题签十六：长城的历史及居庸关、八达岭长城
The Great Wall, symbolizing China’s ancient civilization, is one of the most famous and grand construction wonders in the world.The building of the Great Wall first began in the seventh century BC.The first section of wall was built by the Qi Kingdom and the Chu Kingdom.In Chinese history, there are three climaxes of building the Great Wall.They were in the Qin, Han and Ming dynasties.The sections of the wall began to be called the Great Wall in the time of Qin Shihuang.In order to ward off harament by the Huns and for the use of further defensive projects, many sections were linked up and expanded and finally it was extended into a Great Wall.The total length of the Great Wall was over 5,000 kilometers long, so in Chinese, we call it “Wan Li Chang Cheng.” The Qin Great Wall started from Lintao, Gansu Province in the west and ended in Liaodong, Liaoning Province in the east.The second climax of building the Great Wall was in Han Dynasty.In order to ward off the Huns as well as to protect the Silk Road, the Great Wall in Han Dynasty extended towards the west for another 5,000 kilometers long to the Lop Nur Lake in today’s Xinjiang .The Han Great wall started from the Liaodong Peninsula in the east and ended at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang, with a total length of 10,000 kilometers.The last large-scale project on the Great Wall was carried out in the Ming Dynasty.In order to ward off the harament of the remaining forces of the Yuan and the newly raised ethnic tribe of “Nu Zhen”, the Great wall had been built.The total length of the Ming Great Wall was more than 7,000 kilometers from Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the east, to Jiayuguan Pa in Gansu Province in the west.It paes nine cities, provinces and autonomous regions.The functions of the Great Wall in Chinese history are in four aspects, they are in military, economy, perfect harmony of various nationalities and the friendship between Asians and Europeans.
The structures of the Great Wall are the beacon tower and watch tower.Beacon towers were built on both sides of the Wall at the commanding points, which were at the top of the mountains or the twists and turns for making warning signals.Whenever the enemy was sighted, fires were lit on the top of the beacon tower at night, and the smoke was made during the daytime.Watch towers were built at regular intervals on the Great Wall itself for watching over the invading enemy.A watch tower was usually two stories high, and the defense soldiers lived inside.The ground floor was used for storing weapons and had a number of windows for archers.The upper floor had battlements, peep holes and apertures for archers.In the middle of the tower there were small living quarters for the defense soldiers.The watch towers were not only used by the defending troops to take shelter from the wind, rain and heat, but also to fight and check the enemy’s advance, and store arms and ammunition.
Next I’m very glad to introduce the Badaling section.It was listed as an important historical monument under special preservation by the Chinese government in 1961 and was listed by the UNESCO as one of the world heritage sites in 1987.The Badaling Great Wall is about 75 kilometers northwest of Beijing, and it is the best preserved part of the Great Wall.Bada means “convenient transportation to all directions.”The Great Wall at Badaling average 7.8 meters high, 6.5 meters wide at its base, and 5.8 meters on the top, wide enough for five horses or ten soldiers walking abreast on the wall.It has one side with battlements and the parapet is on the other side.The side with the battlements is about 2 meters high, and the parapet is one meter high.The outer side of the Wall is topped with crenellated battlements, and a square sized hole below for shooting arrows and also for keeping a watch over the enemy.The parapet is on the inner side.
Juyongguan Pa is located 50 kilometers northwest of downtown Beijng.There was a 20-kilomere-long valley called “Guangou Valley” from south to north, with 4 paes along the valley.They were of great strategic importance in defending the national capital, Juyongguan Pa is one of them.
Inside Juyong Pa there is an ancient marble platform known as “Cloud Terrace”.It was built in Yuan Dynasty.There used to be three Tibetan style pagodas built on the terrace with a road paing under it from north to south.Later, when the pagodas were destroyed, a temple was built.However, the temple was burnt down in a fire in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, so only the terrace remained.The Cloud Terrace is 9.5 meters high, 26.8 meters from east to west, 17.6 meters from north to south at the base, and it narrows towards the top.In the middle edge of the archway, there is a carving of a “golden winged bird” with the carvings of several animals.Inside the arched paage, there are carved in relief Buddhist images on the wall.The images of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Buddha of Ten Directions and 1,000 Buddha statues were all carved on the wall.
Today on the way to Badaling Great Wall, you can see a railway running by the Badaling Expreway.It is well-known at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.It was the first railway designed and constructed by Chinese itself.Its chief designer was Zhan Tianyou.
