A RELIC OF THE PAST
Month/Date/Year
More than two thousand years ago, Chinese emperors began constructing massive walls of defense to protect their northern frontiers. Nowadays, the remains of these ancient ramparts and towers still scar China’s borderlands. Hundreds of thousands of men both young and old performed Corvée labor in order to pay their taxes to the emperor. They pounded this gigantic, winding edifice out of the Earth’s soil. Finally in the 16th century, the Chinese people built greater fortifications that ran across the steppe borders. A stone colossus that became the national emblem of China; the Great Wall. Historians claim that the Great Wall of China is considered the world’s longest and largest defensive fortification ever created by human hands. It is not only one long wall, but a system of many walls built roughly about two thousand years ago. During the 8th century B.C., the seven Chinese kingdoms of Qin, Zhao, Wei, Han, Chu, Qi and Yan were at constant war with each other. In order to guard their territories, they built stronger, massive walls for defense. By the 3rd century B.C., the state of Qin defeated the rival factions and, as a result, China became an empire ruled by one man. By 220 B.C., a king named Zheng united all of China under his rule during the Qin dynasty. Shortly, King Zheng changed his name to “Shi Huangdi” which literally means “first emperor”. As a man, he possess the skills both in battle and governing the country. To enhance the military power of his troops, and also to defend his newly-established empire, he ordered his men to build walls that will ward off the barbarian invaders. The Great Wall had sections linked together by the thick walls made of rubble, beacons and watch towers serving as garrisons for the Chinese militia divide the walls. Throughout its history, the famed Great Wall loftily rises like a mythical dragon overlooking the modernized country, silently reminding the Chinese people about their rich history. The Great Wall stretching 1,700 miles across the Chinese plateaus also successfully survived twenty-two centuries of changing epochs. Astronauts who have explored the moon claimed that the only man-made structure that can be seen vividly on the surface of the Earth is the Great Wall of China.
______________________________________
1. Stephen Turnbull, The Great Wall of China 221 BC-AD 1644 (New York: Osprey Publishing, 2007), 46
2. Ibid.
3. Thammy Evans, Great Wall of China: Beijing and Northern China (Connecticut, Globe Pequot Press, 2006), 16
Constructing the Great Walls
The Chinese and the neighboring Mongolians were at constant war during the ancient times. The Great Wall of China arose to protect the Middle Kingdom from the outside influences. The rivalry between the lands originally traces its roots way back from geographical differences. Whilst China enjoys the fertile farmlands suitable for planting crops in addition to the favorable temperature, Mongolia on the other hand, does not have the liberties of growing their crops because of the extremely cold temperature4. In the winter, Mongolia’s lands are covered with thick blankets of ice and the semi-arid climate of the Gobi Desert is not suitable for farming. When the steppe populations of Mongolia increased, the pastoral agriculture can no longer provide the needs of the people. By that time, tribal alliances are highly important, and one way of securing an alliance are through gifting by means of rice grains, jewelries and precious metals. Celebrated historian Owen Lattimore suggested that animal herds naturally transfer from one place to another in search of food, shelter and mate. For the Mongolians, this would mean travelling to different places to ensure the safety of their livestock; a primary reason on why there are the nomads of Inner Asia. Dating from the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, different fortifications were built.
______________________________
4. Louise Chipley Slavicek, The Great Wall of China (Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2005), 88.
5. Julia Lovell, The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC-AD 2000 (New York: Grove Press, 2006), 162
During the Spring and Autumn periods which dates back roughly from 771-476 B.C., providing maximum defense against the invaders is a necessity.5 In addition, the succeeding years from 475-221 B.C. were considered as a period of turmoil; hence, its name became the ‘Warring States Period’. King Xuan from the West Zhou ordered his loyal general Nan Zhong to erect fortifications located on the Northern Chinese region in order to protect XianYun, a powerful military base6. Angry Rong tribes raided the area, claiming this strategic base which resulted to bloody wars and the invasion of Haojing. After the death of King You, King Xuan’s heir to the Dragon throne, Zhou dynasty transferred its capital to Luoyang to become the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Their government plagued by intrigue and death, also had brutal assassinations. Because of the raging war against the states, Chinese kings built massive walls to preserve the safety of their kingdom. In 656 B.C., a textual citation about a wall in the state of Chu with measurements running to 4,600 feet was excavated by modern archaeological staff in Henan, Shandong County7. Since then, it has been known as the ‘wall of Qi.” Meanwhile, the Wei County also erected two walls: the Western wall was finished in 361 B.C. The Eastern section of the Wei wall was completed by 356 B.C. An extension was also made to the Western wall in the Shaanxi province to protect the citizens. Non-Chinese residents who already absorbed and embraced the Chinese culture built their fortifications such as the Zhongshan and the Yichu Rong to withstand the attacks of the Qin County. Furthermore, when Qin Shi Huangdi became an emperor, he linked these walls to unify the Chinese people. The Great Wall of China is actually not a complete wall but rather sets of walls joined together to form a tall barricade to ward off enemy attacks from the North of Asia. Under the reign of Shi Huangdi, the state of Qin adopted Legalism, a political philosophy that focused on seizing control of the state and putting the entire power on one person. The new Qin emperor strictly managed the entire population and resources in order to strengthen the newly-founded dynasty.
