The construction history of the Chinese
Wall and its mythologizing

( c ) Eugen Gabowitsch , published in EFODON – synesis No. 6/1999

First, we note that the great Chinese wall today , at the end of the second post-Christian millennium, really (though not as a continuously runny wall) exists in some form . It consists ( as re-cently restored ), usually located sections near the Chinese capital from some located in very good condition . This Teilstü thickness were restored not only in the past few decades (or built? ), But also developed into one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions . Some of these sections are up to sixty kilometers long.

In a dictionary , the Great Wall is as follows briefly described : ” Great Wall of China ( Great Wall ) , built in N China protective wall , extends from Chinese Turkestan to the Pacific Ocean (from Gansu to the Gulf of Liao -dong ); measures in their overall length about 6250 km , from the end of the 3rd Century built ) during the reign of Mingdyn (1363-1644) brought into the hay – term form; wall height up to 16 m, width at the base of approx. 8m, at the crown approx. 5 m , consists of a rubble core , walled with stone or brick ; has watchtowers and fortified gates . – . Declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site ” [ 1, vol 4, p 253 ] about the condition of the Great Wall of fifteen to thirty years ago , the book [2 ] a good overview (see also below).

Far more pathetic than German describe the Great Wall , the Chinese writers : ” The Great Wall is one of the most famous , gigantic and magnificent wonder of the world from old tents. It begins at the mouth of the Yalu River, meanders like a kite over high mountains , through endless steppes and vast deserts to the Pamir plateau. ” [3 , p.13 ]

The Chinese are convinced that for foreigners , the term “Great Wall ” usually almost as much as
China is, because “most of them have in elementary school already in the geography book of this
5000 km long wall as a wonder of the world read “. And in a Chinese proverb says, ” He who has not climbed the Great Wall, which is not a real man . Visit China without visiting this wall would be deplorable. ” [2 , p i].

That’s what I got done with my private three-week research trip to China in April 1999 , because in my opinion visit some sections prepared for tourists could be the basis for a voluntary self-deception. For a longer trip along the – if not the whole – Great Wall unfortunately I lacked time and resources . “Maybe the others have done before me, and the whole Great Wall surveyed and described ,” I thought, and began to seek out the evidence of the existence of the Great Wall also in line with the quoted Chinese authors and can assign numbers measured according to witnesses . Unfortunately, I must inform the reader that I have not found such reports so far and now strongly doubt whether they exist at all .

How old is the Great Wall , in the opinion of the historian and to what extent we can, historians believe?

All history books have the same habit : they begin their story in such a distant past, that there is even a very skeptical reader seems inappropriate to require evidence of the allegations Be the historian . And there are at the beginning anyway very strongly rounded data ( 7,000 years ago , 5,500 years ago , in 2500 BC, etc. ) that should be clear , that this is not a scientific datings , but very few estimates the historian is (although you can also look at the reasons for such estimates very closely and critically to – te) .

And then more and more accurate data will be gradually presented ( of course, this without any justification) . , Which almost always have the same conventional character However, it hides the “historical” data between legends , myths and other gay stories Ten. remain at the end of all data (and also the assertions of historians ) so artfully hidden behind the exciting tale that the reader already hardly aware of how to get him has drawn from a märchenhaf th world to another virtual and then as the real history of mankind sold.

Also near the Great Wall , you always start with the ancient times: ” In the 7th Century BC . began with the construction of the Great Wall (Note : If even then projected as a future Great Wall The unlikely ?) At that time existed in China numerous principalities next to each other . Everyone ( Note : ? Without exceptions) prince State appealed to the defense of his own Territori -ums at a high protective wall. The work for the expansion and maintenance of the Great Wall then went on for more than 2000 years back . ” [3 , p.13 ]

So one tries us to suggest the idea that with the construction of the famous Chinese Great Wall (and not from any walls along the local limits or even years ago, nearly 3,000 – most likely ( if at all) – . Has begun boundary walls I see here a clear presentation of the mythologized mindset of today’s authors , who have grown up with the myth of the great wall and are forced about working always under the into account the mythological ideas .

One hardly has really protected state borders with walls, because that is simply impossible. No wall protects without which they defending large garrisons , and we know that you are serious with it in any country in the world expects to be able to stop an attacking enemy at the border and therefore no huge armies stationed on all its borders.

