum
it up in one word. The Great Wall of China is awesome!
I
was
awestruck by the spectacular scenery and its courageous history. This
gigantic monument is considered by many people as one of the wonders of
the world. Any tourist traveling to China must definitely make visit
the Chinese tourist attraction.
The Great Wall of
China is
over 2,000 years old and it is a monument rich in history. It was first
conceived and constructed by Qin Shi Huang or also known as Shi Huang
Ti, who was the first emperor of China. The wall is called "Wan-Li
Qang-Qeng" in Chinese when translated literally means 10,000 li long
wall which is equivalent to about 5,000 km or 2,272 miles long.
The
Great Wall Of China was constructed as a military fortification against
intrusion by invading nomadic ancient tribes. The Chinese people at
that time called these tribes barbarians since the Chinese royalties
were living in sprawling palaces and these tribes were living in tents.
After the emperor Qin unified China in 214 BC, he
ordered the
construction of the wall. It took more than a decade to construct and
the great wall stretched from Lintao in the eastern part of Gansu
province in the west to Liaodong in Jilin province in the east. The
wall not only served as a defensive Bastien against invaders in the
northern parts of China, it is also a symbol of power for the proud
emperor.
From the Qin Dynasty onwards, Xiongnu
(translated from
Chinese as fierce anger), which was an ancient tribe that roamed
Northern China, frequently make incursions and plunder towns and
villages along the northern border.
During the Han
Dynasty in
and around 121 BC, emperor Han Wu Di, ordered three military
expeditions to repel and quash the Xiongnu tribe. The military
expeditions successfully pushed the Xiongnu tribe into the far north of
the Gobi desert, which is a tundra.
In order to
secure the
safety of the Hexi Corridor (now Gansu province), the emperor also
ordered the construction of the extension of the Great Wall westward
into the Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang region. The ruins of the tower
beacons and debris of the Han Wall are still preserved in Dunhuang,
Yumen and Yangguan districts and provinces. There is also a report that
more ruins of the Han Wall have recently been discovered near Lopnur in
Xinjiang province.
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The present day Great Wall Of
China in
Beijing is mainly the remains from the Ming Dynasty era. During this
golden era of Chinese culture, bricks and granite were used when the
workers laid the foundation of the wall. Sophisticated designs and
passes were also constructed in places of strategic military
importance.
To further empower the military 's
control of
China 's northern frontiers, the Ming Dynasty government divided the
Great Wall into nine zones and placed each zone under the command and
control of a Zhen, which is a military garrison headquarter.
The
Ming Wall begins at Yalujiang River in what is now in Heilongjiang
province, through Liaoning, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi,
Ningxia provinces, to Gansu reaching a length of about 12,700 li (about
5,200 km or 2,400 miles).
Although The Great Wall
served
succeeding dynasties very well for a few hundred years as a defense
bastion against invading forces, the invaders from the north in the end
were able to advance and conquer China in succeeding dynasties such as
Mongolians (Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368) and the Manchus (Qing Dynasty,
1644-1911) did.
With such splendidly rich history
and panoramic
views, is it any wonder why the Great Wall Of China is one of the most
visited tourist attraction in the world?
Chris Chew
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