_______________________________6. Claire Roberts and Geremie Barme, The Great Wall of China (Sydney: Powerhouse, 2007), 120. 7. Ibid.8. Ibid., 121
Huangdi established his rules and regulations in accordance to Legalism and he forced everyone to follow it8. The emperor can force his people to obey his laws and forbid them to speak any negative feedbacks about his government. As a result, the people hated Shi Huangdi for being a tyrant. The earlier states had already begun their work on building a defensive barrier that can outlast the enemy attacks. In order to protect the whole state, Shi Huangdi ordered his men to build a fortification similar to the ones built by the previous states. Huangdi employed hundreds of thousands of peasant farmers, prisoners and slaves to build the most ambitious project of all time: the Great Wall of China. Corvée labor is a common practice during the Qin and Han dynasties as a form of public work in lieu of abstaining from paying taxes for the government. With the exception of the emperor himself, anyone can be sent to perform Corvée labor9. In one instance, Shi Huangdi imposed strict policies for the state, and no one was spared including his own family. Anyone who will speak ill of the government will be demoted to a lower class. Shi Huangdi sent punished his son for disagreeing with him by sending the prince to work with the peasants to build the fortification without any payment or compensation. Food was sometimes rare and corrupt government officials deprived the people with the right to eat properly, and this resulted to high mortality rate. However, the original wall perished through centuries of erosion, war and extreme climate. Most of the remaining wall of the modern times were built during the Ming dynasty. The infamous Ming Great Wall is sometimes referred to as ‘frontier barricades’ because the Chinese term of ‘changcheng’ reflects Emperor Qin’s tyranny10. The estimated length of the Ming Great Wall is 5,500 miles starting from the Jiayu Pass of the west, up to the sea of the Shanhai Pass. From there it winds and loops in Manchuria where it became known as the Hushan Great Wall. On the other hand, Liaodong Great Wall was also erected during the Ming dynasty in order to protect the Han people from the Mongolian raids. Further wall expansions were made during the years of 1467 and 1468 to enclose the region from the attacks of the enemies from the Northeastern region. Liaodong Wall had a much simpler design due to the construction process made by digging moats on the sides; erected wooden serve as support and mud is poured parallel over them. In some parts of the wall, tiles and granite stones were also used to improve the foundation. _____________________________9. Stephen Turnbull and Steve Noon, The Great Wall of China 221 BC-AD 1644 (New York: Osprey Publishing, 2007), 90
10. Claire Roberts and Geremie Barme, The Great Wall of China (Sydney: Powerhouse, 2007), 35.
As part of improving the defense, Ming dynasty also built the Ordos Wall and strategically positioned in line with the mountain curves to provide a difficult access against the nomads. Yu Zijun originally planned the construction of the Ordos Wall in 1471; however, the plan went against the policies of the dynasty. Bai Gui, the Chinese war Minister at that time, also objected to building another wall because of the ballooning charges it will impose on the empire. But Yu Zijun countered all of their arguments by elaborating his new military tactics and offered an option for the war-torn Ming dynasty to recover. Since then, building the Ordos wall took place and many laborers went through harsh treatments under the Emperor’s guards. Some people died whilst lifting heavy blocks of stones towards the higher part of the wall. Others died due to the lack of adequate food, shelter, clothing and health issues. Supplies meant for the laborers were corrupted by greedy politicians and soldiers. As a result, death is a common sight during the construction process. An ancient superstition states that burying the dead bodies deep within the building’s foundation can guarantee its strength and withstand barbarian attacks. Mongol raiders avoided the Ordos Wall after it was done because there are no chances of winning by attacking a heavily guarded garrison. Hence, they went east and conquered Xuanhua of Hebei province and Datong. These two places are the most important defense ports guarding the entry to Beijing, wherein no walls stood to guard against the enemy.
The Great Wall’s significance in shaping the Chinese history is evident. Altan Khan, the Mongol ruler governing the nomads, pursued his request to pay tribute to the Ming emperor as an exchange of fair trading with the Chinese. However, the Ming emperor thought that the idea of fair trading with the barbarians is ridiculous and denied the request. The Ming emperor ignored the request and ordered the death of Altan Khan instead. Altan Khan and his followers invaded the Great Wall and managed to enter the capital. They burned Beijing to ashes that even the Emperor, so cocooned inside his comfortable palace cannot ignore such as drastic and barbaric action. Eventually, they resorted to a policy and granted Altan Khan’s request of establishing trade posts on the Great Wall, provided that they will do a request and pay the tribute again11.
