What are the characteristics of the Great Wall?

Amazing length

This project is huge.

Magnificent architecture

symbolic meaning

Operation great wall

The Great Wall is an important military defense project. A long history and a long building volume are two basic features of the Great Wall. In addition, the Great Wall has many other features. For example, there are many ethnic groups living inside and outside the Great Wall, and the great miracle of the Great Wall is jointly created by all ethnic groups.

First, the use time span is large.

The Great Wall has a long history from birth to maturity. From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qing Dynasty, the construction, maintenance and military utilization of the Great Wall have been accompanied by more than two thousand years, and its maintenance and other utilization have continued until modern times. According to historical records, Chu was the first vassal state to build the Great Wall in the history of China. According to historical records, the construction time of Chu Great Wall should be as early as 656 years ago. According to archaeological data, the Great Wall of Qi was formed very early, almost in sync with the Great Wall of Chu. The Great Walls of both countries appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period in China, and they are the earliest two Great Walls in the history of China. This period coincided with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the history of China. Due to the annexation of governors, Chu, Qin, Yan, Qi, Han, Zhao and Wei appeared.

A big vassal state. These countries often have conflicts of interest. In order to defend each other, they built one or more high walls on their own territory. These walls are linearly distributed, instead of guarding the city and being enclosed around, often reaching hundreds of kilometers or more than Qian Qian meters. Around the 4th century, in the process of merger and anti-merger, the demand for attack and defense among vassal states was increasing, and the defense of city walls was gradually developed and perfected.

Around the 4th century AD, the Great Wall began to become a means to adjust the relationship between farming and nomadic people and the normal production and living order. Countries such as Yan, Zhao and Qin are adjacent to nomadic peoples such as Donghu and Xiongnu. Due to the development and expansion of farming economy, nomadic people are also in the stage of seeking collectivization development. The two sides fought for land, livestock and population in the northern border areas of Yan, Zhao and Qin, which seriously undermined the normal production and living order in these areas. On the basis of reform, Yan, Zhao and Qin countries have greatly developed their economic strength and launched large-scale military operations in nomadic economic zones respectively. After the territory is opened, the Great Wall will be built in the north to prevent nomadic people such as Donghu, Xiongnu and Rong from moving south or east.

Qin Changcheng, Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia

Qin Shihuang established the first centralized dynasty in the history of China, unifying the Central Plains and some nomadic areas. At that time, the vast areas inhabited by Huns in the north did not belong to the Qin Dynasty. After Qin Shihuang drove the Huns to the north, he occupied the grassland area that originally belonged to the Huns, and ordered a large-scale construction of the Great Wall to protect the land he acquired. The Great Wall built during the Qin Dynasty, except the Yinshan Great Wall in the north, was basically built and expanded on the basis of the Great Wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the Warring States period, connecting them in a line. The Great Wall of China is called "Great Wall of Wan Li" because it is over 5,000 kilometers long.

After the Qin dynasty, it was the Han dynasty that built the Great Wall again on a large scale. At the end of Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Han Dynasty, when the Central Plains was in turmoil, the Huns became strong again. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he sent heavy troops to attack the Xiongnu in the north for many times, and successively built the Great Wall from Liaodong in the east to Xinjiang in the west. The Great Wall in Han Dynasty is the longest in history, with a total length of over 1000 km.

It was the Northern and Southern Dynasties that built the Great Wall after the Han Dynasty. During this period, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which ruled the northern part of the Central Plains successively, were constantly building the Great Wall and strategic defense lines due to the threat of nomadic peoples such as northern Turkic, Rouran and Xianbei. In addition, the Great Wall was built to prevent the mutual containment between the eastern and western regimes. Especially during the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Great Wall was built on a large scale and many times.

The three Great Walls were built during the Northern Qi Dynasty. The first is the Great Wall, which starts from Qingshuihe County in Inner Mongolia in the west, passes through Zhangjiakou and reaches Shanhaiguan in the east. The second is to defend the Northern Zhou Dynasty by building the Great Wall, starting from Huangtuling in the west and Juyongguan in the east. The third is to defend the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Great Wall, starting from Wutai in the north and reaching Niangziguan in the south. After the Northern Zhou Dynasty unified the North, in order to defend the Turkic, Qidan and other grassland nationalities, the Great Wall section from Yanmen in the west to Jieshi in the east was repaired and strengthened.