In China , however, it was in ancient times the custom (see [6 and 7 ] ) to highlight the state border through walls. By the way, not only in China : in Russia marked the boundary between you and the wooded areas of the southern steppe with long, built from felled trees and earth ramparts .

“Already in the 7th Century BC . began the Kingdom of Chu with the construction of a protective wall ( So still no walls ! ) in order to protect themselves from Qi, his conquest lustful neighbors . In the period of Warring States ( 475-221 BC). Followed the kingdoms of Qin, Zhao and Yan this example and built both protective walls on its northern borders to prevent incursions by nomadic tribes , as well as ramparts to their respective neighbors. With the conquest of Zhao and Yan the King of Qin , the States agreed for the first time on Chinese territory and proclaimed himself emperor of the Qin Dynasty. The walls ( Just in it were mostly ramparts ! Can be seen that one is constantly ” walls ” meant by “walls” ! ) , With which the States were protected from each other , he tore down and connect the situated in the north ramparts . And Qin Shi Huang Di was not a friend of small projects . Everything he commissioned , hid the germ of megalomania . ” [ 5, p
15]

” The subsequent Han Dynasty pushed their limits in unprecedented conquests far to the west and east (According to [6 ] is a projection of – even imaginary – Roman history in China ), but was more violent of the incident from the North Xiongnu (According to [6 ] – by Germans and Slavs ) threatened. To secure the borders , the wall was a total of almost 10
000 km extended ( Is this perhaps a distorted informa tion about the Hadrian’s Wall or the Roman Limes ) . With the fall of the Han Dynasty fell into the wall. Now was usually right through the territory of individual dynasties and asked no more border fortification is (And the Xiongnu also wanted nothing more from China? ) . Only the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanznang (reigned 1368-1398 ) , remembered again the old structure ( So the dangerous northern nomads who behave approximately 1500 years peacefully ? ) And allowed for protection against marauding Mongolian troops a new Wall (Also no wall? ) build . The works continued for almost 150 years back ( So is the Great Wall more than about 600-150 = 450 years old ). Overall, the measured wall (or the wall ? ) Then 6350 km and stretched from the Yalu River on the border of Korea up to Jiayuguan in the west, their average height was 7.8 m, the foundation was on average 6.5 m wide. ” [5 , p.15 ] . Interesting: how were these average figures for the
Identified 6350 km of ramparts ?

In reality, the situation is not too clear . And these are also the Chinese writers forced to confess :

” Gladly we also talks about the long history of the Great Wall . Usually believed to have been built ( So you do not necessarily accurate! ) , She was under the Shi Huang Di , the ambitious first emperor of the Qin Dynasty , v. in the third century BC. About him many stories have been handed down , and his achievements and shortcomings , on the one arguing since 2200 years really stand out , partly in connection with the construction of the Great Wall .

In reality, however much wrong accordance with the facts , because today’s Great Wall is not from the time of first Qin Emperor , but is only about 600 years old (or much younger ! ) , And strictly speaking , you should from the Great Wall at all only in the plural talk ( So several big walls? Or rather several small walls? ), since parts of the wall while in the 7th Century BC . ( There were earthworks ! ) Had been built ( In this as well as here justified Datie -tion we may continue to remain skeptical ), but in subsequent dynasties came to dozens of new sections . Today you can still see , for example, remains of a wall that BC ( Gradually come before ” accurate ” data , but again without any justification ) in the year 555 was created by the State Chi in the present province of Shandong, and when all the walls of the different dynasties along expects , so would a total length of 50 000 km ( and no of further kilometers more ? What a pity! ) result , and alone in today’s inner Mongolia ( in the middle of the Mongolian steppe ? What of it?) resulting walls would together 15,000
Be kilometers long. ” [2 , p i]

This 50,000 km remind me of the following census of the population of the earth : if all the people who have inhabited the Earth in the last 3,000 years combined counts , you get 30 billion people . And what brings us the next? Most are but died long ago ! But this kind of myth-making is very popular :

” The historical records estimate that more than 20 principalities and dynasties have contributed to the construction and expansion of the Great Wall . If all the walls of various dynasties together calculated , then a total length of 108000 Li would result. ” [3 , p 13] So it was a little over 50
000 km or 100 000 Li ! Who can offer more ?

