Message about the ancient Chinese wall. great wall of china beijing

East is a delicate matter. So said Vereshchagin in the legendary "White Sun of the Desert". And he turned out, more than ever, right. The thin line between reality and the mystique of Chinese culture encourages tourists to go to the Middle Kingdom in order to unravel the mysteries.

In the north of China, along winding mountain paths, rises the Great Wall of China - one of the most famous and extraordinary architectural structures in the world. At least once, each of the more or less interested in history people looked for what the Great Wall of China looks like on the map, and is it so majestic.

The beginning of the Great Wall of China is near the city of Shanhaiguan, Hebei Province. The length of the Great Wall of China, taking into account the "branches", reaches 8851.9 km, but if measured in a straight line, the length will be about 2500 km. The width varies according to various estimates from 5 to 8 meters. Scientists claim that it was built with the expectation that a patrol of 5 horsemen could easily pass through it. Rising to a height of 10 meters, protected by observation towers and loopholes, the wall protected the eastern power from attacks by nomadic peoples. The end of the Great Wall of China, passing even the vicinity of Beijing, is located near the city of Jiayuguan, Gansu Province.

Construction of the Great Wall of China - a historical approach

Historians around the world agreed that the Great Chinese wall began to build around the III century BC. Due to military historical events, global construction was interrupted and changed leaders, architects and the approach to it as a whole. On this basis, there are still disputes on the topic: who built the Great Wall of China?

Archives and research give reason to believe that the Great Wall of China began to be created on the initiative of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Such a cardinal decision was prompted by the period of the Warring States, when during the long battles 150 states of the Celestial Empire were reduced by 10 times. The increased danger of nomadic barbarians and invaders frightened Emperor Qin, and he instructed the commander Meng Tian to lead the massive construction of the century.

Despite the bad mountain roads, bumps and gorges, the first 500 workers headed for the northern part of China. Hunger, lack of water and hard physical labor exhausted the builders. But, according to all Eastern severity, dissenters were severely punished. Over time, the number of slaves, peasants and soldiers who built the Great Wall of China increased to a million people. They all worked day and night, following the Emperor's orders.

During the construction, rods and reeds were used, held together with clay and even rice porridge. In some places, the earth was simply rammed or embankments were created from pebbles. The peak of the building achievement of that period was clay bricks, which were immediately dried in the sun and laid out row by row.

After the change of power, Qin's initiatives were continued by the Han dynasty. Thanks to their assistance, in 206-220 BC, the wall stretched for another 10,000 km, and watchtowers appeared in certain areas. The system was such that from one such "tower" one could see two standing side by side. Thus, communication was carried out between the guards.

Video - The history of the construction of the Great Wall of China

The Ming dynasty, which came to the throne, starting from 1368, replaced some of the worn-out and not very strong building materials with durable bricks and massive stone blocks. Also, with their assistance, in the area of ​​the current city of Jiang'an, the wall was restored with purple marble. This change also affected the segment near Yanshan.

But not all the rulers of China supported this idea. The Qing Dynasty, having come to power, simply abandoned construction. The imperial family did not see the expediency in a stone block on the outskirts of the state. The only part they were worried about was the erected gate near Beijing. They were used for their intended purpose.

Only decades later, in 1984, the Chinese authorities decided to restore the Great Wall of China. From the world on a thread - and the construction began to boil again. The money collected from caring sponsors and patrons around the world replaced the destroyed stone blocks in several sections of the wall.

What do tourists need to know?

After reading history books and looking at photographs, you may feel an irresistible desire to go and, having tested yourself, climb the Great Wall of China. But before you imagine yourself as the Emperor on top of a stone massif, you need to take into account a few points.

First, it's not that easy. The snag is not only in the amount of paperwork. You will have to hand in copies of both passports, an application form, photographs, copies of round-trip tickets and a copy of your hotel reservation. Also, you will be asked for a certificate from the place of work, where your salary should not be lower than 5000 hryvnia. If you are unemployed, you must have a certificate from the bank on the state of your personal account. Pay attention - it should be at least 1500-2000 dollars. If you have collected all the necessary forms, copies and photographs, then you will be given a visa for up to 30 days without the possibility of extension.

Secondly, it is advisable to plan a visit to the Great Wall of China in advance. It is worth deciding, to the miracle of architecture and how to spend time there. You can drive from the hotel to the wall on your own. But it is better to book a planned excursion and act according to the plan provided by the guide.