In the ninth year of Emperor Kai (589), the Sui Dynasty unified the Central Plains. Although the Sui Dynasty ended the division of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it still failed to solve the intrusion of northern nomadic peoples such as Turkic, Qidan and Tuguhun, and continued to build the Great Wall several times to contain nomadic peoples.

After the Sui Dynasty, nomadic peoples such as Turks were under the jurisdiction of the Central Plains Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. So the Great Wall was not built on a large scale in the Tang Dynasty, but a series of castles were set up in the original Great Wall area. In the Song Dynasty, the northern part of Shanxi, along the Great Wall Yanmenguan, once became the boundary pillar of the divide and rule of the Song and Liao Dynasties. In Song Dynasty, the Great Wall of Sui Dynasty was built to defend against Liao's attack, but it didn't last long. Therefore, the Song Dynasty only repaired and utilized the Great Wall of the Sui Dynasty in a few places, such as building a large number of beacon towers and garrisons. After the Liao and Jin forces moved south, the Great Wall was occupied by the Liao Dynasty, and the Yellow River and the Yangtze River replaced the Great Wall, which became an important defense line for the confrontation between the North and the South. According to historical records, the Great Wall was built in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang in Liao Dynasty. The scale is not very large, and the use time is not long. The specific situation is not very clear and needs further study.

After the Sui Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty built the Great Wall on a large scale. The Great Wall was built by the ancient ethnic minority Jurchen nationality, mainly to defend the Mongols. The Great Wall has two parts. The first section starts at the northern foot of Daxing 'anling Mountains, goes west along Genhe River, passes through Hulunbeier Grassland, and reaches the swamp to the north of Delgaierhan Mountain in modern Mongolia and Kent Province. This is the northernmost part of the Great Wall built in ancient China. Another section of the Great Wall starts from the west bank of Nenjiang River, enters Mobei along Xing 'an Mountains to the west, reaches Xilin Gol League, and then goes southwest along Yinshan Mountain to the north bank of the Yellow River.

Heilongjiang Gannan Golden Great Wall

After the rise of the Mongols, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty perished one after another, and a unified Yuan Dynasty was established. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, there was no need to build the Great Wall because the farming and grassland areas in the north and south of the Great Wall were unified. Later, the Great Wall was built on a large scale again after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty. In the early stage, it mainly defended the Mongols in the north, and in the later stage, it mainly defended the newly rising post-Jin Dynasty in the East.

The Ming Great Wall is the largest, strongest and most magnificent Great Wall in history. The Great Wall not only has a large engineering quantity, but also has great development in engineering materials, construction technology and defense configuration. The remains of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty are also the best preserved and the most developed in tourism.

After the reunification of the Qing Dynasty, the restoration and utilization of the Ming Great Wall was banned for a long time, which basically lost the significance of military defense. Only when the Great Wall was built in Qinghai during the reign of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty to defend the Great Wall of Mongolian Junggar and other tribes, did it have military defense value. Among them, the Qing Dynasty put down the Junggar rebellion, which was a war to safeguard unity and oppose ethnic division. This war lasted more than 70 years, from the 29th year of Kangxi (1690) to the 22nd year of Qianlong (1757).

From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qing Dynasty, the Great Wall spanned a long period of more than 2,000 years from its appearance to its continuous construction, restoration and extensive military use. This time span has a long history and become one of the most remarkable features of the Great Wall.

Second, the construction area is wide.

The second major feature of the Great Wall is its vast building area. After a long period of maintenance and expansion, the Great Wall has spread all over most parts of northern China. North Korea, Outer Mongolia and other neighboring countries also built the Great Wall when it belonged to the territory of ancient China, and there are still sites and remains of the Great Wall built by the ancient kings of China.