We want to try to realize a more natural Detailing order than all the books on the history : not from the distant past in leaps and bounds ( as the above men-tioned 1500 years ) quickly in our time , but as slowly as possible from the present in the past. If all history books were written so we would have a much better chance ge – have to check the individual steps of the historian and verified.

We note here fast that even with such a gigantic building , such as the Great Wall, the source location does not match any optimistic ideas and does not allow incomplete movement in the gray past. Now, one can not exclude , of course , that in the Chi-nese sources some things would still be found in interesting details . As long as we have not connected these sources and the Chinese historians do not move to take the description of today into the past to follow steps , our skeptical between observations only hypotheses ( stay whether one can ever produce anything except hypotheses in history , is a different and more philosophical question ) .

Our pious hope will seem strange to the author of “The Great Wall” [ 8]. Although made ​​in the context of a presentation of ancient Chinese technology by the Institute for the History of Science , this article describes the more or less well-known allegations in the historical order.

If we do not advance too far in what you did in the past and the above-mentioned 450 years can not exploit , then this is due to the fact that with the first survey of the Great Wall only at the beginning of the 18th Century began and all previous instructions M.E. should be viewed with caution. Unfortunately, by the Jesuits working in China BE DONE mene mapping was not a particularly accurate and detailed .

The first geographical expedition , which ruled the emperor Kangxi to measure its northern provinces, began in 1708 and lasted about a year. This area along the Great Wall were performed (or the Wall remains and other ancient military facilities ) . The result of this survey was presented to the emperor in the form of a four -meter-long geographical map. [ 9
253-254 ] . In this case, all the mountains , waterways, fortresses and cities along the Great Mau he recorded . No word loses the author of ” Cultural Flow Between China and Outside World Throughout History” [9 ] it over the wall itself or the numerous towers.

Individual sections of the Great Wall are now used as ” Models ” for numerous authors from beautiful single images and whole images volumes. One can see in these photo albums that climbing through the mountains as a mile-long snake wall in winter, under a splendid thin blanket of snow , in fog with fabulously outstanding towers, illuminated in the middle of red-orange ge – colored mountain forests, at sunset and moonlight , and abundant in autumn wall sections in the dark night .

“While the Great Wall has long since lost its military importance , but it has become a very popular attraction in China. On its long haul , there are many interesting wall sections and passports to those admirers flow in all four seasons, so to the fortress Shanhaiguan in Hebei Province , to the fortress of Jiayuguan in Gansu Province , to which more than
50 km north of Beijing Juyongguan remote fortress , as well as to the Badaling section of 60 kilometers from Beijing away the Great Wall. At these points, countless photo – Ama- expensive and painters choose her most beautiful motifs . ” [2 , p ii ]

And just force these enchanting images to ask ourselves the following question : “Was the Great Wall in the earlier times not so nice and not so scary attractive for artists? Why painted the Chinese painter no comparable with today’s photos Photos of the Great Mau he ? ” Presented but for the vast Chinese empire , the 100 Li (approx. 50 km ), which lie between Beijing and the wall, no removal dar.

We browse the richly illustrated book [10] and can easily find numerous beautiful paintings from many centuries , mainly from the Ming ( 1368-1644 ) and Qing ( = tzing until 1911) dynasties, and even entire images roles. Among them are numerous mountainous landscapes, walls and towers in Beijing, city gates and other fasteners, but not a single image of the towers of the Great Wall , or at least a small section of it. So the existence of the Great Wall in the previous centuries was not self-evident and we can ask questions about the history and chronology of this building . Particularly in view of the existing doubts about the correctness of the Chinese chronology ( see also my two articles [6 , 7] in ” time jumps “, 1999 , Issue
1).

When the present day sections were built and brought into the present state ?

When were in the 20th Century began the restoration work and the state in which the plants were to be restored at the beginning of this work ? As long as the appropriate documentation is not published in full , various speculations can spread .

The first image that managed to find me (in the book [15 ] ) , was not painted by Chinese artists , but is an English steel engraving from the mid-19th Century (see Figure 5). Later I learned that this is an imitation of a known image of another English painter , Lieutenant Henry William Parish, the end of the 18th Century took part in an expedition to China and
1797 in London very impressive romantic images published . These images served several generations of Europeans as an inspiration for further illustrations of the Great Wall. Does that mean that in the past, the Great Wall of China more Europeans than the Chinese was fascinated by this story? And that they have contributed by their enthusiasm of the origin of the myth of the Great Wall ?