Many months after Altan Khan’s attack, the Chinese opened up trading posts and some other northern forts. Recently, the remains of a trading post were found at the Yuling garrison. Archaeologists unearthed some of the earlier foundations of the market gate; an opening in one part of the wall that allows traders to pass in and out safely. However, the new freedom of movement did not last long. By the next year, the markets were closed down and that was when the construction repair began on the greatest defensive structure the world had ever seen. Between 1550 and 1644, China’s stone dragon came to life. The wall became a monument to the closed world view of the Ming Empire. It enclosed their universe and excluded everything that was foreign. To the north of Beijing, the Great Wall curves majestically through the mountain ranges whilst following the natural line of the mountain peaks, reaching breathtaking heights before plunging into the deepest ravines. On its Eastern end, the Shanghai Guan, it strides straight into the Huang Ho (Yellow Sea); from this the Great Wall heads to the first tower in the west. The Ming Wall has more than 6,000 kilometers long. But sometimes many bizarre routes taken by the Great Wall led many historians to believe that there are more than just defensive considerations included in its planning. For countless of generations, the Chinese believed in the practice of Feng Shui, the teachings of the wind and water. Feng Shui experts were probably consulted and obeyed before building a wall to make sure that the natural forces of wind and water would work in its favor. But when it came to the construction itself, spiritual aspects took second place. The whole construction was all about quality, efficiency and speed12. An army commander is in charge to supervise each building detail. He was responsible for seeing the workers’ adherence to the prescribed timetable, if necessary, through the use of force. Most of the workers were recruited from the Army. Instead of them becoming soldiers, all were pressed into service as civilians. The speed and harshness with which the plans were executed put a terrible strain on both men and the supply of materials. No one knows how many victims the wall claimed. The three hundred kilometer section of the Western Ming Wall became complete in just six hundred days by just three thousand men. The older walls were made of compressed Earth. Constructing the wall requires an extensive supply of building materials. The materials of the 16th century Ming Wall has to be manufactured. Large network of quarries, kilns as well as the supply routes were made connected to each other in order to make it easier for the builders to transfer the supplies to the site. Meanwhile, countless of brickworks were created for the greatest building site of the empire. Hence, the costs of this gigantic project became a total burden on the state. Workers carried the bricks from the kilns to the construction sites in the mountains whilst travelling more than 80 kilometers. China only needed 200 years to see the completion of the greatest defensive barricades the world has ever known. The Great Wall of China is not just a single wall, but rather a system of several defensive lines. Watch towers are strung out along the main wall. Many foreigners who travelled to China, appreciated the beauty and the audacity of the builders of the Great Wall and one of them were Lord McCartney, the pioneer of the English Trade Delegation of King George. Aided by Sir George Taunton, their mission was to open the Chinese market to the products of the British Empire; however, they failed because the emperor did not give them the permission to do so13. China’s closed cultural idealism was so strong that she expelled all the foreigners into coming contact with her boundaries. For the emperor, the British envoys are also barbarians from a distant unknown corner of the world. Foreigners who begged to have the honor of paying him tribute. Although Lord McCartney appreciated the Great Wall, he failed to notice another invisible wall; a wall that surrounded the Middle Kingdom 2000 years ago. Chinese walls invisible or visible crumbled over time; the Great Wall could not forever protect the Middle Kingdom from its enemies and outside influences. Some foreigners overcame it by force but others found the gates were opened for them. And yet, it remains a symbol of national power. On the North of Beijing where the stone dragon winds majestically over highest mountains and deepest ravines, this ancient architectural masterpiece still leaves tourists speechless. The myth of the Great Wall in people’s minds will always remain mighty, compared to the truth of its dark history. ______________________________________11. Julia Lovell, The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC-AD 2000 (New York: Grove Press, 2006), 66
12. Ibid., 6713. Stephen Turnbull and Steve Noon, The Great Wall of China 221 BC-AD 1644 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007), 52
Bibliography
Barmé, Geremie, and Claire Roberts. 2006. The Great Wall of China. 1st ed. Sydney: Powerhouse.
Evans, Thammy. 2006. Great Wall Of China. 1st ed. Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press.
Lovell, Julia. 2006. The Great Wall. 1st Ed. New York: Grove Press.
Slavicek, Louise Chipley. 2005. The Great Wall of China. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
Turnbull, Stephen R, and Steve Noon. 2007. The Great Wall of China, 221 BC-AD 1644. 1st ed. Oxford, UK: Osprey Pub.
