A Brief History Of The Great Wall Of China

The Zhou Dynasty

The history of the Great Wall of China began in ancient China during the Zhou dynasty (1046 - 256 BC), which lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history. The Zhou dynasty was established by the warlord known as Wu Wang, after he overthrew the Shang dynasty at the 'Battle of Muye' in 1046 BC. Thereby, proclaiming himself as the sovereign ruler of Zhou, King Wu Wang died approximately 3 years later in 1043. But the Zhou dynasty ruled for another 787 years, ending around 256 BC. However, the chronology of his reign is disputed by some historians.

In ancient Chinese history there were two significant time periods during the Zhou era, which comprised important events crucial to the development of the Great Wall of China. According to Chinese history the Zhou era was divided into two separate stages, the first was termed the Western Zhou era, which spanned roughly (1046 - 771 BC), Then followed the Eastern Zhou era, which spanned roughly (771- 256 BC). The Western Zhou era began with relative peace between the various Chinese states in existence at that particular time, which lasted most of the first century of the Zhou sovereignty. However, over the ensuing centuries, there was a gradual deterioration of relations between states, due to territorial disputes and struggles for sovereign power. And eventually, the quarrels and antipathy between the rulers of the contender states led to outright conflict. The Western era ended when the Quanrong nomads (Tibeto-Burman origin tribes) attacked the capital Haojing, and killed King You of Zhou, in 771 BC. This event marked the end of the Western Zhou era, and the beginning of the Eastern Zhou era. 

The Eastern Zhou era was the second half of the Zhou dynasty which spanned roughly (771-256 BC), this era was further subdivided into two very important and eventful time scopes in ancient Chinese history, termed the 'Spring and Autumn Annals' and the 'Warring States period'. The Spring and Autumn Annals, spanned roughly (771-476 BC), the name was derived from an ancient Chinese chronicle that is one of the core Chinese classic writings since ancient times. The 'Annals' is the official chronicle of the ancient state of Lu (the state of Lu was the home of legendary Chinese philosopher Confucius). The Annals is a record of the main events that occurred in the State of Lu chronologically each year, such as the accessions, marriages, deaths and funerals of rulers, the wars fought, ritual observances, religious adherences, and natural disasters.

The Spring And Autumn Period 

During the Spring and Autumn period, the Zhou dynasty lost its authority over the various states, which comprised China proper (main China), as an increasing number of monarchs fought amongst themselves over disputed regions, or in order to establish autonomous provinces, this in fact was in defiance of the King's court in Luoyi. The feuds culminated in the division of the state of Jin, which roughly occurred in 386 BC. The state of Jin was one of the most powerful Chinese states that had existed, at that particular time in ancient China. The state of Jin was subsequently separated into 3 successor states called Han, Zhao, and Wei. This act of separation was said to mark the end of the Spring and Autumn era, and the beginning of the Warring States period.

The Warring States Period

The Warring States period, was said to be the second subdivision of the Eastern Zhou era, which spanned roughly between (475 to 221 BC), the name was derived from the 'Record of the Warring States' a work compiled early in the Han dynasty (The Han dynasty succeeded the Zhou dynasty), and is an ancient Chinese text that contains concise accounts of political strategies, schemes, and warfare undertaken by the apposing states during that era. The Warring States period was a particular time in ancient Chinese history which was characterized by extreme warfare between the various Chinese contender states, but also an important time of evolutionary bureaucracy, military reforms, and various territorial power struggles and consolidations. During this era there was the further development of Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism and Mohism. The Warring States period followed the Spring and Autumn era, and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest which resulted in the eventual annexation of all the other contender States.

The Qin wars of conquest or Qin's war of unification were a series of successful military campaigns launched during the 3rd century BC, by the Qin state against the other six major Chinese states that had existed, at that particular time in ancient China. Those major kingdoms that vied to become the supreme authority of China proper (main China), were Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu, Qi, and Qin. The Qin state, led by Qin Shi Huang, eventually defeated the other major states, thereby, uniting all of those states under the Qin authority. This conquest ultimately led to the Qin state's complete victory in 221 BC, which proved to be the first unified Chinese Empire, it is known as the Qin dynasty.