The Great Wall is built in a vast area and supported by detailed survey data. On June 5, 20 12, National Cultural Heritage Administration officially announced that after nearly five years of investigation and appraisal, the total length of the Great Wall in China was 2 1 196.438+08km ... This is the first time that China has scientifically and systematically measured and counted the total length of the Great Wall in past dynasties. The Great Wall is distributed in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and other 15 provinces, cities and autonomous regions. Statistics include the walls, trenches, single buildings, closed castles and related facilities of the Great Wall, and there are 437,265,438+0 Great Wall heritages. Among them, the Ming Great Wall starts from Hushan in Liaoning in the east and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west, passing through Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and other counties 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government 158+056, with a total length of 8851.

The Great Wall built in the past dynasties was basically located in the frontier areas of the dynasty. Maintaining stability in border areas is an important aspect of maintaining political stability. Maintaining rule is something that any ruler will go all out to do. For rulers, there is no meaning without dominance. Historical development has proved that without sustainable kingship, there can be no sustainable and organized civilization process. Even if the old regime must be broken, it is necessary to create a new regime as a ruler to continue civilization. Because maintaining border stability is an important aspect of maintaining political stability, rulers must spend gravity to maintain border stability in order to maintain their own rule and maintain the continuation of civilization. The Great Wall is one of the important measures taken by China's ancient Central Plains regime to maintain border stability.

The Great Wall of Qin, Zhao and Yan in the Warring States Period and the Great Wall that surpassed Wan Li in the Qin and Han Dynasties were all built in the border areas. The outer Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was also built in the border areas of the Ming Dynasty, and even directly called the Great Wall "side wall", and the nine military defense zones that managed the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty were called "nine sides". The Great Wall in Ming Dynasty was located in the inland of Ming Dynasty, which was the depth of the Great Wall's military defense. After the main enemy attacked the Great Wall in the border area, it was used to prevent the enemy from going deep into the mainland.

The frontier is the border area controlled by the state power. In different dynasties and different historical periods, the territory of China's ancient dynasties was not fixed. Border areas in different historical periods were established on the basis of objective reality at that time. Both the regime of the Central Plains Dynasty and the nomadic regime in the Great Wall area belong to the border areas, and the construction, adjustment and social governance of the dynasty's defense against the Great Wall area are influenced by the established border policies. Frontier governance is an important part of the overall governance strategy of dynasties and countries, and plays an important role in national economy, politics and culture.

During the Warring States period, the three northern vassal states of Qin, Zhao and Yan, which intersected with nomadic peoples, extended their land to the north until they developed into grassland areas that could not adapt to the farming economy, and built the Great Wall to protect new farming areas. Although it is not a modern frontier in a strict sense, it already has the embryonic form of the concept of frontier. After the establishment of the unified dynasty in Qin and Han dynasties, the concept of frontier with specific connotation was formed. Especially in the Qin and Han dynasties, the large-scale construction of the Great Wall in its border areas had an important impact on the determination, adjustment and governance of the border areas. The frontiers of past dynasties were constantly changing because of their own and objective factors, and their frontiers were also in the process of constant change.

In ancient China, there were countries with vast territory and significant differences in different regions, whether in the period of unification or division. During the period of great unification, the rulers of the dynasty defined the marginal areas controlled by the dynasty regime as frontiers from the perspective of state governance, and governed them in a different way from the mainland. For the Central Plains Dynasty, the border areas were not only the security barrier and strategic depth to defend the core areas of the country, but also the geographical space for further development after the country became strong. Border areas play a very important role in the development and stability of the country.

The tribes such as Wuhuan and Xianbei to the east of the Great Wall are separated from the ethnic groups engaged in the mixed economy of fishing, hunting, animal husbandry and agriculture in Songnen River Basin, and are specific types of nomadic ethnic groups with forests and grasslands as the environment. Mongolian grassland is the base of Xiongnu and represents the most typical nomadic grassland. Hehuang land on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the activity area of "Western Qiang" in Han Dynasty, and it is a nomadic type with plateau valley as its resource environment.

The relationship between nomadic peoples and agricultural society in Han Dynasty is also different. Ethnic groups engaged in the mixed economy of fishing, hunting, animal husbandry and agriculture are most likely to be combined with agricultural society when conditions are available. This feature is more obvious in the Great Wall area, which is the border area of the Central Plains Dynasty. At that time, political exchanges and changes of different economic types were attacked and cut. The ethnic groups with mixed economic types of fishing, hunting, animal husbandry and agriculture launched a war aimed at subverting the regime of the Central Plains, which was much higher than the ethnic groups who simply nomadic grasslands.

