The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is an amazing structure. It’s even visible from space!

Now, it is a big tourist attraction and a piece of history. Thousands of people visit it every year, and it is now a protected site. But it wasn’t so pleasant for the people that built and worked on it hundreds of years ago. It was also a major part of the ending of the Ming dynasty.

The real first building of the Great Wall was ordered by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (also called Qin Shi Huangdi by westerners or the First Emperor) to protect China from the northern nomadic tribes that wanted to take over China. The Mongols wanted to take them over because China was richer. After attacks from them, the Chinese decided that a protection system was needed. The Great Wall was the solution. Littler walls had been built before, but this was going to be very long and complicated wall to complete.

The building of the Great Wall of China started in 221 B.C. During this time, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ruled. The wall ended in about 39 A.D. with the emperor Guang Wudi. The Great Wall of China took more than 200 years to complete.

The Great Wall of China stretches across the northern part of China through

the provinces of Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu. It isn’t straight across all the way. In the deserts, it is straight. The parts of the wall in the hilly areas twisted and turned. Parts of it was built along mountain peaks. In the eastern end, it lead into the sea.

The Great Wall of China was built with all kinds of materials. Some of them were wood, stone, pounded earth, and bricks. In the western part, the wall was built of wood

filled with pounded earth. That was the only material available in that dry, desert terrain. It was also easy to build, needing only laborers and not craftsmen. The eastern part, which protected the capital, Peking, was built with stone and pounded earth. These materials were strong and durable, but took more work...