The wall of China. The more defensive building of antiquity
The principles of the construction of the wall of China were to defend itself from attacks by nomadic peoples of the North. Although I was built in several stages, the first stage was built on the instructions of Qin Shi Huangdi, also Shi Huangdi, or Ts'in She Huang-Ti (259-210 BC), first emperor of China and founder of the Chin dynasty.
Talking about 400,000 people working in construction during the reign of Qin Shi Huanti and their descendants, however, the great wall continued to grow for more than 1500 years, with different materials and characteristics depending on the region, the rulers of the dynasty have followed preserving and lengthening the wall. Its construction ceased definitively in the 17TH century during the predominance of the Ming dynasty.
Apparently using slaves and conscripts as labour. Took place this great work, in the first stories of Jesuits who visited the place speaks of the cruel and ruthless treatment the slaves, they said that if it was a hole where a nail could pass, their heads rolled down the ground in front of all the other recruits so that they were thus warned.
There are also legends of widows who had to mourn the death of their husbands mainly dying by the unending effort and abuse of the guards, for example that of the widow - a Chiag expect ten years the return of her husband, until, in a fit of value, went to look for it. The soldiers who rode guard they answered, laughing, that her husband had died, and that if I wanted to see it again had to demolish the wall herself. Then he went crying to the gods and I cry so much and so much that tears they undercut the foot of the wall and this is derrumbo, appearing between the stones, the body of her husband.
It is said that the fifth of the Chinese population contributed in different times in the construction of the great wall and that many of the bodies of the workers who died, add historical documents, were used to pay off the weight of the stones. The great wall, crossing mountains and rivers, remains one of the great wonders of the world and many of the stones that were used in its construction measuring more than two metres and exceed the weight ton.
Historians refer to engravings that describe groups of workmen carrying stones on the shoulders and donkey carts dragging heavy loads. According to experts, the number of stones and pottery used in the construction of the great wall is could have erected a wall of five meters high and one meter wide around the Earth.
The most famous part of the great wall, which is located near Beijing, in the locality known as Badaling, was built during dynasty Ming (1368 to 1644 AD), and it is considered world heritage.
The wall had a height of seven or eight meters, reaching ten in some points with a width of seven meters at the base and six at the crest, the floors were based on a mixture of stone and mortar compacted with rollers made from trunks of tree in four or six layers, put torres a spaced according to the inclination of the landthey had terraces to make optical signals from one to another, the floors are paved and had very good circulation, also avoided stairs and put ramps, which tells us that it was used as a means of communication
It was used to move people and weapons at high speed from one side to another, also transported caravans that ranged from China's huge cities to the Persian Gulf and from qui to Eastern Mediterranean ports, thus had access to European markets.
The new Chinese regime, careful attention to the symbols of the past regarded as symbols of creativity and popular suffering, but absorbed by major problems, has not been considered among his most important objectives the reconstruction of the wall.The partial work carried out so far have focused on three points mainly: the steps of shan-hai Kuan and Kuan Chia-Yu and Ba-Da Ling Fort.
Tell the Chinese that their great wall is the only terrestrial construction visible from the moon. It is much to say, because the astronauts who have gone to the moon have not confirmed it.
Because of its size the great wall tells us that is a construction to defense for excellence as a barrier let wish already fulfilled its role only with bandits who came from afar, but when armies was well organized this was quickly overcome.
In an article on internet says that Chinese experts have recently discovered that the great wall is 300 years older than previously thought, and that its first construction dates back to more than 2500 years, researchers reported.
So far, the experts claimed that the great wall had been built during the reign of Emperor Qin Shihuang (221-207 BC), one of the most famous Chinese monarchs, but just find remains of the great wall in Shandong province (northeast), which ruled the dynasty Qi (770-476 BC). The part of the great wall built under the reign of Qi begins in a small village in Changqing County, in Shandong province, and continues down to the sea, where it ends near the city of Qingdao, covering a total of 620 km.
According to studies, this section of the wall had 12 passes, nine gates, 50 torres and 12 lighthouses, and it took 170 years in its construction, to fortify the South of the Kingdom of Qi. The source added that the State of Qi was one of the most powerful of its time and that he ordered to build the first part of the great wall to protect themselves from other seven kingdoms that fought for hegemony in the nation, and they were Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin.
Also in another article, he said that there is another section that belongs to the wall, which had not discovered. The additional section is located in the desert of Lop Nur, in the Northwest Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang, until now known for being the place chosen by the Beijing Government to carry out nuclear tests.
The President of the China Society of Cultural Heritage and highest authority regarding what to the great wall, Luo Zhewen, ensures that the section "without any doubt" belongs to the wall defensive traversing China from East to West, since it consists in the wall of the city and the watchtowers, forming a complete defensive system.
This wall is identical to sections of the Jiayu pass and Yumen pass in terms of style and architectural features, although the newly found section was built with yellow gravel and branches of jara.