The First Emperor Of China

Qin Shi Huang's unprecedented achievement, meant that he became the first Emperor of China, in the year 221 BC. Unfortunately, Qin Huang's reign was short lived, as he died a few years later in, 210 BC. However, Qin Huang initiated a process of defensive wall building that would evolve over hundreds of years by subsequent dynasties. As the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang resolved to defend his newly founded realm, against incursions by Nomads from the Eurasian steppe, and he endeavoured to maintain peace and unity between the new states under his governance. Both issues were considered to be a priority for Qin Huang, thus he immediately ordered that the pre-existing defensive walls, which previously stood as the demarcation borders for the once feudal Chinese states, to be dismantled. And he commanded that new walls be constructed, as well as some pre-existing walls to be extended, across the northern borders of his new empire. This act was undertaken in order to offer greater protection against the unceasing raids of the 'Hun' (warring Asiatic nomadic tribes) from the north. Initially, the materials used to construct the Great walls were built of rammed earth (soil, clay, sand, lime, chalk, gravel). However, there were some sections of the Great wall, which was reinforced with stones. Originally the Great Walls were constructed by utilizing thousands of forced labourers, and by 212 BC, the Great wall ran from Gansu in Northwest China to the coast of Southern Manchuria.

The Nomadic Tribes

The ancient Chinese feared potential incursions from nomadic tribes from three main areas of northern China, that was Mongolia to the North, Manchuria to the northeast, and Xinjiang to the northwest, but the greatest of their concerns were the warrior tribes of Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitans, and particularly their arch enemy, the Mongolians, who had established the reputation of being skill full ruthless fighters, and tacticians. The Mongolians were also considered to be master horse riders and archers, with the important tactical advantage of possessing a superior number of horses, which assisted them in battles. The steppe tribes of inner Asia lived in territories and a climate which favoured a pastoral economy, meaning a life style which is based on shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. And since the livelihoods of the nomadic tribes depended upon their herds, and such animals were migratory by nature, those communities could not afford to be stationary throughout each year, and in order to survive those tribes evolved as nomads.

The Chinese way of life was the direct opposite, as they inhabited lands suitable for growing crops, the Chinese economy was built on the exploitation of natural fertile fields, as a result, China evolved into a far more diverse economy in relation to the nomadic tribes. As the ancient Mongolian societies evolved and multiplied, they required certain goods to provide for their growing communities, and as they were unable to produce such goods for themselves, the Mongolians often attempted to trade their horses and furs for certain goods which the Chinese could provide, such as a vast variety of grains, which those tribes needed in order to supplement their diet, and provide for their horses and their herds. The Mongolians also required a considerable supply of metal tools, and they had a desire for luxurious items, such as silk. If the nomad tribes did not receive such goods by way of trading with the Chinese, often the nomads resorted to acquisitioning them by aggression, leading to conflict between the two civilizations. Chinese expansionism confiscating large regions of the steppe was an aggressive policy, which compelled the nomadic population to live on the fringes of the steppe, and which proved another issue of great contention between the nations.

The Great Wall Of Dynasties

The name 'Great Wall' is said to have derived from the Chinese term 'Changcheng' which literally means...long walls...but it is often translated as, Great Wall. The need for the Great Walls arose because of the incessant attacks which predominantly emerged from China's northern frontier, in particular the nomadic tribes of the 'steppes' (large areas of flat unforested grassland, in south-eastern Europe or Siberia). In ancient China the obsessive tradition of a defensive wall-building program, was continued by subsequent dynasties over hundreds of years, each generation undertook new industrious wall-building projects, including the expansion of the long walls over even greater distances, as well as the modernisation of any existing walls, with the great determination to increase the fortification of the northern frontier against enemy attacks. In addition, over a period of time, the evolution of defensive systems, such as watchtowers, garrisons, and beacon towers, were installed along the Great Walls. Also, trenches were excavated along the exterior of the walls to provide greater defence. Therefore, over the centuries that followed the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the northern Qi dynasty (550-577), Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115-1234) and in particular the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) were among those that contributed to the arduous tradition of the modernisation, fortification, and elongation of the Great Wall of China.

