Transcript The Great Wall of China

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?)