Great Wall of China Background – Answer 1

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Unlike most ancient structures where we can usually trace its origin to a single emperor or a family or a dynasty, the Great Wall of China was constructed over a period of more than 2,500 years across tens of dynasties and hundreds of reigns.

Many archeologists and common Chinese people agree that the Great Wall of China began its construction during the Qin Dynasty (not to be confused with the Qing Dynasty, which was the last dynasty in China) between 221 BC to 206 BC. The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty – for that matter, he was actually the first emperor of China – famously known as Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇 (yes, he’s the terracotta warriors tomb guy), ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China in northern China to defend his newly unified nation from northern intruders.

It is good to note here that the Great Wall of China is considered to had begun construction by Qin Shi Huang not because he was the first person to build major fortification walls in China for military defense purposes, but rather because his fortification wall project was so extensive and large in scope that his wall construction became known as the Great Wall or the Great Wall of China.

Before the Great Wall of China – Alternative Answer

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Construction of fortification walls began as early as 8th century B.C. during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代) from 771 BC – 476 BC when China was divided into anywhere from tens to approximately a dozen smaller states overtime. With little natural barrier dividing some of these states, the rulers of those states began constructing fortification walls to defend their land. After a few hundred years of warfare, during the Warring States Period from 475 BC to 221 BC, seven states emerged as major powers and five out of the seven states built extensive fortification wall to defend themselves.

Another few hundred years later, in 221 BC, you guessed it – Qin defeated all the opposing states and unified China as a single empire. He then ordered to destroy existing walls dividing former states and building new walls as well as linking and strengthening existing walls along the northern border of his newly unified empire.

As you can see though, by the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, the idea of constructing fortification walls and the technology to do so was already 500 years old. Because of that, there is validity in saying that the Great Wall of China began constructing as early as 8th century BC. However, construction of extensive fortification walls started during the Warring States Periods, so many archeologists argue that the Great Wall of China began construction in 5th century BC.

The Great Wall of China We See Today – Another Alternative Answer

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After Qin Shi Huang built his Great Wall at the price of hundreds of thousands of lives, many more emperors after him agreed that [having the Great Wall to defend China was a great idea]. So many dynasties for the next two thousand years of Chinese history built, modified, enhanced, and extended the Wall. The most notable of them was the Great Wall of China built during the Ming Dynasty between 1368 AD – 1644 AD.

During the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, the construction of the Great Wall was a major military strategy throughout the reign. The Ming Dynasty built some of the strongest and most encompassing Great Walls in history, as well as many other military defensive structures along the wall, to defend its northern border. Why was the Ming Dynasty, more so than other dynasties, so into building the Great Wall of China? We may do a post on that later .

Many people don’t know that the Great Wall of China that we see today is the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Qin Dynasty Great Wall pretty much no longer exists as other dynasties built their walls over it and also due to natural deterioration and human destruction. The Great Wall from other dynasties are pretty minimal as well. Each section of the Great Wall you see today is most likely built during different times, but count on most of them, that is 90%+, to be built between 1400 – 1600 AD.

If you are thinking about visiting the Great Wall of China, we covered the current notable sites of the Great Wall of China that includes information regarding which dynasty the wall was built in.

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