The most popular tours offered in China will take you to several sections of the wall that are open to the public.

The first option is the Badaling site. For the tour you will have to pay about 350 yuan (1355 hryvnia). For this money, you will not only inspect the wall and climb to the heights, but also visit the tombs of the very Ming Dynasty.

The second option is the Mutianyu site. Here the price reaches 450 yuan (1740 hryvnia), for which, after visiting the wall, you will be taken to the Forbidden City, the greatest palace complex of the Ming Dynasty.

Also, there are a lot of one-time and shortened excursions, in the context of which you can either walk along the hundreds of steps of the Great Wall of China, or ride the funicular, or simply admire the picturesque view from the tops of the towers.

What else is worth knowing about the Great Wall of China?

The Great Wall of China, as well as everything in China, is shrouded in legends, beliefs and mysteries.

There is a legend among the Chinese people that even at the beginning of the construction of the wall, Meng Jiangui, in love, accompanied her newly-made husband to the construction site. However, after waiting for him for three years, she could not stand the separation and went to the wall in order to see her beloved and give him warm clothes. It was only after going through a difficult path that she found out at the wall that her husband had died of hunger and hard work. Crushed by grief, Meng fell to her knees and sobbed, from which part of the wall crumbled down, and the body of her deceased spouse appeared from under the stones.

Such legends are supported by local beliefs. They believe that by putting your ear to the stones of the wall, you can hear the groans and cries of those workers who were buried during the construction of the Great Wall of China.

Video - Fascinating Great Wall of China

Other narrators claim that the mass graves of construction slaves are a tribute to higher powers. Because, as soon as Emperor Qin ordered the construction of a defensive structure, a court magician came to him. He told the Emperor that Great Wall will be completed only when 10,000 inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom are buried under the boulders, and a Chinese named Wang is dead. Inspired by the speeches of the sorcerer, the emperor ordered to find a subject with that name, kill him and wall him up in the walls.

There is also a more mundane story, which to most seems only a myth. The fact is that in 2006 V. Semeyko published an article in one of the scientific journals. In it, he suggested that the authors and builders of the stone border were not the Chinese, but the Rus. The author reinforces his idea with the fact that the towers are directed towards China, as if watching the eastern state. And the fact that the general style of the building is more characteristic of Russian defensive walls allegedly unconditionally testifies to the Slavic roots of the architectural phenomenon.

Is this true or just a hoax - will remain a mystery for centuries. But tourists happily come to China to walk the steps of one of the seven New Wonders of the World. Stand at the tower and wave your hand to the sky in the hope that somewhere in orbit someone will certainly see them. That's just the theory that the Great Wall of China is visible from orbit is a lie. The only celestial shots that the wall can boast of are those from satellite cameras. But this fact also gives the wall a special grandeur.
And, be that as it may, the Great Wall of China, with all its ambiguity and mystery, is the best symbol of the massiveness, strength and greatness of the Celestial Empire. Her elevation and successful symbiosis of innovation and mysticism.

The most grandiose defensive structure on the planet is the Great Wall of China, the Eighth Wonder of the World. This fortification is considered the longest and widest. There are still disputes how many kilometers is the wall of china stretches. Much can be found about this building. interesting facts in literature and on the Internet. Even its location is of interest - this wall divides China into north and south - the land of nomads and the land of farmers.

History of the Chinese Wall

Before the advent of the Great Wall of China, there were a lot of scattered defensive structures in China from nomadic raids. In the third century BC, when Qin Shi Huang began to rule, small kingdoms and principalities united. And the emperor decided to build one big wall.

They started building the wall in 221 BC. There is a legend that construction of the Chinese wall abandoned the whole imperial army - about three hundred thousand people. The peasants were also attracted. At first, the wall was in the form of ordinary earthen mounds, and after that they began to be replaced with brick and stone.

By the way, this building can be called the longest not only wall, but also a cemetery. After all, a lot of builders were buried here - they were buried in the wall, and then structures were built directly on the bones.

Since the construction of the wall, they have repeatedly tried to destroy, and then restore. Modern look This building was received during the Ming Dynasty. From 1368 to 1644, construction towers were erected, bricks were laid instead of earth embankments, and some sections were rebuilt.

There are many interesting facts about the Wall of China, which is considered the longest man-made structure in the world. Here is some of them:

• when laying blocks of stone, glutinous rice porridge was used, into which slaked lime was mixed;
• its construction took the lives of more than a million people;
• this wall is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the greatest historical sights;
• in 2004, more than forty million foreign tourists visited the Wall of China.