Genghis Khan

During the Jin dynasty (1115- 1234 BC), given that there were certain sections of the Great Wall which were poorly defended by Chinese soldiers, and some parts of the wall did not form a unified defensive structure around all of China's provinces. Genghis khan's surveillance scouts and spies were able to discover weaknesses along the Great Walls, which Genghis Khan was able to exploit, after careful preparation and planning. The weak link along the Great Wall was a section called the 'Wusha Fortress' close to a desert ridge named Yehuling, northwest China. The region was said to be inhabited by numerous wild foxes at that time. In 1206, Genghis Khan (original name Temujin), was able to form alliances with and unit all of Mongolia's tribes under his sovereign rule, an unprecedented achievement, thereby creating a great army. Moreover, the mongrels had formed alliances with a considerable number of disgruntled defectors of the Jin army (Jurchens), who had willingly assisted the mongrels in there campaign against the Jin dynasty.

Genghis Khan, commanded his armies to march around and invade a vulnerable passage along the great wall, breaching its defences to launch a devastating first phase attack against the capital 'Zhongdu' (present day Beijing) of the Jin dynasty, via the gateway which was the ridge of Yehuling, northwest of Juyong Pass, resulting in a great victory in 1211, at the 'Battle of Yehuling' also called the battle of 'Wild Fox Ridge'. From that point onwards the two opposing forces were locked in a war of attrition for many years, until finally the weary Jin army was defeated in 1234, at the 'Siege of Caizhou'. Following Genghis Khan's momentous victory, Khublai Khan, grandson of Genghis khan, orchestrated another great victory, this time over the Song dynasty, in 1279, an accomplishment which completed the conquest of 'China proper' (the 18 provinces or the core of China). After that event, Khublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty which was the first foreign dynasty to rule China proper. The Mongrel-led Yuan dynasty spanned 1279 to 1368, after which they were finally defeated and expelled from China, by the concerted efforts of the Ming dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty

In 1421 the Ming capital was relocated from Nanjing in the South to Beijing in the North, partly because the Ming government was haunted by the fear, that their capital was too vulnerable to Mongrel invasions. After the capital was relocated, the Ming dynasty (1368-1664) proceeded to create a great fortress around Beijing like never before. The Ming dynasty was recorded in Chinese history for providing the greatest contribution to re-building and the fortification of the Great Wall. The Ming dynasty was the greatest innovator for the Great Wall of China. The Ming dynasty had harnessed all of the expertise and experience of defensive wall-building techniques, passed down the centuries by the previous generations in ancient Chinese history. The Ming era introduced greater innovations for defensive wall structures, such as greater sophisticated architecture, introduced new and better quality materials for wall-building, bricks and mortar, as well as various other improved materials, including more advanced masonry production mechanisms, and advanced workers tools, and a considerably higher level of craftsmanship, compared to their predecessors.

The long Walls or Great Walls were also used as avenues for transportation, as well as communicating messages, such as smoke signals from beacon towers warning of imminent invasions. The colour and thickness of the smoke would vary, depending on the perceived size of the invasions. Along some stretches of the northern borders, natural barriers such as mountains, ravines, and rivers were sometimes sufficient as part of China's defence systems, with the addition of defensive walls built sparingly in those particular areas. Ancient Chinese records state that hundreds of thousands of Chinese wall-builders and labourers lost their lives during those centuries of construction, and some of those deceased remains are said to be buried within the Great Walls.

Nine-Arch Great Wall Bridge

In 1382, during the Ming era, the Jiumenkou Great wall section was constructed, which comprised the famous Nine-Arch Great Wall Bridge or Nine Openings' Bridge, and which spans the Jiujiang River, in Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, situated about 9 miles from Shanhaiguan Pass. This portion of the Great Wall is reported to be the only section which crosses a river, and was considered to be a strategically important part of a valley allowing access into a part of China. Religious temples were another innovation built during the Ming era, constructed along certain locations of the Great Wall. As well as the construction of more advanced and a greater number of defence features, such as crenellations, ramparts, higher watchtowers and higher walls, which provided better protective shelter from arrows and other types of ancient ballistics, such as launched rocks. In addition, from approximately 1569, living quarters for soldiers were built along the walls, with space to store food and water, and other provisions, as well as stockpiles of weapons and ammunitions. The Great Wall is said to extend across Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, and Liaoning, which covers over 2000 km, 1,300 miles in distance. However, the entire distance of China's Great wall is 13,171 miles.

