| The Great Wall | |
There is a famous Chinese proverb about the Great Wall, which says "Not
been on the Great Wall, not a great man". The proverb is much concise in
Chinese. I feel obligated to write something about the Great Wall not only
because of this proverb, but also more importantly because of the Great
Wall itself.
Chinese started to build the Great Wall in the
7th
century BC for defense purposes. Qin unified China in 221 BC and
soon began the greatest project in human history by joining and extending
the walls built by previous states. The Great Wall stretches over 10,000
li or 5,000 km long, so it is called "Wan Li Chang Cheng" in Chinese. Wan
means 10 thousands, li is the unit (1 li = 0.5 km), chang means long, and
cheng means city wall.
After the Qin Dynasty, the Great Wall was renovated from time to time.
The Great Wall was mostly rebuilt in the the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and
the project took about 200 years to complete. The great wall we see today
is mainly the Ming Wall.
The Great Wall is now the symbol of China. It likes a huge dragon been
lying on the vast land for centuries and seems just awaken.
Top Ten Sites on the Net
10. The Great Wall
9.
Construction of the Great Wall Begins
8. The
World Heritage
7.
Secrets of the Great Wall
6. Cooper's
Site
5. Glimpses
of the Great Wall and
Pictures
4. Great
Wall CD ROM
3. Hiking on the Great Wall
2. Images from Space
1. A
Virtual Tour
Related Links:
What the Encyclopedia has to say?
The history about the Great Wall.
The Great Wall was inscribed in 1987.
To learn the facts about the Great Wall.
The gate on the Wall.
A few more pictures.
Want to buy a CD Rom? See a few pictures and a video clip of Shanhai
Pass (>5MB).
Trip highlights of 15 day hiking on the Great Wall and pictures.
Radar images show two parts of the Great Wall in a desert region.
Slides from the cyberspace, started from the map. Enjoy the pictures.
Can the Great Wall of China be seen from the moon with the naked eye?