Once again about the old pictures of the wall : well, the ancient Chinese masters had not yet been discovered for himself the Great Wall . But how was it with the photographers of the first half of the 20th Century ? Since about 1880, photography became an industrially supported activity that was also used by many journalists working in China. Also they no pictures of the Great Wall , before the Second World War, shot ? I am very grateful to any reader who is looking for such pictures in old magazines. First, I can only report that I did not succeed in numerous books about the Great Wall to find old photos.

In an illustrated book abundant [2 ] I found only one photo ” The Great Wall at Gubeikou ago 30
Years, ” with a note that this is an older picture. But this comes from the Mao Era . And some pictures (see sheets between 9-10 pages 10-11 ) show , the ongoing restoration process here.

In the book ” Russia that never existed ” (Moscow , St. -Petersburg , Krasnoyarsk, 1997) , the Russian writer Alexander Buschkow that as a Russian Simenon – the author of the best – selling Russian detective novels – is celebrated , the hypothesis was expressed that the Great Wall of China is a work of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and have mainly existed before the second world war in the minds and not in kind.

This assumption raises the already asked question about the exact process of the restoration work in the second half of the 20th Century again. The information above are rather poor. Nevertheless, we have found out a lot .

” In the Qing period, the wall finally lost its importance and lapsed because they ran through the middle of the huge empire . It was not until the beginning of tourism age helped her to a new function as a visitor magnet and source of income. 1957 ( italics mine ) was restored a first section at Badaling . With growing visitor flows followed by other restorations at Mutianyu , Simarai , Jin Shanling , Shanhaiguan , etc. ” [ 5, p 166 ]

” From 1966 to 1976 , during the Cultural Revolution , were a large part ( The Great Wall ) the destruction störungswut the Red Guards to the victim. However, the new government made ​​sure that the over – zealous revolutionaries eliminated the of damage they caused again . Thus, the bulwark shows after restoration in several sections back into his old condition … ” [ 11, p 28]

“Who wants to go to a little tourist stretch of wall , should according to Mutianyu , 70 km northeast of the capital , drive. For 1986 ( italics mine ) restored section of the Wall hardly lost a visitor . Mutianyu was a strategically important base for the defense of Beijing. To prevent that enemies could penetrate to the foot of the wall , several shorter walls were built , which were a few dozen to several hundred meters long. Breathtaking is the history of the wall , which stretches to the west up to a 1000 m high summit . ” [5, p.167 ] .

For even a restored section attract the Chinese travel books as : “About 250 km north east of Beijing is situated in a scenic valley located the approximately 200 000 inhabitants

counting town Chengde . The trip you can easily perform in two days. A long afternoon and a long morning are sufficient for sightseeing. One way to get to a good four-hour train ride through stunning mountain scenery. No less interesting is the bus ride , and who has the opportunity to do so , should a route with a put back by bus and by train . During the bus ride , you pass namely the most breathtaking and scenic economically most beautifully situated section of the Great Wall. His name is Jin Shanling (Golden mountain ridge ) and is 120 kilometers from the capital in Miyun County ( on the border with the province – ze lever ) . The restored part ( italics mine ) of the wall is more than 20 km long and can boast 100 towers . Pleasant here is the complete lack of any tourist – beaten track … ” [5, p.193 ] .

For the hypothesis of the construction of the Great Wall in the period of Communist rule in China speaks the propagandistic role that was assigned to the Great Wall from the Chinese Communists th : “In China we look at the Great Wall as a symbol of the invincible national spirit ( And such a symbol had to be , of course immortalized in stone ). Since the Opium War of 1840, the Chinese people have fought diligently and persistently for its freedom and independence . When our people came in the thirties of this century by the aggression of Japanese militarism in an extremely dangerous situation , it was consistent with a loud voice, the powerful , marching song of the volunteer ‘ to ,’ Arise , which do not want to live as a slave to her! Let (1949 was implemented this appeal after the founding of the People ‘s Republic of China as an appeal to set up a huge stone wall in the act ? ) We build with our flesh and blood , our new Great Wall … ‘ and made dogged eight-year resistance until the yes -Hispanic aggressors were expelled from the country. In 1949, the hundertjäh -old period of aggression and oppression was ended by foreign powers in China, and the Chinese people rose in the east of the world like a Great Wall ( Or at last a Great Wall pure not only in the mind , but also materialistic to build on the corresponding off-road ? ) “. [ 2, p ii ]

