Introduction of the great wall

The Great Wall is the epitome of mountaineering in China and a symbol of Chinese civilization. The Great Wall of Wan Li is one of the architectural wonders of the world. Let's look at the outline of the Great Wall. Welcome to read the reference.

the Great Wall

The Great Wall is a great miracle created by the working people in ancient China and a witness to the long history of China. Together with Tiananmen Square and Terracotta Warriors, it is regarded as a symbol of China by the world. Because it is longer than Wan Li, it is also called "Wan Li Great Wall". According to records, Qin Shihuang used nearly one million laborers to build the Great Wall, accounting for 1/20 of the national population. At that time, there was no machinery, and all labor depended on manpower. The working environment was steep mountains and steep cliffs. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to prevent other countries from invading, the vassal States built beacon towers and connected them with city walls, forming the earliest Great Wall. Since then, most kings have been reinforced and repaired. The Great Wall starts from Hushan, Dandong, Liaoning Province in the east and ends at Jiayuguan, Gansu Province in the west, passing through 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities from east to west. The total length of the Great Wall is 885 1.8km, including 6,259.6km of artificial Great Wall and 2,592.2km of trench and natural formation. ..

The topography of the Great Wall

"Because of the terrain, traffic is blocked by danger" is an important experience in building the Great Wall, which was affirmed by Qin Shihuang and recorded by Sima Qian in Historical Records. After that, every dynasty built the Great Wall according to this principle. All the passes in Guancheng are built between two high mountains and canyons, or at the bend of a river, or where they will pass through the plain, which can not only control the danger, but also save manpower and material resources, and achieve the effect of "one person guards it, and ten thousand people can't force it". Building castles or beacon towers is also an option in Four Essentials. As for building city walls, we should make full use of the terrain. For example, Juyongguan, Badaling and other Great Walls are all built along the back of the mountain. Some sections are very steep from the outside of the city wall, but very gentle from the inside, thus achieving the effect of "easy to defend but difficult to attack". In Liaoning Province, the Great Wall of Liaodong Town in Ming Dynasty was called the mountain dangerous wall and the chopping wall, which was made by slightly chopping the steep cliff. Some places completely use cliffs, rivers and lakes as natural barriers, which can be said to be wonderful. As a great project, the Great Wall has become a precious heritage of the Chinese nation.

On June 25th, 20001year, the Great Wall, as an ancient building from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Ming Dynasty, was approved by the State Council to be included in the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Contributions of various dynasties

In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the "outer" Great Wall, the "inner" Great Wall and the "inner three passes" Great Wall were also built. The "Neiguan" Great Wall, built in the Northern Qi Dynasty, starts from Pianguan at the junction of Inner Mongolia and Shanxi in the west, passes through Yanmenguan and Pingxingguan in the east, enters Hebei, then turns to the northeast, passes through Yuanyuan, Fangshan and Changping counties, reaches Juyongguan directly, and then reaches Huairou Siguan from north to east, and is connected with the "Outer" Great Wall, with Zijingguan as the center, generally showing a north-south trend. The "Neisanguan" Great Wall is parallel to the "Inner" Great Wall in many places. In some places, the two cities are only tens of miles apart. In addition, a large number of "heavy cities" have been built. There are 24 "heavy cities" in Yanmenguan area!

The Great Wall lies in the north of China. It starts from Hushan, Liaoning Province in the east and reaches Jiayuguan, Gansu Province in the inland area in the west. It runs through 9 provinces, cities and autonomous regions such as Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu, with a total length of about 885 1.8km and a length of about 17703.6 Li, and is known as the "Great Wall of Wan Li" in the world. It criss-crosses the east, west, north and south, and stretches on the vast land of our great motherland. It is like a dragon, crossing towering mountains, vast grasslands, vast deserts and heading for the vast sea. According to historical documents, more than 20 vassal states and feudal dynasties built the Great Wall. If you add up the Great Wall built in past dynasties, it is about 10 Wan Li. The length of the Great Wall in Qin, Han and Ming Dynasties exceeded 1 Wan Li. At present, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces, cities and autonomous regions have the remains of the ancient Great Wall and beacon towers. Among them, the Great Wall of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region alone reaches 3 Vandory.

