Detailed information about the Great Wall of Beijing

The Great Wall is a military fortification in ancient China. It is a tall, strong and continuous wall used to limit the movement of enemy cavalry. The Great Wall is not a simple and isolated city wall, but a defense system with the city wall as the main body and a large number of cities, barriers, pavilions and signs.

The history of the construction of the Great Wall can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The famous allusion "playing with princes with beacon fire" in the capital Haojing (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi) originated from this. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when various countries competed for hegemony and defended each other, the construction of the Great Wall entered its first climax, but at this time the length of the construction was relatively short. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world, Qin Shihuang connected and repaired the Great Wall of the Warring States Period, and it became known as the Great Wall. The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty to overhaul the Great Wall. Most of the Great Wall that people see today was built at this time.

According to the national survey of Great Wall resources conducted by the cultural relics and surveying and mapping departments, the total length of the Ming Great Wall was 8,851.8 kilometers, the Qin, Han and early Great Walls were more than 10,000 kilometers long, with a total length of more than 21,000 kilometers. The existing Great Wall cultural relics include the Great Wall walls, trenches/boundary trenches, individual buildings, forts, related facilities and other types of remains, totaling more than 43,000 sites (blocks/sections).

Extended information

The military impact of the Great Wall:

The Great Wall is the greatest military defense project in the ancient history of the world. It is not a simple and isolated line of city walls; From point to line and from line to surface, the passes, military forts, gates and military towns along the Great Wall are connected into a tight network to form a complete defense system. The system of military forts, gates, and military towns has multiple functions such as combat, command, observation, communication, concealment, etc., and is equipped with a point-line integrated defense project with permanent troops stationed there.

The military defense thinking embodied by the Great Wall plays an important role in the history of military development. The emergence and development of the Great Wall progressed simultaneously with the entire military development of ancient China, which is of great significance for studying the formation and development of ancient military combat ideas. Emperors of Qin and Han, including the early Ming Dynasty, all built the Great Wall when they took the initiative and gained an overwhelming military advantage. This shows that building the Great Wall is not only an active defense, but also a strategy to accumulate strength and continue to make progress.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Great Wall