” The conservation and study of the Great Wall gives the Government of the People’s Republic of China most attention . Fortresses Shanhaiguan and Jiayuguan and the sections of the wall at Badaling were declared first-rate objects under the state-protected cultural monuments. In 1980 ( My emphasis) called for the Chinese government in the city of Hohhot , Inner Mongolia, a symposium on the Great Wall one on which the participating researchers vorlegten dozens of papers on the study of the Great Wall and tabled many important proposals for their maintenance ( And what the authors mention this line about all this ,

what has been done already before the Cultural Revolution with the Great Wall ? Is this the new Chinese political correctness ? ) . The local governments at all levels have important passes , Fes- tions and sections of the Great Wall explains to focus objects of cultural heritage protection in ih – ed from their areas. You can carry out regular inspections , clarify the folk masses about the importance of protective measures for the Great Wall and to encourage them to eagerly participate in the protection of the wall ( So, to build the wall ). Because the Great Wall as part of an admirable cultural monument not only China alone, but also of all humanity. ” [2 , p ii ]

The present condition of the Great Wall is not representative of the past. When comparing the book [2 ] with the later published books [3 ] and [4 ] , one sees clearly that in recent times the restored sections are presented much more often. Behind it can certainly put the intention to present the Great Wall as a thousands of kilometers continuously running and building under a well-developed state structure.

Nevertheless , even from the few individual photos showing the remains of the non- restored sections and buildings , you realize that at least some parts of the “wall” in reality an individual are dilapidated towers or fortresses , which are integrated into any larger facility . Even better, it demonstrates the first book : Expired earthworks , built in part from fattened earth or of reeds, willow branches , pebbles and sand, and stone wall remnants are often hardly recognizable as such ( they hardly differ from natural geological formations such as hills or rocks ) and demonstrate no affiliation to a larger facility . Smoke alarm hills , alarm fire towers, signal Wait vices Bergfe are separated from each other and as such are presented on old drawings, but not as part of a long wall .

” In 1980 ( So after the Cultural Revolution ) , the National Agency has been formed for the protection of anti -ken cultural monuments together with the Ministry of Culture, a scientific group to he research the Great Wall. In the people’s commune Bakeshiying in a circle Luanping , province of Hebei , the group discovered a few dozen Li -long wall section that looks extremely in – posant and no less well preserved than the Badaling wall around the fortress at Beijing Juyongguan . This section was therefore designated as the Second Badaling wall. Actually, the name of this place Shalingkou , also called Jinshanling, and forms a part of the defense system in Gubeikou . ” [2, p.40 ]

It can only be admired , that such a beautiful wall portion located in any uninhabited part of China , so long remained unknown. Since I can only assume that this section did not exist before the Mao period . It can not be excluded that this section in the Mao period, but

before the Cultural Revolution – was built – perhaps on the initiative of the local Party leadership, which wanted to do later with his own Wall in Beijing loved. Then began the Cultural Revolution and the initiators of the Wall were killed before they could communicate to Beijing that they too can show a wall. But let’s look at how the Chinese declare this find -ing :

” Initially, there was no wall at Gubeikou section , since the time of the Warring States Period and the Qin and the Han Dynasty was the Great Wall far north of Gubeikou . It was not until the year 555, during the Northern Qi Dynasty, which was built more than 5000 Li -long wall distance of Shaanxi up Shanhaiguan , a section of the Wall was also at Gubeikov . But at that time the wall was quite low and consisted only of a mixture of sand and pebbles. It is therefore hardly preserved remains. “

So clearly , it was nothing , but nothing to see , and therefore also no one knew of the Wall in the area. But that does not explain when the section was built and why you needed a high scientific commission to discover the wall section (maybe that was a kind of takeover of the finished wall section that was moved by the Cultural Revolution by several years ? ) . Unfortunately not answer the following lines of these questions , as the reader can convince himself :

” It was not until the Ming Dynasty Gubeikou Pass won strategic importance . At that time formed the Gubeikou wall, as well as the Wall at Juyongguan , an important access to the capital Beijing and was guarded and cordoned off by strong military units . The newly discovered wall at Shalingkou is part of the Gubeikou Pass. “(P. 40). And not a word about the time of its construction !