The Great Wall area is the buffer and core area of the peripheral defense area of the Central Plains Dynasty, and it undertakes the military defense task of the central area of the Gong Wei Dynasty, which has important strategic and military significance. Under the specific political and historical environment, the Great Wall area has multiple meanings of politics, economy, culture, geography and strategy. The purpose of governing the Great Wall area is to ensure the development and peace of the central area of the dynasty, that is, the so-called "defending the middle", "governing the border" and "preventing the four foreigners".

The frontier of any dynasty is not static, but in constant adjustment and change. The change of dynasty territory either contracted inward or expanded outward. Influenced by climatic conditions, political strength, economic conditions, the outcome of the war and other aspects, the Central Plains dynasty sometimes adopted the practice of shrinking the frontier to maintain the stability of its own rule. Especially when the Central Plains Dynasty declined, declined or split, nomadic people would not only change their relations with the Central Plains Dynasty, but even take military offensive measures to seize the areas controlled by the Central Plains Dynasty. With the development of the dynasty economy and the enhancement of its strength, the Central Plains dynasty will also have the need to expand outward in a certain period of time. The Central Plains dynasty often showed its national strength and cultural glory by expanding its territory and publicizing Wade. At this time, the Central Plains Dynasty produced political attraction and military deterrence to ethnic groups outside the Great Wall, as well as economic influence and cultural appeal, which promoted the nomadic people's surrender, submission and submission to the Central Plains Dynasty.

Fei Zhengqing, an American scholar, said: "The relationship between China people and their surrounding areas and with' non-China people' is full of Chinese centralism and China's sense of superiority. China people tend to think that diplomatic relations are the external expression of the same principle embodied in China's political order and social order. Therefore, China's diplomatic relations, like China society, are hierarchical and unequal. Over time, a network of Chinese-foreign relations roughly equivalent to the European international order has been formed in East Asia. " His judgment is basically in line with the historical situation.

The frontier of modern political science is the territory of the country near the border, which is not exactly the same as that of ancient times. In the modern sense, "frontier" and its depth are the areas defined by sovereign countries within their territorial boundaries according to their political, economic and military needs and specific physical geography or administrative divisions. The premise and foundation of establishing national borders is modern international law, and borders are the symbol of a country's sovereign space. Frontier based on national sovereignty is a concept gradually established after the emergence of modern nation-states. Because "national boundaries began to appear in the process of the emergence of nation-States."

Compared with the modern sovereign countries, the ancient countries in history, whether it is the city-state of ancient Europe or the Roman Empire, or the Frankish Empire and Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages, have no clear and fixed national boundaries or military overstepping, just like the ancient dynasties in China, so they are regarded as clear boundaries that violate territorial sovereignty. Therefore, the Great Wall has never been the boundary of the Central Plains dynasty.

Anthony giddens, a British sociologist, pointed out after studying the development process of nation-states: natural environmental factors (such as deserts, oceans, mountains and swamps) and man-made isolation facilities, such as the Great Wall built by China in successive dynasties, the walls of the Roman Empire and the side walls of the Byzantine Empire, separated countries from each other in the traditional imperial system and did not have the border nature of modern countries. He believes: "It is incorrect to equate these buildings with national boundaries in the modern sense. Even in areas where the boundaries of traditional countries are clearly separated by such buildings (in any case, such buildings are extremely rare), they cannot be called' national borders'. In non-modern countries, the border around the city wall is still a border area, which is far beyond the daily jurisdiction of the central government. The bigger the country, the more so. As far as the contemporary meaning of the word "national sovereignty" is concerned, the walls of Rome and China cannot correspond to the boundaries of "national sovereignty". On the contrary, these walls are an outward extension of the' inner layer' defense system. "

Anthony giddens's understanding is correct. The Great Wall is the product of the ancient dynasty, and the Great Wall area includes a great depth inside and outside the Great Wall. Huang Renyu once said that the pre-nation-state era generally had the characteristics of "dynasty state", and its governance of the country was mainly "dominated by personal politics, and orders could be issued as long as it was out of the relationship between ministers and families".

