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The Great Wall

Introduction and History
简介和历史

Although the Great Wall was originally built for protection, the wall stands as a tribute to the amazing ingenuity of the Chinese.

Listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987, the Great Wall ('Chang Cheng' in chinese) is a true marvel and a testament to the long history of the Chinese Civilisation.

Today, people from all over the world visit to walk on the Great Wall of China, to stand on a watchtower and view the wall snaking into the distance. This treasure is now protected so that future generations can see the Great Wall with the same wonder and amazement as we do now.

Some parts of the Great Wall of China have almost disappeared. Some parts have been overwhelmed by the elements. Some have been by the desert. Others eroded by local people recycling the wall's materials for constructions in their villages. Nevertheless, the Great Wall in large part still stands in silent splendor, enduring the passage of time and greeting the changes of the seasons as it has done for many hundreds of years.

虽然长城的最初建造是为了起到保护作用，但这个墙充分展示了令人惊讶的中国人的智慧。

在1987年长城被世界科教文组织列为世界遗产名录，长城是一个真正的奇迹也是中华文明千百年的见证。

今天，来自世界各地的人民都来登上中国的长城，站在烽火台上望着长城蜿蜒曲折的伸向远方。这个财富现在被很好的保护着，使我们的子孙后代都可以看到这个奇迹，像我们现在这般感到惊愕。

长城有些地方已经几乎绝迹。有的地方都已经被自然风化了，有的已经被沙漠掩埋了，有的长城的石料被当地的居民拆了，拿回去建设他们自己的村庄去了。尽管如此，大部分的长城仍然矗立着似无声的壮举，已经有好几百年这样不朽的跟随着时间推移，迎接四季的变化。

JinShanLing Great Wall

Early Great Walls
早期的长城

The history of the Great Wall is a long one - it was built over many hundreds of years. Walls were first built to keep invaders away from the farming villages on the Chinese border. These walls were built at weak points in the natural landscape or where the threat was perceived as greatest.

Some of these walls eventually became of greater strategic importance when the localised defences were gradually joined to form the Great Wall of China. At those times that the Chinese territory expanded northward, earlier walls became secondary defences when a more northernly wall was built.

In the early days, the Great Wall was as much a demarcation of territory as a defence as such, but as the Great Wall became stronger, it's defence role increased. Where possible, natural barriers were integrated into the path of the wall. This is particularly true for mountains - their height was used to gain both a greater view and for advantage in defense.

The Great Wall of China was built by soldiers, civilians, farmers and prisoners, primarily during three dynasties: the Qin, the Han and the Ming, although the Sui Dynasty and the Ten Kingdoms period also played a part.

The building styles of each dynasty added their own flavor and advanced the techniques learned from the previous.

长城的历史有很长——它从始建已有几百年了。高墙首次建设是为了在中国边界防御外敌入侵村庄。这些墙都被建在自然地形比较薄弱的地方或是已知道的存在最大威胁的地方。

当局部的防伪作用逐渐的加入到一些地方时，中国的长城最终在战略上变得重要起来。在那时中国的领土逐渐的向北扩张，当北部的建设了新的城墙时，早先的墙就变成了次要的防御位置。在初期长城同样也起着划分领土分界线的作用，但后来随着长城的逐渐加强，它的防御角色增加了。如有可能的地方，天然的屏障会被纳入其中，利用危崖绝壁、江河湖泊作为天然屏障，既在防御加强了他的优势，也造就了长城伟大的景观。

中国的万里长城都是由一些士兵、平民、农民还有战俘们，修建的。尽管隋朝的十个皇帝期间也发挥了作用，但主要是在秦、汉、明、三个朝代修建的。

在建筑风格上各朝代都补充着自己的味道和从上一个朝代学来的先进技术。

Simatai Great Wall

Qin Dynasty
秦朝

The first dynasty of China was the short-lived Qin Dynasty (221-206BC). The first emperor, Qin ShiHuang, was a tyrannical emperor who unified China by force and set about constructing one Great Wall - by joining, where possible, existing one and filling the gaps. He even sent scholars to work on the Great Wall - anyone who was deemed unproductive. These workers faced arduous labor, and the constant danger of being attacked by bandits.

Most of the early Great Walls were composed of loose stone, but when the natural stone in an area was not sufficient, the engineers turned to another method of wall building - a stoneless wall that was built using a wooden, rectangular frame that was then filled with loose soil. The soil was trampled down for many hours by a team of workers until it was solid. This process of filling and trampling would be repeated over and over until the wall reached the desired height.

中国的第一个王朝短命的秦朝（221-206BC）。第一个皇帝秦始皇，是一个暴君，他用武力统一了中国，并开始建造长城-用来连接可能的、现有的和填补缺口。他甚至把那些认为修长城是徒劳无意的文人学者们发送到那修长城。这些工人面临的繁重劳动，和不断有遭受歹徒袭击的危险。

早期的长城大部分由松散的石头组成，但当一个领域天然石材的不够的时候，工匠们就会用另一种省石的建墙法——用一个木制的矩形框架，里面填满松散的沙土，然后由一组士兵来踩踏几个小时直至泥土变坚固。这个填充和踩踏会一直重复直至达到理想的高度。

Han Dynasty
汉朝

The second dynasty to add to the Great Wall was the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). This dynasty rose to power in 206 BC after the fall of the Qin. The most notable contribution of the Han Dynasty is that they extended the Great Wall westwards through the Gobi Desert. Despite a lack of building materials, ingenious Chinese engineers found a solution. Their answer was similar to that of the Qin, but created a stronger wall.