The Cradle Of Chinese Civilization

During the Ming era one of the greatly contested regions was the Ordos desert, which is a desert steppe region in northwest China, an area almost completely encircled in the north, west, and east by the great rectangular bend of the Yellow River (second largest river in China), known as the Ordos Loop. Lofty mountains separate the Ordos from the Gobi desert, north and east of the Yellow River. Beginning from the 1470s, a high ranking government official called Yu Zijun, was commissioned by the Ming rulers to build an extensive defence wall system across the Ordos region, Yu's wall expansion consisted of two defensive walls; the first outer wall was called the 'great border' and a 'secondary border' was built by Yang Yiqing (scholar) behind the outer wall. In the south and east the Great Wall of China was extended to separate the Ordos from the fertile loess region or Chinese loess plateau, an area which is full of yellow wind-blown sediments, located southeast of the Gobi desert and surrounded by the Yellow River.

The Ordos covers the southern section of Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China, which had been controlled by the Ming dynasty. The Wei River is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, and is the greatest tributary to the Yellow River, the Ming dynasty considered this region of strategic importance for defence, trading, and the transportation of provisions, moreover, this region was considered very important to the early development of China's civilization. It is often famously referred to as the cradle of Chinese civilization, where the ancient capital Xi'an was situated. The Xi'an capital was said to be the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, which was once the ancient trade route that connected China with the Mediterranean.

The Last Imperial Dynasty

The Qing dynasty also called the Manchu dynasty, reigned spanned (1664-1912), overthrew the Ming dynasty in the year 1664. The Manchus were an ethnic minority living in ancient China, who descended from the Jurchen people. The term 'Jurchen' is used to collectively describe a group of east Asian tribes of the Donghu race. The term 'Donghu' referred to a tribal confederation of eastern nomadic people (Mongolic), who were first recorded from the 7th century BC. The province of Manchuria, located in north-eastern China, is the original home land of the Manchu people, and the Qing dynasty was established by the Manchus. The fall of the Ming dynasty was due to a number of factors, such as government corruption, economic mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, the influence of the eunuchs, natural disasters, rebellion of the peasants, and the rise of the Manchus.

The simmering resentment in certain groups, living under the Qing Empire, erupted in a rebellion in the capital in the year 1644. This rebellion was organized by a rebel leader called Li Zicheng, his army of rebels won the capital, after which, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself as Emperor of the newly founded Shun dynasty, in April 1664. However, his reign was to be tragically brief. According to historical accounts, the Manchu people had united against the Ming rulers, by forming an army of rebels, and they also formed an important alliance with the Ming defector General Wu Sangui. At the time of the rebellion, when some disorder pillaging and violence, as yet unsubdued, erupted hither and thither on the streets of the Imperial capital, it was General Wu Sangui, who had ordered the gates of Shanhai Pass to be opened, allowing the regent prince Dorgon, to enter the capital Beijing. Dorgon's Manchu led conglomerate army, took advantage of the instability that had ensued, waged war against, and defeated Li Zicheng's rebel army, in the 'Battle of Shanhai Pass' on 27 May 1664, to take control of Beijing. There followed the first Emperor of the Qing dynasty, which was Emperor Shunzhi, his reign spanned (1644-1661). The Qing dynasty discontinued the defensive wall-building projects of the previous dynasties, choosing instead to employ policies of diplomacy and military campaigns in order to subdue their enemies.

In China's history there are two dynasties which were considered to be the major contributors to the evolution of the Great Wall of China. Hundreds of years before the Zhou dynasty came to power, there were wall borders built by feudal Chinese states, in order to defend against the other. However, the Zhou dynasty was the first Imperial dynasty which pioneered the vision, and earnestly demonstrated the belief to construct a Great Wall along its northern border, with the intention to protect China proper (main China), from the interminable curse of nomadic invasions.

But it was the Ming dynasty that predominantly demonstrated innovative architecture, and the industrial endeavour to elongate and fortify the great borders. The Great Wall of China is seen as one of the seven wonders of the world. Imposing and imperial, its rhythmical undulating journey is undaunted by impossible terrain, traversing, ascending and descending rolling hills and majestic mountains, creating a magical vision from afar, like unto a mythical creature performing a mystical meandering dance far into the distance, to meet the glorious Sun beyond the horizon.

Written by Star_gazer

Published 1 December 2021