The geographical scope of the Great Wall is not unrelated to the historical territory of China. In the discussion about the historical territory of China, the views of Tan Qixiang and Bai Shouyi are the most representative. When Tan Qixiang presided over the compilation of the Atlas of Chinese History, he set a standard: "After the reunification of the Qing Dynasty in the 1950s in 19, the territory of China before the imperialist invasion in the 40s in 19 was within the scope of China formed by thousands of years of historical development. All ethnic groups living in this area in the historical period are ethnic groups in the history of China, and the regime they established is historical China.

In 1950s, Bai Shouyi proposed that the territorial scope of People's Republic of China (PRC) should be taken as the standard to deal with the territorial issue of China in history. In 1980s, he wrote this standard into his Outline of General History of China and General History of China, with a total volume of 12 and 22 volumes of about120,000 words. He believes: "The territory of China people and China is the stage for China people and all ethnic groups in China to jointly carry out historical activities, that is, the geographical scope we use to write the general history of China through the present and present."

The instability and stability in the Great Wall area of China will spread to further areas through the border areas. Some American scholars believe that the rise and fall of dynasties in the history of China is not only related to the rise and fall of nomadic grassland society, but also influenced the west-China, which is thousands of miles away. F.J. Teagart's "Rome and China —— A Study on the Relationship between Historical Events" focuses on the comparison between eastern and western history. After careful analogy and analysis, it is found that there were 40 Roman wars, 27 of which were related to the wars in western China. The author regards the East and the West as an organic whole, and points out that the credibility of Rome's financial market is actually closely related to the prosperity of Asia. Without shaking the foundation of this credibility, turmoil will not easily occur. Theoretically, F.J. Tiggart raised the ancient communication between the East and the West from simple economic relations to complex political relations.

There are many nationalities living inside and outside the Great Wall.

Today, as a unified multi-ethnic country, there are generally 56 ethnic groups in China. The development of 56 ethnic groups in the history of China is a very complicated process. In addition to 56 ethnic groups, there are some "unidentified" ethnic groups, which Fei Xiaotong once mentioned. China has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times, and the Great Wall area is the most active area of multi-ethnic activities, which witnessed the whole process of the formation, development and relationship of different ethnic groups.

In the history of China, the development of northern nationalities was related to the Great Wall to varying degrees. Different nationalities live together inside and outside the Great Wall. For their own survival and development, all ethnic groups will have some common interests and different interests. In the process of interweaving different stakeholders in different periods, the Great Wall won the non-war time to the maximum extent, which promoted the overall development of farming and nomadic areas.

According to the current archaeological data, there are many rivers and lakes in the Great Wall area of Neolithic Age, and ancient human sites have been found near the main rivers and lakes, and a large number of Neolithic sites have also been found in the Great Wall area of Inner Mongolia. Neolithic cultural sites show that there were natural conditions for agricultural development in Hailaer River Basin and the surrounding areas of Horqin Grassland, Xilingol Grassland, Wulanchabu Plateau, Hulun Lake, Xilamulun River and Laoha River Basin in Ordos Plateau. People living in this area have basically entered the agricultural era at the same time as people living in the Loess Plateau, the North China Plain and the Yangtze River Basin. Therefore, there will be agricultural settlements and cultural relics planted in the ruins of these areas. Although the natural conditions in these places were worse than those in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, the environment at that time was not so bad that it was impossible or difficult to engage in settled agriculture.

Eastern Inner Mongolia and western Liaoning are important parts of the Great Wall. By the time of Hongshan Culture, primitive agriculture had developed greatly, and large stone tablets and stone knives with holes were found in various sites and tombs. Especially the appearance of altars, temples, tombs and other buildings shows that primitive agriculture has entered a process of rapid development.