The beginning and end of the Great Wall

According to historical documents, there are three dynasties where the Great Wall is more than 5,000 kilometers: First, the Great Wall of Wan Li, which starts from Lintao in the west and ends in Liaodong in the east, was built by Qin Shihuang; Second, the Great Wall and beacon towers built in the Han Dynasty, with a total length of more than 10000 kilometers, from Xinjiang in the west to Liaodong in the east; 3. Jiayuguan in the west and the Great Wall along the Yalu River in the east, built in the Ming Dynasty, with a total length of 8851.8km (revised in 2009). If you add up the Great Wall built in different periods, it will be more than 50,000 kilometers. These Great Wall sites are distributed in Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong and other provinces, cities and autonomous regions/kloc-0. Among them, only Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has 1.5 million kilometers of sites. Secondly, the Great Wall of Gansu.

Because of its long history, most of the early Great Wall was incomplete, and now the Great Wall built in Ming Dynasty is relatively complete. So when people talk about the Great Wall, they mainly refer to the Ming Great Wall. The length of the Great Wall also indicates the length of the Great Wall, from Jiayuguan in the west to Yalu River in the east.

Great Wall Pass Jiayuguan, Shanhaiguan, Juyongguan, Yumenguan, Jingxingguan, Niangziguan, Yanmenguan, Piantouguan, Pingxingguan, Gubeikou, xifengkou, Yulin, Huangyaguan, Waqiaoguan, Hushan Great Wall, Raven Pass, Niuzhuang City, fenshuiguan, Ningyuan City, Yangguan and Pingding. Jinshanling, Dushikou, Zhangjiakou, Mashikou, Yangfangbaoguan, Shuikouguan, Zijingguan, Xuanhua City, Santunying, Sandaoguan, Damaoshankou, Yiyuankou, Jielingkou, Chongyukou, Xuliukou, Lengkouguan, Baiyangyuguan, Qingshan Pass, tiemenguan, Panjiakou, Longjingguan, Hongshankou and Shangguan. Baimaguan, Lupiguan, Hefangkou, Lianhuachiguan, Huanghua Chengguan, Qiaodaokou, Jiukonglou, Sihai Yekou, Juyansai Old Town, Gill Sai, Gaoque Sai, Datong City, Shahukou, Weilubaokou, Jinsuokou, Huangzeguan, Huangloukou, Ning Wuguan, Limin Baokou, Deshengkou and Zhenhongkou. Zhenqiang Fort, Qiangqiang Fort, Qiangmen Fort, Zhumabaokou, Bulu Fort, Baoan Fort, Ninglubaokou, Broken Tiger Fort, Canhu Fort, Mabaokou, Yunshibao Fort, Shaojiabaokou, Dahebaokou, Defeated Tiger Fort, Yingen Fort, Blocked Tiger Fort, Jiangjunshebao, Yajiao Mountain, Eagle Fort, etc.

Building structure and building materials of the Great Wall

In the long history of China, many feudal dynasties built the Great Wall many times in order to consolidate their rule. In ancient China, thousands of working people in Qian Qian contributed wisdom and blood to it, making it a wonder of the world. Both the dragon-shaped city wall and the throat artery reflected the war thought of building a city at that time, and also marked the high achievement of architectural technology at that time. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, with the high development of feudal economy, the construction industry also embodied a huge production process and a relatively scientific brick and tile firing workshop. Therefore, the output of brick products has greatly increased, and bricks are no longer precious building materials, so the inner and outer eaves of many places in the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty are built with giant bricks. Under the conditions of manual construction and manual handling of building materials at that time, it was not only convenient to build the city wall with bricks with small weight and the same size, but also improved the construction efficiency and building level. Secondly, the gates of many passes are long-span arches made of blue bricks. Some of these blue bricks have been severely weathered, but the whole gate is still magnificent, showing the superb skills of building arches at that time. Judging from the architectural decoration of the Guanta Tower, many stone carvings and brick carvings are extremely complicated and elaborate, reflecting the artistic talent of craftsmen at that time.