Most of the controversy is around the numbers, how many kilometers is the Great Wall of China. Previously, it was believed that its length is 8.85 thousand. But then it turned out that archaeologists measured only those sections of the structure that were erected in the era of the Ming Dynasty.

But if we talk about everything Chinese wall, length it is 21.196 thousand kilometers. These data were announced by employees of the State Administration for Cultural Heritage Affairs. They began research in 2007, and announced the results in 2012. Thus, the length of the Chinese wall turned out to be 12 thousand kilometers longer than the original data.

The Great Wall of China is also called the "Long Wall". Its length is 10 thousand li, or more than 20 thousand kilometers, and in order to reach its height, a dozen people must stand on each other's shoulders ... It is compared with a wriggling dragon stretching from the Yellow Sea itself to Tibetan mountains. There is no other structure like it on earth.

Temple of Heaven: Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing

Start of construction of the Great Wall of China

According to the official version, the construction began in the period of the Warring States (475-221 BC), under the emperor Qin Shi-Huangdi, in order to protect the state from the Xiongnu nomads' raids, and lasted ten years. About two million people built the wall, which then accounted for a fifth of the entire population of China. Among them were people of various classes - slaves, peasants, soldiers ... The commander Meng Tian supervised the construction.

Legend has it that the emperor himself rode on a magical white horse, plotting the route of the future structure. And where his horse stumbled, then they erected a watchtower ... But this is just a legend. But the story of the dispute between the Master and the official looks much more plausible.

The fact is that for the construction of such a bulk, talented craftsmen-builders were required. There were plenty of them among the Chinese. But one was especially distinguished by intelligence and ingenuity. He was so skillful in his craft that he could accurately calculate how many bricks were needed for such a construction ...

The imperial official, however, doubted the Master's ability and made a condition. If, they say, the Master is mistaken by only one brick, he himself will install this brick on the tower in honor of the craftsman. And if the mistake goes two bricks, then let him blame his arrogance - a severe punishment will follow ...

A lot of stones and bricks went into the construction. After all, besides the wall, watchtowers and gate towers also rose. There were about 25,000 of them throughout the route. So, on one of these towers, which is located near the famous ancient Silk Road, you can see a brick, which, unlike the others, protrudes noticeably from the masonry. They say that this is the same one that the Official promised to put in honor of the skilled Master. Therefore, he escaped the promised punishment.

The Great Wall of China is the longest cemetery in the world

But even without any punishment, so many people died during the construction of the Wall that the place was also called "the longest cemetery in the world." The entire construction route was strewn with the bones of the dead. In total, experts say, there are about half a million of them. The reason was poor working conditions.

According to legend, a loving wife tried to save one of these unfortunates. She hurried to him with warm clothes for the winter. Having learned on the spot about the death of her husband, Meng - that was the name of the woman - wept bitterly, and from abundant tears, her part of the wall collapsed. And then the emperor intervened. Either he was afraid that the whole Wall would crawl from women's tears, or he liked the beautiful widow in her sadness - in a word, he ordered to take her to his palace.

And she seemed to agree at first, but it turned out, only in order to be able to adequately bury her husband. And then faithful Meng committed suicide by throwing herself into a turbulent stream ... And how many such deaths have happened yet? However, is there really a record of the victims when great state affairs are being done ...

And there was no doubt that such a "fence" was an object of great national importance. According to historians, the wall did not so much protect the great "Celestial Middle Empire" from the nomads, but guarded the Chinese themselves so that they would not run away from their dear homeland ... They say that the greatest Chinese traveler Xuanzang had to climb over the wall, stealthily, in the middle of the night, under a hail of arrows from the border guard...

