TRAVEL: Great Wall of China
August 7, 2008 – 10:53 pm
The longest defense wall of the world is found in China and it is called Great Wall of China. The wall is located along the northern of the country, it leads a way from Beijing to west and it passes Huang- Ho River and continues in the south. Even describing the way of the wall is difficult. It covers a great area and the sight of it is incredible.
Great Wall of China has a rich history, despite being an old building, it is still in good condition today, however this means regular controlling and rebuilding of it is necessary. There is no exact evidence showing the building date of China Wall, but it is predicted that since 5th BC, Great Wall of China has been built. That is only a reason making it so important, the building period began at this date and it continued until 16th century.
The length and highness of Great Wall of China changes from spot to spot. The wall looks like very tough, however stone was not used in every part of it, there are low places built with other materials such as adobe and earth. These spots are used to slow down the enemies, and over these parts car and horse can pass. The average height of the wall is 4 – 6 meters, and it is approximately 6 meters thick.
Is it just a wall all along the country? Of course not, the first aim of building it was defense and there are guarding points, archer holes and watchtowers. In addition to these, there are castles, palaces and temples.
The current situation of Great Wall of China unfortunately is not promising; some parts require repair and restoration. Some parts are kept well due to being a tourist attraction, but as a whole, the wall is not in good conditions. Great Wall is accepted as a world heritage site by UNESCO and it was also selected as one of the seven new wonders of the world in 2007 in Lisbon.
Reasons of building Great Wall of China
Imagine a series of wall built with stone going endlessly on the mountains, over the rivers, what makes people to build such a great thing?
Everything began with Warring State Period, over than twenty Chinese kingdoms began to build a wall in order to protect kingdoms from each other. Some of these kingdoms built it with the aim of protecting the country from attacks and keeping the north borders of China. The first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang decided to create a whole wall of defense.
There are speculations about the reasons of building Great Wall of China. Some historians claim that the wall was built to keep the borders of the country against Hun. Some others say that it was built as a symbol of united country, all states were together and powerful, and they wanted to show this. Another claim is that after war period, authoritative people were made to built such a great place, it was a punishment for them, but keep that in mind these are only speculations!
Is It Possible to See Great Wall of China from Space?
There is a widespread belief that Great Wall of China is the only and the greatest human made building that can be seen from space, but this is only a belief! It is true that the wall is great, it is a masterpiece, yet astronauts going to space did not accepted this idea, no human made building can be seen from such a long distance and Great Wall of China can not be seen from space.