I consider this case as a fairly definite proof of the construction activities in the Mao period , you can not declare more than restoration. With the same right could be any home that you build in Cologne today , as declare the restoration of a ” Roman ” building. No, the Chinese Communists have not only restored the Great Wall . They have built this wall for the most part brand new

In the minds of the people in their ideas – she was, in reality – it was hard , at least not in form of a pulling by the whole Chinese north wall of thousands of kilometers in length. There were fortresses and towers , ramparts and there were short sections of the wall , maybe some longer , but there was no Great Wall .

In France the end was the 19th Century even published an extra book in which was explained why the Great Wall not only does not exist but had never existed : the brochure [12 ] of l’ Abbé Larrieu . To summarize in a few words what you have to keep the issue of specifiable union Great Wall lt Larrieu :

1 The Great Wall described by Martini and other authors not only exists not , but has never existed.
2 There has been a Chinese emperor , who had the idea of ​​a great wall , which should start from the Leao -tong and end in the west of the province Kansou .
3 This idea was never realized , but she learned the beginning of an execution.
4 One can prove that the execution of this idea was started , as one finds on the whole adopted line of the great wall low , square towers , of earth or from the covered brick earth, but located at a great distance from each other and never by a wall, of any kind whatsoever , together.

5 This is the most accurate notion that you can make use of the supposed great wall !
This … is the supposed great wall , reduced to their actual size! …

The Chinese, who interviewed the author only gave answer that famous Ouang -li – tchang – tcheng is nothing else than this earthen wall. An alleged second wall that begin north of Beijing and is to pass to the west , is also just a flat earthen wall. There is therefore no soldiers guarding that wall , only a few small groups here and there along the line .

Unlike Martini and the Chinese annals thinks Larrieu that of Tsing -che- hoang -ti planned walls , the towers were not and only built by the Ming Dynasty , especially since Marco Polo the wall in his travel report does not mentioned word . Well, we now know about Marco Polo, that he had been ( in the modern sense of the word) with high probability never been to China . Nevertheless, the opinion of l’ Abbé Larrieu is very important, because he would have found concrete evidence of the existence of the wall, he would have had no more need to rely on Marco Polo.

Not only in France ruled the late 19th Century doubts about the existence of the Great Wall. The already mentioned Russian font position ler A. Buschkow bases his hypothesis on the observations of a Russian priest Archimandrits PI Kafarow ( Archimandrite is a high- Orthodox spirit EXEMPLARY , the highest ecclesiastical degrees for a monk , honorary title of a longtime monastery superintendent ; probably Kafarow was the head of a the great Orthodox monastery) . This led in the sixties and seventies of the 19th Century the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing and was interested in stories and legends that were told in the context of the Great Wall. After consultation with several senior officials , who promised him their full support , Kafarow made ​​several long trips to visit the wall. Vain . He found nothing that could present a 10,000- Li Long Wall.

In Shanchaiguan he found a section of the Wall , which was a few hundred meters long. This wall were de him as one of the 15 Century presented , which is constantly renewed . He found several idol temples and low fire signal towers on the hills and some relatively short Erdwallabschnitte between the hills , the old watchtowers and small fortifications , but not a plant that looked like a part of the Great Wall . And he realized that everyone was convinced of the existence of the Great Wall , but no one she had ever seen .

Near the river Lao -He he found a relatively long rampart , with which residents did not protect against the Mongols , but against pirates . But this wall was not even enough to ten kilometers . And this wall section had nothing in common with the built of stone or brick giant wall .