The Great Wall of China is a unique structure, it seems to look like the body of a long dragon, spread over the territory of northern China. The length is more than 6400 km, the thickness of the wall is about 3 meters, and the height can reach 6 meters. It is believed that it was in the 3rd century BC that the construction of the wall began, and ended only in the 17th century AD. It turns out that according to the accepted historical version, this construction lasted almost 2000 years. Truly a unique building. History does not know such a long-term construction. Everyone is so accustomed to this historical version that few people think about its absurdity.
Any construction site, especially a large one, has a specific practical purpose. Who today would think of starting a huge building, which can only be completed in 2000 years? Of course, no one! Because it's pointless. Not only will this endless construction be a heavy burden on the population of the country, the building itself will be constantly destroyed and will have to be restored. What happened to the Great Wall of China.
We will never know what the first sections of the wall looked like, allegedly built before our era. They collapsed, of course. And those sections that have survived to our time were mainly built during the Ming Dynasty, that is, supposedly, in the period from the 14th to the 17th century AD. Because in that era building materials there were brick and stone blocks that made the structure more reliable. So historians are still forced to admit that this “wall”, which anyone can see today, appeared no earlier than the 14th century AD. But even 600 years is a fairly respectable age for a stone building. It is still not clear why this building is so well preserved.
In Europe, for example, medieval fortifications grew old and fell apart over time. They had to be disassembled and new, more modern ones built. The same thing happened in Russia. Many medieval military fortifications were rebuilt in the 17th century. But in China, these natural physical laws, for some reason, do not work ...
Even if we assume that the ancient Chinese builders had some secret, thanks to which they created such a unique structure, historians do not have a logical answer to the most important question: “Why did the Chinese build a stone wall with such tenacity for 2000 years? Who did they want to protect themselves from? - historians answer: "The wall was built along the entire border of the Chinese empire to protect against nomadic raids ..."
Against the nomads, such a wall, as much as 3 meters thick, was not needed. Russians and Europeans began to build such structures only when cannons and siege weapons appeared on the battlefields, that is, in the 15th century.
But the point is not even in its thickness, but in its length. The wall, stretching for several thousand kilometers, could not protect China from raids.

First, in many places it passes at the foot of mountains and nearby hills. It is quite obvious that the enemy, having climbed to the neighboring peaks, could easily shoot down all the defenders on this section of the wall. From the arrows flying from above, the Chinese soldiers would simply have nowhere to hide.

Secondly, along the entire length of the wall, watchtowers were built every 60-100 meters. Large military detachments were to be constantly in these towers and monitor the appearance of the enemy. But back in the 3rd century BC, under Emperor Qin Shihuangdi, when 4000 km of the wall had already been built, it turned out that if the towers were installed so often, then it would not be possible to provide effective defense of the wall. Not enough all the armed forces of the Chinese empire. And if you put a small detachment on each tower, then it will become easy prey for the enemy. A small detachment will be destroyed before the neighboring detachments have time to come to his aid. If the defensive detachments are made large, but placed less often, then too long and unprotected sections of the wall are formed, through which the enemy can easily penetrate deep into the country.

It is not surprising that the appearance of such a fortification did not protect China from raids. But its construction greatly depleted the state, and the Qin dynasty lost its throne. The new Han dynasty no longer had much hope for a great wall and returned to a system of mobile warfare, but, according to historians, the construction of the wall, for some reason, continued. Strange story...

An interesting fact is that until the end of the 17th century, apart from the Great Wall of China, not a single large stone structure was built in China. But scientists say that the population of China waged constant wars among themselves. Why didn't they fence themselves off from each other with walls and build stone kremlins in their cities?
With such experience as the construction of the great wall of China, it would be possible to cover the entire country with defensive structures. It turns out that the Chinese spent all their means, forces and talents only on building, in general, useless from a military point of view - the Great Wall of China.

But there is another historical version of the construction of the Great Wall of China. This version is not as popular with historians as the first, but more logical.
The Great Wall was indeed built along the border of China, but not to protect against nomads, but as a designation of the boundary between the two states. And its construction began not 2000 years ago, but much later, in the 17th century AD. That is, the famous wall is no more than 300 years old. An interesting historical fact speaks in favor of this version.
According to the official historical version, by the middle of the 17th century, the northern lands of China were severely depopulated, and in order to protect these lands from the settlement of Russians and Koreans, in 1678, Emperor Kangxi ordered that this border of the empire be surrounded by a special fortified line. Its construction continued until the end of the 80s of the XVII century.
The question immediately arises, why did the emperor need to build some kind of new fortified line, if a huge stone wall stood on the entire northern border of China a long time ago?
Most likely, there was no wall there yet, therefore, in order to protect their lands, the Chinese began building a line of fortifications, because it was at that time that China was waging border wars with Russia. And only in the 17th century, both sides agreed on where the border between the two states would pass.