Among the 77 tombs excavated in Shipengshan cemetery of Xiaoheyan culture, most of the male tombs were buried with production tools, while the female tombs were buried with spinning wheels and bone needles. Primitive agriculture has developed to a higher stage, and the division of labor between men and women is clear. Agricultural production tools such as stone axes, shovels and knives unearthed from Xiajiadian lower cultural site further illustrate the characteristics of agricultural development in the Great Wall area similar to the Yellow River basin. A large number of Shicheng settlements also proved the development state of primitive agricultural society in the Great Wall area at this time. In eastern Inner Mongolia and western Liaoning, Shicheng settlements belonging to this cultural type are large in scale and quantity. More than 30 settlements have been discovered in the Yinhe and Yingjin River basins alone, with the largest area reaching 654.38+10,000 square meters.

From the period when bronze and stone tools were used together to the period when bronze completely replaced the stone tools, the climate in the Great Wall area in the north changed greatly, the temperature became lower and lower, and the air became drier and drier, which restricted agricultural production, and agriculture gradually withdrew from the leading economic type, and animal husbandry gradually replaced agriculture as the leading economy. In grassland areas outside the Great Wall, nomadic economy has gradually changed into a single economic type. This change is a new ecological balance under the restriction of climatic conditions that are not conducive to agricultural production.

In the face of powerful nature, human beings are often powerless, especially in the early stage of human development. Even when the nomadic economic type has been formed in the northern grassland area, this economic type, which is more dependent on natural conditions such as environment and climate, is still greatly influenced by climate and environmental changes. When the climate change intensifies, it is also a time when the nomadic economic ecosystem fluctuates greatly. The more serious the natural disasters are, the higher the probability and intensity of conflicts between nomadic and agricultural peoples in the Great Wall area. This kind of military conflict is closely related to the instability brought by the natural environment to nomadic society.

The development and integration of ethnic groups in the Great Wall area is a tortuous and complicated process, and the degree and scale of exchange and integration in different periods show different States. The appearance of the Great Wall is the need of historical development. The reason why the Great Wall exists in areas where many ethnic groups exist and in areas where farming and nomadism are in transition is that in a certain historical period, multiple contradictions and multiple interests of different ethnic groups are superimposed. It is by no means a simple matter to solve the contradictions among different ethnic regimes, cultures and classes in the north.

A * * * isomorphism composed of countless individual families is a nation. Because these families are engaged in the same economic type of production in the same area, they have formed the same cultural characteristics over time and combined into social relations with the same interests. With the development of national identity, economic relations play an increasingly important role in promoting, especially in the formation of two major ethnic groups, namely, agricultural ethnic groups and nomadic ethnic groups, economic relations and regional relations are important factors. After the development of agricultural production to a certain stage, a national identity with the same cultural and psychological characteristics has been formed in agricultural areas. In grassland area, grassland is an important production base, and animal husbandry is the main production form. In this way, in the same geographical area, the same economic life has formed the same language and belief.

Farming people and nomadic people are two completely different peoples formed under the differences of production, life and language beliefs in the two regions. The geographical and natural conditions of nomadic life are relatively harsh. In the long-term fight against natural crisis, national identity and national interests have become more prominent. Nomadic people and farming people have different interest subjects, so there is an internal motive force of all-round confrontation and conflict.

In the Great Wall area in the north of China, the farming people are relatively stable, and the changes of nomadic people are relatively complicated. "Nomadic people" is the general name of nomadic producing people in the north, which is composed of many different nationalities. This kind of ethnic relations and ethnic distribution, which are mainly nomadic economic types and migrate in the same area or different areas, are constantly developing and changing in the same area, making the ethnic system in the Great Wall area present a very complicated state. Nomadic people are a great migrant people, and in the process of assimilation with the farming people in the Central Plains or other ethnic groups, they have formed a nation with new national characteristics.

When nomadic people are strong to a certain extent, they will also form a form of national organization and management as a public authority to determine the unity and development of ethnic groups. With the management and domination of national resources by national interest representative organizations, different cultural characteristics and behavior patterns of various ethnic groups have gradually formed. The higher the cultural development of a nation, the better its overall stability. The higher the level of cultural development, the stronger the national consciousness, which is the basis for the long-term existence of a nation.

The Great Wall area is an economic transition zone between farming and nomadism, which has long formed a mode of production and lifestyle that is different from that of nomadic people in the depths of grasslands and farming people in the Central Plains. The product types in the Great Wall area are also different from grassland and farming, which are two relatively single economic forms.