Buschkow believes in the existence in the past of a long overgrown with willows earthwork in China, which was designated as grazing Wall . He believes that the length of this willow Walls in northern China has contributed to the emergence of the legend of a Great Wall. The Chinese report follows About this facility :

“After all, let the Qing Dynasty in the northeast of the country called , Liutiao bian ” Create (Weiden – belt ) to fend off the nomads … With , Liutiao bian ‘ – then applied in today’s Jilin and Liaoning provinces – called you earthworks , one meter high and one meter wide , in which one implanted three pastures at intervals of 1.50 meters and its branches with ropes connected fence -like. Outwardly, these ramparts were provided to the defense with deep trenches . An important transport routes through these walls were border gates with standing guard units interrupted. Such ramparts also served to prevent overgrazing of the outer pastures , hunting, and the theft of precious ginseng plants by other nationalities. ” [2 , p.21 ]

In English, this plant is known as Willow Palisade ( Weidenpalisade ) . In [14 ] the construction history is told by willow walls. It was built on the northern and north-eastern and north-western border by the Qing Dynasty in northern Manchuria. Earlier such willow palisade were already in the middle of the 15th Century built . When they were in need of repair , it has built new earthworks in the same region, but along a different route and this planted with willows. And before that ? What did the first Qing emperor to the Great Wall?

Ming Emperors were built double or even triple walls at high-risk sites :
” To protect the kingdom from the Mongol tribes. After the 17th Century AD was allowed to expire the work , and the inhabitants of neighboring villages used it as convenient quarries. ” [14 , p 28]

During the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911) to the Great Wall have lost their military importance , fell and was only mentioned as an object of admiration. The first part of this assertion is very strange , because just at the time of the Qing China for the First time in its history, a worthy opponent in the form of the expanding Russian Empire took place .

” During the Qing dynasty was laid no new wall sections on ” [2, p.40 ] . ” The Ming Dynasty [ 1368-1644) , the last dynasty, which has contributed to the expansion of the Great Wall. ” [3 , p.13 ]

“The wall sections in Beijing mostly date from the Ming period and were built solid , because Beijing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty. ” [3 , p.16 ] . By the way, remained in the Qing period, the same city capital!

The Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty came known from the north-east of present-day China. The corresponding areas were outside the Great Wall. In the hot summer under – took the Qing emperors often ” inspection trips ” to the northeast in order to escape the humid summer heat in the capital and to bring the ancestors victim.

Once the famous Emperor Kangxi was on his way back to Beijing . He wanted to return on the Shanhaiguan to Beijing , an important pass on the Great Wall . At this strategic bedeutsa measures place a large contingent of troops was stationed , for it was one of the few additions from the northeast to Beijing . ” The Great Wall ( More specifically , the fortress at the pass , the remaining parts of the wall played no special role ) blocked the way from north to south . Who want to go to Beijing, had over the pass . “

The imperial escort at night reached the pass Shanhaiguan at ten clock . But the gate of the Paßfestung was already closed . A companion of the Emperor shouted to the guards to open the gate. But they refused and said that in the night, the door must remain closed , which is a provision from the top. “The Emperor has ordered that the gate must be at night sealed. It is our duty to obey the commandment of the emperor’s episode ” . “But it is the emperor personally , the intake required ,” replied the attendant. The watchman said, ” It’s so dark , because everyone can say that he was the emperor. You want us to bring just a ruse to open the gate . “

And although the companion nor repeated several times that he proclaim the truth , the door was not opened. The escort took the luggage out of the car and hit the Tordurch output a simple camp to the Emperor on . ” The gate was opened punctually at daybreak. When the guards saw the Emperor and his escort left him off the air : It was actually the Emperor Kangxi . Everyone was scared to death and rushed to escort the Emperor and his escort to Yamen ( office based in feudal China ), while they continually bowed and cried , We ask the emperor to forgive us our offenses ‘ . The Emperor looked at the sentry . On the one hand he was outraged the other hand, he was delighted . “In the end he has promoted all officers and men at the pass by one rank and pay each one hundred silver coins ordered [12 , pp. 97-100 ] . For us this story, which probably took place around 1700 , only to the extent essential that it refutes the claim that the Great Wall was specified set of the Qing emperors immediately after 1644 .

” After the establishment of the Qing dynasty in 1644, the second of Emperor Kangxi came to a view that a further attachment or a further expansion of the Great Wall would mean nothing other than a waste of labor and money. With the development of firearms , the wall had its defensive function largely lost . Thus, the previously extensive work on the Great Wall were discontinued. ” [ 12, p 7] But for the new frontier pastures palisades were built.

“In the Qing period some parts of the old wall were used as a customs barrier. They also served as protection against riots , but not tantamount to the former use and meaning of the old wall. ” [2 , p.21 ]

” After the Qing penetration had succeeded to the interior of the country, they tried not to rebuild the wall. When the Qing Emperor Kang Xi undertook an inspection tour to the East China Sea , he wrote the following poem :

At sea , the Great Wall ends. Praised by all ,
Once built with intemperate man power ,
But nevertheless Heaven and earth are not your property.