The city wall is the main part of the city wall, with an average height of 7.8 meters, and some sections are as high as 14 meters. Where the mountain is steep, the building is low, and the flat place is high; The key places are higher, and the general places are lower. The wall body is the main part of defending the enemy, with a relatively wide total thickness, a foundation width of 6.5 meters and an average floor width of 5.8 meters on the wall, so as to ensure that the two wagons run in parallel. The wall is composed of an outer eave wall and an inner eave wall, filled with soil and gravel. The cornice wall refers to the side of the skin wall facing the city. There are obvious points when building, generally 25% of the wall height. The separation of the wall can increase the width of the lower part of the wall, enhance the stability of the wall, strengthen its defensive performance, and make the outer wall magnificent. The inner cornice wall refers to the inner side of the outer skin wall, which is generally constructed as a vertical wall without obvious points. As for the thickness of the outer cornice wall, it is generally based on the wall thickness at the "crib". The thickness here is generally one and a half bricks wide, and it gets thicker as it goes down. Bricklaying method is mainly flat masonry.

The structural content of the wall depends on the local climate conditions. Generally speaking, the Wan Li Great Wall has the following construction methods:

(1) version of rammed earth wall

(2) Adobe masonry wall

(3) Brick masonry wall

(4) Stone wall

(5) Mixed masonry

Bricks, stones and masonry are used to build city walls. When the slope of the terrain is small, bricklaying or masonry is parallel to the terrain, and when the local potential slope is large, the wall is built by horizontal descent method.

The role of the Great Wall now

The Great Wall Belt, which is composed of the vast northern and southern regions with the Great Wall of Wan Li as the intermediary, spans a considerable part of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other provinces (cities, autonomous regions), including Mongolia in historical period.

People's Republic of China (PRC) and some parts of the Korean peninsula. Its range is hundreds or even thousands of kilometers wide from north to south and thousands of kilometers long from east to west. The Great Wall Belt has been inhabited by many ethnic groups since ancient times, and the development of ethnic groups and their relations is the key to observing and understanding everything in the Great Wall Belt.

In the course of historical development, some ancient ethnic groups in the Great Wall Belt disappeared, and some new ethnic groups merged and formed, all of which are closely related to more than 20 ethnic groups distributed in the Great Wall Belt today. All ethnic groups, whether they have disappeared or continue to develop today, have made important contributions to the historical development of China.

The Great Wall of Wan Li is the product of the development of ethnic relations in ancient China, but at present, the research on the internal development law of ethnic relations between the north and the south of the Great Wall is not sufficient. Summarizing the existing research results, broadening the research fields and revealing the internal relationship between the Great Wall and the development of ethnic relations in China are of great practical significance and theoretical research value for the study of the Great Wall, ethnology and the development of the history of ethnic relations in China.

Economic and cultural structure

China's special geographical location and topographical features constitute the geographical environment and climate characteristics, which determines that the ancient economy and culture of Chinese mainland can be roughly divided into two regions: east and west and two natural layouts: north and south. The eastern and western regions start from Xing 'an Mountains in the north, pass through Yanshan Mountain, Yinshan Mountain, Helan Mountain and Minshan Mountain to Hengduan Mountain, the eastern region is an agricultural economic development zone, and the western region is an animal husbandry (mainly small watershed or oasis agriculture) economic development zone. Qinling Mountains and the south of Huaihe River are paddy agricultural economic development zones; Qinling Mountains, north of Huaihe River to Yinshan Mountain, south of Yanshan Mountain and northeast plain are dry farming economic development zones, while north of Yinshan Mountain and west of Helan Mountain are animal husbandry economic development zones. The natural layout of the two districts and three belts constitutes two major economic and cultural types of agriculture and animal husbandry in ancient Chinese mainland. The Great Wall Belt includes the whole dry farming economic development belt and most animal husbandry economic development belts, forming a complete and independent economic system. Economically based on agricultural economy, animal husbandry is an important supplement to agriculture, and the two economies are interdependent and complementary. Culturally, farming culture is dominant, and farming and animal husbandry cultures permeate and absorb each other, constantly merging and radiating. In the course of historical development, agriculture first developed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, becoming the center of the whole agricultural economy and culture in China and the center of national economic and cultural exchanges. In the whole animal husbandry economic zone, the Inner Mongolia prairie west of Xing 'an Mountains and north of Yinshan Mountain has developed into the economic and cultural center of animal husbandry with its unique conditions. Located at the natural intersection of these two economic and cultural centers, the Great Wall is the product of a certain economic development foundation. The Great Wall not only separates the two economies and cultures, but also links them together.