This method involved first laying down a layer of willow reeds, possibly woven. Then a layer of gravel and a little water was applied and trampled solid. After the trampling, a new layer of reeds and gravel was added. This process would be repeated until the desired height was reached. Amazingly, some portions of this Great Wall are still standing, partly due to the dry conditions of the Gobi.

The Han also improved the watchtowers of the Great Wall - making them two storied to gain a better lookout.

第二个添加长城的朝代是汉朝（206BC-220AD）。这个朝代是在206BC年秦灭亡后上台的。汉朝最显着的贡献是他们把长城向西通延伸一直过戈壁沙漠。尽管缺乏建造材料，巧妙的中国工程师找到了解决办法。他们的办法和秦代的有点相似，而且建造了一个更强的墙。

这个方法是在第一层打下了一层芦苇柳枝，可能是编制品。然后铺一层砾石并洒上少许水用来踩实。踩实后，再铺一层新的芦苇和砾石。这一过程将重复进行，直到实现预期的高度。令人不可思义的是一些这样的长城至今仍然站立着，也许部分原因归咎于戈壁上的干燥气候。

汉朝也改进了长城的了望塔——把它们建成两层来增加更好的看守。

Simatai Great Wall

The Great Wall we see today
我们今天看到的长城

Ming Dynasty
明代

The last dynasty to build a northern wall was the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This dynasty built the biggest, longest, strongest and most ornate Great Wall ever. These are the walls that we are familiar with today.

The early Great Wall was located much further north than the current Ming wall, with its eastern end at modern day North Korea. Very little of this first wall remains - although aerial photographs do reveal a low, long mound. The Great Wall that the Ming created was, more or less, completely new.

The Ming Emperors, having overthrown the Mongols from the north, devoted large amounts of material and manpower to making sure that they (and the other semi-nomadic peoples to the north) could not return.

Their methods of Great Wall building fused all that was learned by the two previous dynasties. First, a center of trampled earth was created. Then, around the firm center was applied a shell of stone and bricks. The bricks that were created by the Ming are so strong that they compare well with the ones we use today.

Near Beijing, the Great Wall is constructed from quarried limestone blocks and fired bricks.

The strong Ming wall was built across some of the most dangerous terrains in China, including steep mountains, sometimes on 75 degree inclines! It has been said that every foot of the construction of this Great Wall cost one human life.

The Ming Dynasty Great Wall starts on the eastern end at ShanHai Pass, near QinHuangDao, in Hebei Province, next to Bohai Sea. It once spanned 9 provinces and 100 counties, but the final 500 kilometers of the Great Wall to the west have all but turned to rubble. Today, the western end of the Great Wall effectively ends at the historic site of JiaYuGuan Pass, in northwest GanSu Province, at the limit of the Gobi Desert and the oases of the Silk Road.

JiaYuGuan Pass was intended to greet travelers along the Silk Road. Although the Great Wall now ends at JiaYuGuan Pass, there are many watchtowers extending beyond there along the Silk Road.

In 1644, after two years of trying, the Manchus finally crossed the Great Wall by bribing an important general, Wu SanGui, to open the gates of ShanHai Pass and allow the Manchus into China. Legend has it that it took three days for the huge Manchu army to pass through the Great Wall.

So began the Qing dynasty. After the Manchu conquered China, the Great Wall was of less strategic value, mainly because the Manchu extended their political control far to the north of it, much further than any previous Chinese dynasty.

The last Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was a military fortification of great strength. However, historians are sometimes dismissive of its net value. It was astonishingly expensive to build, maintain and garrison and the resources the Ming spent on the Great Wall could have been spent on other military capabilities. The fact remains that the Great Wall was of no help in preventing the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

However, only because the currently prevailing dynasty had weakened from within were invaders from the north able to advance and then conquer. Both the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368) and the Manchurians (Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911) were able take power not because of a weakness in the Great Wall but because of a weakness in the government. They took advantage of disenchantment and rebellion and stepped into the void of power without an extended war.