So contemptuously rated Kang Xi the created under the First Qin Emperor wall , because even though so many people forces had been spent on this magnificent structure , it still could not succeed the Qin emperor to receive his state . Therefore Kang Xi changed his tactics of tyranny and pursued a policy of reconciliation in order to gain the upper layer of the Mongols and Tibetans , and tried instead by construction of the wall by means of religious tolerance to assert his spiritual power . ” [2 , p.21 ] .

With this quote we finish the consideration of the history of the Great Wall of China in the

last 3.5 centuries. In a later article we will explain the Ming wall under the microscope station and do the technology of construction work on the establishment of earthen ramparts and fortresses pass in the Ming period .

When I was with this article almost done , I discovered the book [16 ] , in which I found many Convention provisions with my above -mentioned position. The main difference between my opinion and that of the author’s book was , of course, in my doubts about the accuracy of the Chinese (and not just Chinese ) chronology. I am convinced that the history of China in the pre- Ming period is fabulous and invented and that the history of the Ming period is also not free from invented chapters. For Arthur Waldron , who wrote the book because of his Harvard doctoral thesis and further research , the whole Chinese chronology that most of the sources is credible and well .

Was more interesting for me to learn that he could after-reading in Chinese sources much about the war with northern neighbor China , and to the various types of military fortifications , but was not found in any of these sources, the name “Great Wall ” . Even more, he also found sources which contradicted the existence of such a wall logical. And he found out that the policy of separation of China by ramparts of other peoples in the Chinese population had caused a more negative reaction .

The hypothesis about the construction of the Great Wall by the Chinese Communists , he supports through his descriptions . Arthur Waldron tells of the appeal of Deng Xiaoping : ” For the love of our country, we should rebuild the Great Wall ” . When the new Chinese leaders in September 1984 launched that campaign , there was what one to the wall expansion -en wanted , in a pitiful state , which is less erosion by wind and weather attributed in Chinese newspapers , as the activities of the Cultural Revolutionaries who had just used the remains of the wall for road construction , dams etc. .

Actually, the Great Wall should proceed in quite inevitable areas from which debris and rubble to be built roads , dams and other objects to convey would not be particularly advisable. But from a political opponent can anyway do not expect any logical actions ! The example of a constructed before the Cultural Revolution wall section , which survived this revolution magnificently described above, shows that an attempt is made here to assert the existence of the Great Wall in the not very distant past with cunning .

Arthur Waldron found out that almost no scientific studies on the Great Wall are available. The course of the wall is painted differently on different maps . No one knows exactly how many miles the Wall and its individual sections are long, how many towers , gates, fortresses , etc. it contains . Arthur Waldron brings many different numbers (from about
1500 miles to more than 30,000 miles), which he found in various secondary and official sources (compare with the above-referenced information on the length of the Great Wall ) . A complete survey of the wall has never been undertaken . Even the American cards that have been made ​​due to the satellite images that contain gross errors ( not spies in space replace the careful field work ).

The few serious scientists who dealt with the matter , throws Arthur Waldron intend to write about the Great Wall, without clarifying the question of their existence, or so at least . And he comes to the conclusion that the commonly held idea of the Great Wall , we have all of the popular science and even scientific literature , nothing more than a historical myth. This myth has little to do with real history of the ramparts and

other fixtures in Chinese history , and represents a very simplified and generalized meinertes picture of reality

The really interesting thing is to properly understand the purposes for which the walls were built to how it happened and what technology and technique have been applied. We have already reported some ges , but in another article trying to find out more. Hopefully these more technologically oriented approach to demythologizing of the large Wall is (which is always understood by this term today ) contribute .

literature

1 Mayers large Taschenlexicon in 24 bands , BI paperback publisher , Mannheim , Leipzig and Vienna – Zurich , 1995.
2 Luo Zhewen and Zhao Luo, “China’s Great Wall ” , Publishing House of Foreign Language Literature , Beijing , 1986.
3 ” The Great Wall in Beijing ,” Chinese Esperanto -Verlag, Beijing, 1996
4 “The great wall” , Foreign languages ​​press, