By
Alexander, 4th Grade
Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, the first unified Chinese
emperor, planned the Great Wall of China around 2,200 years ago in order to keep
out the barbarian (The Huns) invasions. The Great Wall was made of bricks and
plaster; it is about 25 feet high, up to 30 feet wide and 1500 miles long and
connected from Lintao through the Yellow River to the Liaodong Peninsula through
the famous Juyonguan Pass near Mt. Badaling and through several provinces.
It was stationed on the edges of mountains to prevent attacks. The
emperor’s soldiers and generals forced about 1,000,000 people from their homes
to work on the Great Wall of China.
About every 100 yards
down the Great Wall, the workers were forced to build a watchtower 45 feet
high to spot the enemies and light a signal fire to warn all the soldiers
along the wall to prepare for an enemy attack.
The workers that had died were buried inside the wall.
The wall was worked on throughout hundreds of years.
Later on in the Ming Dynasty (about 1,000 years after Ch’in Shih
Huang Ti), the Ming emperor extended the wall’s plans to make it run to
cover more of the provinces and to Jiayuguan (gate to the famous Silk Road).
In 1215, Genghis Khan (Temuchin) of
the Mongols finally penetrated the Great Wall and took over northern China after four years of continuous attacks.
The Mongols were the only invaders to ever have defeated China after
the Great Wall was built.
Year after year and war after war, the
Wall was slowly withering away. Many
portions of the Great Wall are ruined but recently the Chinese are restoring them.
Today the Great Wall remains the largest building in the world and the
only man-made construction that can be seen from the moon.
It is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.