Now, the Great Wall has lost its military use, more embodies the spiritual civilization of the Chinese nation, and inspires the Chinese people to defend the Chinese nation. At the same time, we are also witnessing the unity, hard work and enterprising of the people of China in this land of China, expressing miracles and glory.

Ethnic relations in the Great Wall Belt

The ancient economic and cultural structure and ancient ethnic composition pattern of the Great Wall Belt determine that the relationship between the ancient agricultural economic zone and the animal husbandry economic zone in China is concentrated on the Great Wall, and the unity of opposites between its agricultural economy, culture and animal husbandry economy and culture is also carried out along the Great Wall. In line with this, the problems of the ancient nationalities in China are also concentrated on the Great Wall, which is extremely prominent. No matter the combination and communication between ethnic groups-politics, economy and culture-or the struggle between ethnic groups-military and politics-are carried out along the Great Wall, which plays an important role in the formation and development of major ethnic groups, the relationship between major ethnic groups and ethnic groups along the Great Wall, and even the formation and development of the whole Chinese nation. This is due to the dichotomy of China's ancient economic system and the unity of opposites between agricultural economy and animal husbandry economy.

Unity of opposites and development of economy and culture in the Great Wall Belt

Agriculture and animal husbandry are two completely different modes of production. Agriculture needs people to settle down and stabilize production, and people in animal husbandry graze on the move. The two modes of production have different characteristics, so the economy and culture of agriculture and animal husbandry have been contradictory since ancient times. The singleness and instability of animal husbandry production make it very dependent on agriculture, which often leads to the imbalance of economy and culture between the two, resulting in serious opposition. However, the cluster social organizations of tribes and civilians preserved in ancient pastoral areas are very easy to form military advantages, and sometimes they will enter agricultural areas for looting, causing great damage to agricultural areas. The construction and existence of the Great Wall separated the two ethnic groups, namely agriculture and animal husbandry, in order to enhance the resistance of animal husbandry to plunder and make it difficult to succeed easily, thus contributing to the protection of the agricultural economy and advanced production methods in the Central Plains and the development and accumulation of social productive forces and feudal civilization. From Qin and Han Dynasties to Ming Dynasty, most of the rulers who controlled the Central Plains made use of the powerful organizational strength of agricultural society to build the Great Wall continuously, and at the same time took large-scale measures to emigrate along the Great Wall, build traffic passages and open up new frontier areas, which promoted the economic and cultural development of the Central Plains. However, the opening of the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions and the extension of the Great Wall split the animal husbandry economic zone in two, weakened the threat of nomadic people to the Central Plains agricultural zone, and connected the Central Plains agricultural zone with the southern Xinjiang agricultural zone as a whole. With the development of history, this passage has further formed a corridor and an important hub connecting Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Europe and Africa, and has become an extremely important transportation line for economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West, as well as economic and cultural exchanges and radiation between the eastern and western ethnic groups in China. All these provide broad opportunities for the economic and cultural development and diffusion of the Central Plains.

More importantly, agriculture and animal husbandry are interdependent, mutually needed and mutually promoted. The agricultural economy not only needs animal husbandry to provide its own animal power for farming and transportation, as well as animal power and material resources such as war horses, livestock, furs and precious medicinal materials, but also needs to continuously sell agricultural and sideline products and handicraft products to the animal husbandry economic zone, making the animal husbandry economic zone an important commodity market in the agricultural economic zone; Animal husbandry economy not only needs agricultural economic zones to provide handicrafts such as grain, cloth, iron, copper, tin, gold, silver and pottery, but also needs to sell their own products such as fur and medicinal materials, thus promoting trade exchanges between the two economies along the Great Wall. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many passes along the Great Wall have historically become places or centers for ethnic exchanges in the two major economic and cultural systems of agriculture and animal husbandry. Coupled with the looting among ethnic groups under special circumstances, agricultural products have been circulating along the Great Wall, which has become the largest trade market and material supply and demand and distribution base in China. In the course of historical development, many passes have gradually developed into important towns along the Great Wall. It can be seen that the Great Wall not only ensures the normal development of agricultural economy, culture and animal husbandry economy and culture, but also provides a place and convenience for their exchange and complementarity; It also plays an important role in mediating the two economies and making the agriculture and animal husbandry economy develop in the direction of mutual assistance. In this sense, the Great Wall is also the intersection of agriculture and animal husbandry economy. Therefore, the Great Wall not only plays a role in separating the two economies and cultures, but also shoulders the heavy responsibility of linking them together.

