Great Wall of China
- This article discusses the man-made structure. For the largest known super-structure in the universe, see Great Wall (astronomy).
The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: 万里长城; traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; pinyin: Wànlĭ Chángchéng, literally the Long City/Fortress of 10,000 Li¹), is an ancient Chinese fortification built from the end of the 14th century until the beginning of the 17th century, during the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect China from raids by the Mongols and Turkic tribes. It was preceded by several walls built since the 3rd century BC against the raids of nomadic tribes coming from areas now in modern day Mongolia and Manchuria. The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,350 km (3,946 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Gulf in the east, at the limit between China proper and Manchuria, to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (refer to University of Washington: A. The Main Caravan Routes (b) The “Central Route” or “Middle Route.”).
Condition
While some portions near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in most locations the Wall is in disrepair, serving as a playground for some villages and a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction sites. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often plagued with hawkers of tourist kitsch. The Gobi Desert is also encroaching on the wall in some places. Some estimates say that only 20% of the wall is in a good condition.
== Walls== Significant passes (simplified Chinese: 关口; traditional Chinese: 關口; pinyin: guān kǒu) include:
- Shānhǎi Pass (Shanhaiguan) (山海關)
- Jiayu Pass (嘉峪关),
- Jūyōng Pass (居庸關)
- Niángzi Pass (娘子關)
== Watchtowers and Barracks ==
The wall is complemented by defensive fighting stations, to which wall defenders may retreat if overwhelmed.
Each tower has unique and restricted stairways and entries to confuse attackers.
Barracks and administrative centers are located at larger intervals.
== Materials ==
The materials used are those available near the site of construction. Near Beijing the wall is constructed from quarried limestone blocks. In other locations it may be quarried granite or fired brick. Where such materials are used, two finished walls are erected with packed earth and rubble fill placed in between with a final paving to form a single unit. In some areas the blocks were cemented with a mixture of glutinous rice and eggwhite.
In the extreme western desert locations, where good materials are scarce, the wall was constructed from dirt rammed between rough wood tied together with woven mats.
== Specialized defense weapons ==
In addition to the usual military weapons of the period, specialized wall defense weapons were used.
Reproductions of weapons are displayed at the wall.
== Recognition ==
The Wall is included in lists of the "Seven Medieval Wonders of the World" but was of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks.
The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
The Chinese have a saying, 不到长城非好汉 bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn, roughly meaning "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall".
There is a longstanding disagreement about how visible the wall is in space. The notion of its visibility from outer space greatly predates manned space flight.
Legend [1] says the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) once dreamed his soul traveled to the moon. From here, he was dismayed to see his entire kingdom amounted to nothing more than a tiny dot. The story says at that moment he decided to build a mighty wall stretching along his kingdom's northern border and beyond, in hopes of expanding his kingdom (and its wall) to the point of visibility even from the moon.
Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels said the Great Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon, and a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" cartoon from the same decade makes a similar claim. This myth has persisted, assuming urban legend status, sometimes even entering school textbooks. Arthur Waldron, author of the single most authoritative history of the Great Wall written in any language, has speculated that the myth of the Great Wall's visibility from outer space might go all the way back to the fascination with the "canals" some people during the late nineteenth century believed to exist on Mars. (The logic was strange and simple: If Earthlings can see the Martians' canals, the Martians might be able to see the Great Wall.) But in fact, the Great Wall simply cannot be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the moon, much less that of Mars.
The distance from the earth to the moon is about a thousand times greater than the distance from the earth to a spacecraft in near-earth orbit. If the Great Wall were visible from the moon, it would be easy to see from near-earth orbit. In fact, from near-earth orbit, it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions. And it is no more conspicuous than many other manmade objects.
One shuttle astronaut reported that "we can see things as small as airport runways [but] the Great Wall is almost invisible from only 180 miles (290 km) up." Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." An Apollo astronaut said no human structures were visible at a distance of a few thousand miles. U.S Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several professional U.S. astronauts. Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he couldn't see it at all.
From low-earth orbit it may be visible under favorable conditions. Features on the moon that are dramatically visible at times can be undetectable on others, due to changes in lighting direction. The Great Wall is only a few meters wide — sized similar to highways and airport runways — and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it.
Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 160 km to 320 km high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "...it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look."
Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the state-run China Daily newspaper concluded that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look. ([2])
See also
Further reading
Roland Michaud (Photographer), Sabrina Michaud (Photographer), Michel Jan, The Great Wall of China (2001) ISBN 0789207362
Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1990.
External links
- Photos of Great Wall in Simatai
- Great Wall of China
- Pictures of Great Wall of China
- Great Wall Hiking
- CBC.ca News: "Great Wall invisible from space": Chinese astronaut
- Snopes urban legend site Great Wall's lack of visibility from space
- Great Wall of China & Volunteer of Great Wall
- Great Wall of China
- Map of Great Wall
Notes
¹ 10,000 li = 5,760 km. (3,580 miles). In Chinese, 10,000 figuratively means "infinite", and the number should not be interpreted for its actual value, but rather as meaning the "infinitely long wall".
More Photos
