Great+Wall+of+China

Branden Miles 6H Mr. Smith Social Studies 5/14/07

What do you think of when you hear the Great Wall of China? A wall, China, or do you hear Si Huangdi calling out to his bet General Meng Tian “I want a wall, a wall!” Well I hear 2,000 years ago when there was no China and the land was divided into 7 warring States. Just kidding, I don’t really hear that or do I. Anyway, I think that over time the history and building of The Great Wall of China has diminished. When people hear The Great Wall of China all they think of is the tourist attraction we have all come to know and love. However, what if people could think about the history of the wall? Not just a plain old wall.

The Great Wall of China was built over 2000 years ago by the first emperor in China Shi Huangdi. Shi Huangdi was ruler of the Qin Dynasty. He built this wall to protect them from the nomadic tribes to the north Hsiung Nu. (Huns) Even though farmers, warriors and tribesmen were forced to build the wall they never stopped for any reason. The Wall only took 10 years to build although many Chinese thought it would take longer.

The Great Wall is one of the longest and biggest manmade structures ever built. It stretches from Shanhai Pass in the east to the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. It is constructed of masonary, rocks and packed earth. It was over 5000km. Its thickness ranged from 4.5 to 9 meters long. Durring the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), the Great Wall was expanded to 6400km and renovated over a 200 year period. This renovation also added cannons and watch towers like the army has today. The Great Wall can be seen from earth orbit but not from the moon. This was proved by Neil Armstrong and his crew Jim lovell and Jim Irwin. Although this is a cool fun fact, continue to stay on the right track of history first. The Great Wall is also 25ft tall so if you think your tall then you are completely over your head.

So what is the Great Wall of China? Hopefully from this report you have learned where and what the Great Wall of China really is. Even though the Great Wall of China is old it still desereves our full attention and respect. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world.(However that is being debated.) Hopefully this report wasn’t borring but I hope that one day it might inspire you to go to China yourself.