The miracle of human history

The continuous construction of the Great Wall takes a long time, the amount of work is large, the construction is arduous, and the historical and cultural connotation is rich, which is really incomparable to other ancient projects in the world. Commenting on the Great Wall, Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of China's modern democratic revolution, said: "The most famous engineer in China is the Great Wall of Wan Li. ..... This project is unparalleled in ancient times and the only miracle in the world. " Former US President Nixon said after visiting the Great Wall: "Only a great nation can build such a Great Wall." Therefore, the Great Wall, as a miracle of human history, was included in the World Heritage List at 1987, and it deserved its name.

Such a huge project is unique not only in China, but also in the world, so it was listed as one of the seven wonders of the Middle Ages with the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa hundreds of years ago.

Cultural treasure

The Great Wall of Wan Li began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, accompanied by two thousand years of social progress in China. As we all know, the ancient civilization in China has a long history, and the feudal society is the richest and most brilliant chapter. All the major political, economic, cultural and historical events in the feudal society have left their marks on the Great Wall. Jin Ge, Zhu Chang, regime change, national war and so on are all reflected on the Great Wall. As a historical monument, the Great Wall has made the hydrology of China. The Great Wall of Wan Li contains the splendid culture and art of the Chinese nation for more than 2,000 years, and its connotation is very rich. In addition to the architectural layout, modeling, sculpture and painting of the city wall, Guancheng, Zhencheng and beacon tower, there are also poems and songs, folk literature and opera rap. Throughout the ages, I don't know how many emperors, generals, foot soldiers, poets and poets have left immortal chapters for the Great Wall. Frontier poems have become an important school in classical literature. For example, Li Bai's famous sayings such as "The wind has traveled thousands of miles, knocking on the battlements of Yumenguan", Wang Changling's "The bright moon in Qin Dynasty is about the Han Dynasty, and the Long March has not returned", Wang Wei's "Advise the gentleman to have a glass of wine, and there is no reason for people to go out to Xiyangguan", and Cen Can's "Like a spring breeze, it comes at night and blows open the petals of a million pear trees" have been circulated for thousands of years. The lyrics of Meng Jiangnu's sending cold clothes are still widely sung. The Great Wall is a place for patriotic education and a tourist attraction. It symbolizes the indomitable spirit and perseverance of the Chinese nation to overcome difficulties with its majestic posture and strong physique. This spirit inspires us to move forward forever. Sightseeing is not only a tour, but also a comprehensive function of keeping fit, increasing knowledge, keeping in touch with friendship and developing economic and trade activities.

Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening-up, the Party and the state have attached great importance to the development of tourism. Developing tourism has become one of the main tasks of the government. Beautiful natural scenery, rich cultural relics and colorful national culture and art are the powerful pillars of China's characteristic tourism. The Great Wall of Wan Li adorns the magnificent rivers and mountains of China with its winding and undulating figure, making it more majestic. It is both a cultural heritage with rich cultural connotations and a unique natural landscape. In the tourism opening, the Great Wall of Wan Li has unique advantages. Today, it is completely understandable that tourists at home and abroad express their feelings that they must personally visit the Great Wall to see China's long-standing civilization and magnificent rivers and mountains with the poem "You are not a hero until you reach the Great Wall". Former British Prime Minister Heath said during his visit to the Great Wall: "China's past and future are equally fascinating. ..... When I arrived at the Great Wall, I felt more spectacular than the Great Wall I had seen in photos, embroidery and painting before. " This just shows that tourists want to visit the Great Wall in person. The old castle has old traces, Kyushu is better than strong mountains and strong waters, and the Great Wall of Wan Li coexists with China and the world civilization.