The Great Wall of China

The world’s largest military structure!- and the world’s “longest

cemetery”….

• Can you imagine carrying a heavy humongous stone half the size of Shaq (7’4’’ tall, 325, lbs) AND the weight of 100 to 300 pounds!?

• Well, the Great Wall is made out of millions of these stones and other types of materials.

• Each one of the stones had to be cut exactly to size.

An old Chinese saying:

“ Each stone in the wall

represents a life lost in the construction.

”

Construction

•Work began on the wall before the birth of Christ, continuing through Columbus’s journey to North America!!!

Construction

• The Great Wall is made mostly out of granite and bricks.

• Bricks were used most often because its light weight made the construction much quicker.

• In the Gobi Desert, the workers would create pounded earth to continue building the wall. However, these parts were destroyed much easier than other parts of the wall.

Construction

• The Great Wall was constructed with natural materials such as stone and compacted soil.

• Before the use of bricks, workers would use stone, compacted soil, and rarely wood because it could catch on fire very easily.

• The Great Wall took up 3 million cubic meters of earth work.

Beliefs of the Great Wall

• Common belief: the Chinese made the Great Wall twist and turn not only to protect China but to make it represent the long back of the mighty dragon!

• By making the Great Wall like the dragon’s back, it would be a good omen and lead the Chinese to victory!

Purpose of the Great Wall

• The main reason why the Chinese built the Great Wall was to prevent troops from the north invading Chinese territory.

• It was also built as a defense against ferocious nomadic tribes.

• The Great Wall also provided great deal of protection during a battle.

Purpose of the Great Wall

• The Great Wall even helped safeguard the Silk Road so nothing would go wrong.

• An important purpose of the Great Wall was to house troops.

• Housing troops was important because, if the Great Wall was under attack, soldiers could just come out and defend China.

Parts of the Great Wall

• A part of the wall is the watch tower.

• Watch towers were at regular intervals of 180 meters on the wall.

• Watch towers hold weapons, house troops, and can also create fire signals to warn China of an attack being held.

• Most signal towers were built on hilly areas for visibility.

Parts of the Great Wall

• Beacon towers were spaced at intervals of 15 to 30 miles along the wall.

• Beacon towers could send messages faster than horse riding.

• Signal towers contained approximately 3 people to create a fire.

• Some parts of the wall were connected and made tougher for further attacks.

Construction During the Qin Dynasty

• The Qin dynasty first constructed the wall with just loose stone.

• Then the wall was constructed by a wooden rectangular frame filled with loose soil.

• After the frame was filled, workers would arrive and stomp on the soil until it was four inches thick.

• This unusual process had to be repeated many times, because it would only ascend 4 inches each time it was done.

History

• An important part to this process was detritus.

• Detritus was added to the loose soil because it wasn’t solid.

• By adding detritus to the loose soil, it would become more solid and sturdy.

• In this period of time, the wall was only created by compacted soil.

History

• The Han dynasty extended the wall and made it more durable.

• They even constructed the wall in the Gobi Desert.

• The Han’s role in the wall’s construction started in 206 B.C.

Construction During the Han Dynasty

• First, workers would lye down red willows followed by reeds and twigs.

• Next, a layer of water and gravel was added and stomped.

• Once the stomping was finished, more reeds and gravel would be added.

• This process would then be repeated many times until the proper height was reached.

• This process of the Han’s was much quicker and faster than the way of the Qin.

History

• The Ming dynasty added the most modifications to the Great Wall.

• The Ming dynasty also added major adjustments to the wall.

• Workers even made little holes in the watch towers for look out.

• The Ming dynasty added the two ways of the Qin and the Han dynasty’s process to construct the Great Wall.

Construction During the Ming Dynasty

• First, the workers would add tampered earth.• Next, around the tampered earth, they would add

a layer of bricks.• This genius method of making the wall was such

a success that it could even be built on steep mountains and sometimes on inclines of up to seventy degrees!

• It took over 1,700 years to reach completion• It is about 3,700 miles long• About 6 million people visit the section near

Beijing. (What is Beijing also called?)