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The Great Wall of China

© Maria Christensen

Imagine life in the third century B.C. in a small Chinese village. You hear the thundering first and look up to see if rain is coming to water the crops you work so hard to grow. Then you feel the earth trembling beneath your feet and, eyes wide, you run toward your home and family, knowing there is no escape from what is coming. It is Hsing-Nu - the Huns - and they will sweep through your village on horseback, wielding bows and taking deadly aim at any who get in their way. They bring terror and destruction and you are powerless against them.

These are the conditions which prompted the building of the Great Wall of China, which stands as a monument to rival the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. At nearly 1,500 miles (2,400km) long, it reaches between 15 to 30 feet high (4.5 to 9m). Along the top of the wall runs a road around 12 feet (3.7m) wide and 40 foot high (12m) guard towers are placed approximately 200 yards (180m) apart. It is an engineering marvel of stone, earth and brick which can be seen from space and is one of the most well-known monuments in the world.

During the third century B.C., China was composed of numerous warring states. Some of these kingdoms built walls to aid in preventing barbarian nomads from invading from the north, but it was not until around 211 B.C. that an attempt was made to bring together these separate sections. In 221 B.C., China had been unified under the Ch'in Dynasty and the Warring States brought under tight control. It is widely believed that the First Emperor, Shi Huang-di, built the Great Wall in basically the same formation as it stands today. Certainly, extensive public works mark his reign. Thousands of miles of highways and canals were built, literally at the expense of common laborers. A tale is told to this day that a Chinese worker died for every stone put into the wall. The achievements of the Ch'in Dynasty were bought at the price of tyranny and when Confucian thought later ruled China from the Han Dynasty on, Shi Huang-di was portrayed as the prime example of what a ruler should not be. It is interesting to note that only Mao Ze-dong and Communist China found anything to admire in the policies of a ruler who used brutal force to accomplish his will.