0
0
The Great Wall of China is one of the most notorious structures in the entire world. The Jinshaling section in Hebei province, China. The Great Wall of China was built centuries ago by China’s emperors to protect their territory. Today, it stretches for thousands of miles along China’s historic northern border.
For Millennia, Chinese leaders instituted wall-building projects to protect the land from northern, nomadic invaders. One of the surviving sections of such an ancient wall, in the Shandong province, is made of hard-packed soil called “rammed earth” and is estimated to be 2,500 years old. For centuries during the Warring States period, before China was united into one nation, such walls defended the borders.
How the Great Wall of China came into existence.
Around 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications were joined together to form an uniter defence system against invasions from the north. Construction continued up to the Ming dynasty(1368-1644), when The Great Wall became the world’s largest military structure. Its historic strategic importance is matched only by its architectural significance.
The Great Wall was continuously built from the 3rd century to the 17th century A.D. on the northern border of the country as the great military project of successive Chinese empires, with a total length of more than 20,000 kilometres.
The Great Wall begins in the east of Shanhaiguan in Hebei province and ends at Jiayuguan in Gansu province to the west.
Its main body consists of walls, horse tracks, watch towers, and shelters on the wall, and includes fortresses and passes along the wall.
The universal value of the Great Wall of Ming.
The Great Wall reflects the collision and exchanges between agricultural civilisation and nomadic civilization in ancient China. It provides significant physical evidence of the farsighted political strategic thinking and mighty military and national defence forces of the central empires in ancient China and is an outstanding example of the superb military architecture, technology and art of ancient China.
It embodies unparalleled significance as the national symbol for safeguarding the security of the country and its people.
Read also: The Clinton First Family Tour the Great Wall of China (1998)
The Great Wall of China integrally preserves all the material and spiritual elements and historical and cultural information and carries its outstanding universal value. These impressions have earned it recognition in the United Nations under its body UNESCO’s World Heritage Connection.
The Great Wall; A Reputed Wonder of the World.
The Great Wall of China is recognised as one of the seven construction wonders of the world, not only for its long history but for its massive construction size and its unique architectural style as well.
A great army of manpower; composed of soldiers, prisoners, and local people, built the wall. The Great Wall is the longest project in the world.
The Great Wall was declared the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007 after UNESCO acknowledged it as the largest man-made structure on Earth.
Read also: The Beautiful Beast: Irma Grese! (1923 – 1945)
Is The Great Wall of China really visible from space??
The Great Wall of China is an iconic landmark and an impressive engineering fear, but is it visible from space? Some people believe that it is while others argue that it is not.
The truth is that The Great Wall of China can not be seen from space. To be more precise, it can not easily be seen by the naked eye.
According to NASA, the lowest altitude for a human-made project to be visible from space is about 160 kilometres(100 miles) above the earth’s surface. However, The Great Wall is only about 8 metres(26ft) wide, which is too narrow to be seen from that altitude.
Even from higher orbits, such as the International Space Station(ISS) The Great Wall is not visible to the naked eye. Astronauts on the ISS can see many landmarks on Earth, but The Great of China is not one of them.
How important is The Great Wall to the netizens of China?
It is the Chinese people’s greatest cultural icon
The Great Wall is the product of countless labours over a period of 2,000 years and is a feast of engineering. It also reflected the collision and exchanges between the agricultural and nomadic civilizations.
In the Yuan Dynasty (1272-1368), the Juyong Pass functioned as a major traffic artery from Beijing to Inner Mongolia. Since Yuan emperors often took this route between those places, temporary imperial palaces, temples, and gardens were constructed.