In 1689, an agreement was signed in the city of Nerchinsk, which fixed the northern border of China. Probably the Chinese rulers of the 17th century gave very great importance Nerchinsk Treaty, therefore, they decided to mark the border not only on paper, but also on the ground. So along the entire border with Russia there was a border wall.
On the map of Asia of the 18th century, made by the Royal Academy in Amsterdam, two states are clearly visible, China and Tartaria. The northern border of China runs approximately along the 40th parallel, and the Chinese wall also runs exactly along the border. Moreover, it is highlighted with a thick line and the inscription: "Muraille de la Chine" - which in French means: "The Wall of China." The same can be seen on many other maps issued after the 17th century.

Of course, it can be assumed that the ancient Chinese foresaw 2000 years ago where the Russian-Chinese border would pass, and in 1689, the two states simply took and drew the border already along the wall that stood here, but in this case, it would certainly have been specified in the contract, however, in the Nerchinsk Treaty there is NO mention of the wall.
For several decades, scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm. One of the seven wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China, is rapidly collapsing! And indeed, in some places, the height of the wall has decreased to two meters, where the observation towers have completely disappeared, several tens of kilometers of the wall have been completely lost, and hundreds of kilometers continue to rapidly collapse. And this is despite the fact that over the past few centuries, the wall has been repeatedly repaired and restored, why hasn't it been destroyed at such a pace before? Why, after standing for more than two thousand years, the wall began to rapidly turn into ruins?

Scientists blame climate, ecology, agriculture and, of course, tourists for everything. Every year, 10 million people visit the wall. They go where they can and where they can't. They want to see even those sections of the wall that are closed to the public. But it's probably something else...
The Great Wall of China is being destroyed in a completely natural way, as all such structures were destroyed. 300 years is a very respectable age for a stone building, and the version that the great Chinese long-term construction is 2000 years old is a MYTH. As is much of China's history itself.
P.S. There is also another version on the Internet that the Great Wall of China was not built by the Chinese at all. In those days, in China, almost nothing was built of stone, except for this wall. Moreover, the loopholes on the old, not restored sections of the wall are located only on the south side. Unfortunately, I have not been to China and cannot say with certainty whether this is actually the case. Photographs, which determine the south side by the sun's shadow, cannot be taken as evidence. As you know, the wall does not go in a straight line, the directions are completely different, the sun can shine both from the south and from the north side of the wall, roughly speaking.

The Great Wall of China is a grandiose structure in the entire history of mankind, which performs a defensive function. The reasons for the creation of such a large-scale building were formed long before the start of a long construction. Many principalities of the north and the kingdoms of China in general built protective walls against raids of enmity and simple nomads. When all the kingdoms and principalities united (3rd century BC), an emperor named Qin Shi Huang began the centuries-old and difficult construction of the Chinese Wall with all the forces of China.

shanhai guan is the city where the Great Wall of China begins. It is from there that it stretches in wavy bends, skirting more than half of the borders of Central China. The width of the wall is on average 6 meters, and the height is about 10. At some point in time, the wall was even used as a good level road. On some sections of the wall there are fortresses and fortifications as additions.

2450 meters - this is the length of the Chinese wall, although the total length, taking into account all the branches, bends and meanders, is almost 5000 km. From such large and infinite dimensions, many legends, myths and fairy tales have long been formed, for example, one of the most common is that the wall can be seen from the Moon and Mars. In fact, the Wall of China is only visible from orbit and satellite imagery.

According to a popular legend, a huge imperial army was spent on the construction of the wall, and this is about 300,000 people. In addition, tens of thousands of peasants were taken in and involved in construction, as the number of builders dwindled different reasons, and it was necessary to compensate for this with new people. Fortunately, there are no problems with the "human resource" in China to this day.

The geographical location of the wall is very interesting in itself: it is a symbol that divides the country into two parts - the north belongs to the nomads, and the south belongs to the landowners.

Another interesting and tragic fact- This is the longest and largest cemetery in the world in terms of the number of burials. About how many people were buried during the construction, and for all the time in general, history is silent. But the number is certainly incredibly large. The remains of the dead are found even today.

During the entire existence of the wall, it was restored more than once: it was reconstructed from the 14th to the 16th century, and then from the 16th to the 17th. one tower to another).

As a means of defense, the wall proved to be very bad, because such a height is not a hindrance for a large enemy. Therefore, for the most part, the guards did not look at the north side, but at the south. The reason is that it was necessary to keep an eye on the peasants who wanted to leave the country, avoiding taxes.

Today, in the 21st century, the Great Wall of China is an officially recognized symbol of its country, known throughout the world. Many of its sections have been reconstructed for tourism purposes. One part of the wall passes directly next to Beijing, which is a winning option, because it is in the capital that the largest number of tourists arrive.