The living conditions and economic behaviors of different nationalities and ethnic groups living in the Great Wall area are often very transitional. Farming and nomadism coexist, cross and compete for resources, which determines that this area is very creative. In particular, the oasis distributed in the desert of the Great Wall area is rich in water and grass, which can be used as the development base of settled agriculture and an important place for nomadism. The control of oasis is the focus of the struggle between the Central Plains regime and the northern nomadic regime.

Through archaeological means, according to different cultural characteristics, we can understand the basic situation of different nationalities in the early Neolithic age. In the Neolithic Age, different cultures basically represented different nationalities in different regions. On this point, the academic community has done a relatively full study. Different nationalities living on the north and south sides of the Great Wall live in different cultures and different economic ways. The most striking feature is the unbalanced development of national societies. This imbalance existed in all historical periods, even in the archaeological culture of the Neolithic Age. Different nationalities have different languages, different economic types, different economic cultures and different levels of social development. This difference is one of the basic causes of ethnic conflicts. With this imbalance, there will be exchanges, competitions and conflicts between many ethnic groups. In the process of complex historical evolution, the existence of different nationalities in the Great Wall area has the following characteristics.

First, in the Great Wall area, the natural environmental conditions of nomadic people are worse than those of agricultural people. This is common in all dynasties. Especially when the Central Plains dynasty was strong and brought great political and military pressure to nomadic people, nomadic people could only migrate to places with worse natural conditions. This inequality between natural conditions for survival and natural conditions is an important factor that leads to the long-term existence and continuous intensification of ethnic contradictions.

Second, in the Great Wall area, there are ethnic barriers and ethnic discrimination between farming and nomadic peoples. The farming area where the Central Plains Dynasty was located had stronger economic strength and was more developed than the nomadic economy. The economic superiority made the Central Plains Dynasty have a strong sense of superiority psychologically and brought this sense of superiority to culture. Under such circumstances, it is easy to produce ethnic discrimination. When nomadic regimes are strong enough to attack the Central Plains, they often wage wars. After the victory of these nomadic regimes and the establishment of a regime dominated by nomadic peoples, they will also take some coercive measures in terms of language, beliefs, living habits and customs when managing agricultural nationalities, which is also reflected in a kind of ethnic discrimination.

In any case, after the balance between the two sides is broken, ethnic barriers and ethnic differences will inevitably show up in the form of conflicts. Whether the ethnic gap is serious or not depends on other conditions. This is the reason why conflicts, reconciliation, exchanges and integration often occur between different ethnic groups living in the Great Wall area.

Third, the migration and mobility of nomadic people. Historically, the surrounding nomadic peoples have always been the main threat to the Central Plains dynasty. Some Central Plains dynasties adopted better strategies and policies to solve the relationship with the surrounding nomadic peoples. After forming a good relationship with the powerful nomadic people, why do they still face different threats in different historical periods? One of the main reasons is that the nomadic people who lived in the Great Wall area in ancient China were not the same nomadic people, so the friendly ties accumulated and established by the former dynasties were meaningless to different nomadic people who migrated and flowed through. The previous dynasties effectively solved the conflict problem in the Great Wall area, and with the emergence of new nomads, problems will appear again. Due to this migration, nomadic people periodically plundered the south, which made different dynasties and different Central Plains dynasties face the challenges of different nomadic people in the Great Wall area.

Fourthly, the unification of different nationalities in the Great Wall area will also have different influences on the Central Plains. If nomadic peoples and tribes outside the Great Wall form a unified and powerful political power, the Central Plains dynasty will face greater and longer-term threats in the Great Wall area. When the state power outside the Great Wall was seriously dispersed, the threats and challenges faced by the Central Plains Dynasty were relatively small.

When other ethnic regimes except Zhongyuan are in a decentralized state, the threat from nomads is mainly the harassment and plunder of agricultural areas by small tribes, which will not cause great damage to the whole area, and will not threaten the overall security of the Central Plains dynasty. The relationship between tribes and nationalities living in the Great Wall area constitutes a complex and ever-changing whole.