MuTianYu Great Wall

最后一个建造北面长城的是明代 (1368-1644)。这个朝代曾经建造了最大、最长、最强壮和有很多装饰的长城。这些墙就是我们今天所熟悉所看到的。

在早期的长城比明墙还要往北，东端在现在的北朝鲜。尽管空中拍摄的照片显示有一些矮的长的土堆，但这些早期的长城都已所剩无几。相比较明建造的长城，或多或少的还算十分新。明朝的皇帝，击退了北面的蒙古军后，投入了大量的人力物力去建设长城，已确保他们（和北部的一些其他游牧民族）不能再回来。

建造长城的方法溶合了所有前两个朝代的技术。首先,用踩实的泥土建造中心部分。 然后，围绕坚实的中心两边用石头和砖块建造外壳。明朝建造的砖如此的强壮能和我们今天用的相媲美。

北京附近的长城是由人工采石场的石灰石块及烧结砖建造的。

强壮的明墙是横跨一些在中国最危险的地形,包括陡峭的山峰, 有的地方的倾斜度只有75度！曾经有人说过，每尺建筑这座长城的成本是一个人的生命。明代长城东端在山海关，河北省的秦皇岛附近，挨着渤海。它曾经横跨9个省100个县。但西部的最后500米现在都变成碎石砾了。今天，长城的西端有效古迹止于嘉峪关, 在西北的甘肃省，在戈壁沙漠和绿洲丝绸之路的界限上。嘉峪关是意在迎接丝绸之路沿线而来的旅客。虽然长城，现在仅止于嘉峪关，但目前仍有许多了望塔沿丝绸之路伸向远方。

1644年，在经过了两年的尝试之后，满族最终越过了长城。他们花重金贿赂了一个朝廷命官，吴三桂，去打开山海关的大门使满族进入中原。据说满族巨大的军队花了三天的时间才全部通过长城。

因此，自始清朝，满族征服了中原后，长城的战略价值被大大降低，主要是因为满族延长了自己的政治控制远到长城的北方，这远远超过以往任何一个中国的王朝。

明代最后的长城，是一个军事要塞上有伟大力量。不过，历史学家有时漠视其净值。这是贵得惊人的费用，明朝花在兴建、维护和驻军长城上的资源，可以用于其他军事性能上。事实上，对于明朝的灭亡长城并没有起到什么帮助和预防作用。

然而，只是由于当政的朝廷已削弱，从而入侵者能够从北方有效地推进，然后征服。无论是蒙古人(元朝, 1271年至1368年)，还是满洲(清代 1644年至1911年)能夺取政权，不是因为因为长城上的弱点，因为政府自身的弱点。

Badaling Great Wall

WatchTowers and Wall Design

敌楼和墙体的设计

Along the Ming Great Wall of China there are many watchtowers, spaced from less than a kilometer to several kilometers or more apart.

These were partly used to transmit military messages. Fire and smoke were the most efficient means for communication - fire was used at night and smoke during the day. Straw and dung was used for this. In 1468, a series of regulations set specific meanings to these signals: a single shot and a single fire or smoke signal implied about 100 enemies, two signals warned of 500, three warned of over a 1000 and so on. In this way, a message could be transmitted over more than 500 km of the Great Wall within a few hours.

沿着中国的明长城上有许多烽火台，间隔不到一公里至几公里或更多是分离的。

这些部分过去被用来传递军事信息。火和烟是最有效的传递信息的方法——晚上用火白天用烟。麦秆和粪被用于这个。在1468年，一系列规章对这些信号设定了具体含义: 一个单独的射击和单次火警或烟雾信号意为约100个敌人，两次警告信号指500个敌人，三个警告指超过1000人等等。这样, 在短短数个小时里一个信息可以传送超过500公里的长城。

SiMaTai Great Wall

During the Ming Dynasty, two-storied watchtowers were built on the Great Wall in strategic places. The ground floor was used for living, and storing food and weapons, and the top floor was used as a high lookout platform and also for defense. Canons were installed in strategic places, sometimes in watchtowers but also along the wall.

The watchtowers also provided a place to retreat to, if necessary, from attackers who had scaled the Great Wall. Inside, the watchtowers have narrow and puzzling layouts to confuse any infiltrators. The internal passageways and staircases were unique and restricted. This allowed defenders to pick off attackers one by one.

Barracks and administrative centers were located at larger intervals along the Great Wall. Small armies were garrisoned along the length of the wall to provide early warning of invasion and a first line of defense.

The outer parapet of the Great Wall is crenelated with merlons almost 2 m high from the base of the wall. The merlons provided protection from incoming fire while the gaps allowed fire at invaders.

在明代时期，两层的烽火台建在长城上的战略地方。第一层是用于居住和存放粮食、武器，顶层被用作高的哨岗站台，也为了防御。大炮被装在重要的战略位置，有时装在塔楼里，也沿着城墙装。如果必要的话，当袭击者曾攀登长城时，烽火台也提供了撤退的地方。在烽火台的内部有通道和使人迷糊的布局设计来搞混任何入侵者。内部的通道和楼梯是唯一的并且很窄。这样防守者就可以一个一个的把攻击者干掉。

军营和行政中心均位于长城沿线，普遍的会隔一段距离。一小部分军队分别沿着围墙驻防，以提供早期侵袭的预警，也做为首道军事防线。

长城外部的低墙几乎高出墙体基座2米左右。墙的城齿避免守卫者遭受战火的袭击，中间空开的地方是允许防守者射击侵略者的。

ShanHaiGuan Great Wall, near BeiDaiHe, where the Great Wall meets the sea