Why did China build the Great Wall in ancient times? Is it really as simple as boycotting foreign countries?

In order to resist the attack of nomadic people in the north, castles "Fierce Cities" were built one after another for defense.

The history of the Great Wall can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to compete for hegemony and defend each other, countries built the Great Wall on their borders according to their respective defense needs. The earliest building was the "Chu Fangcheng" in the 7th century BC. Later, the vassal states of Qi, Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan, Qin and Zhongshan all built the "Great Wall of Mutual Defense" for self-defense.

Among them, Qin, Zhao and Yan are adjacent to Xiongnu, a powerful nomadic people in the north. While they were building the Great Wall to prevent feudalism, they also built the Great Wall in the north to resist Hu. Since then, almost all monarchs have been reinforced and built.

At this time, the Great Wall is characterized by different directions in the east, south, west and north, and its length is short, ranging from several hundred kilometers to 1000-2000 kilometers. In order to distinguish it from the Great Wall of Wan Li built by Qin Shihuang, historians call it the Great Wall of Pre-Qin Dynasty.

Extended data:

From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many passes along the Great Wall became places or centers for ethnic transactions in the two major economic and cultural systems of agriculture and animal husbandry, and some gradually developed into important towns along the Great Wall.

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.

Therefore, the Great Wall not only plays the role of isolating the two economies and cultures, but also shoulders the heavy responsibility of closely linking the two economies and cultures.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were nearly ten million soldiers and civilians. While building the Great Wall, Qin Shihuang began to strengthen the development and construction of border areas, which opened the prelude to stationing farmland to defend the border and developing the border areas.

Because it took a long time to build the Great Wall in the Han Dynasty, many people put forward suggestions on immigration, which were adopted and implemented by the Han government.

Immigrants and soldiers guarding the Great Wall cultivated wasteland together, which not only accelerated the economic development of the border region, saved a lot of government military expenditure, but also greatly reduced the pain of long-distance transportation and made Chinese culture spread farther and wider.

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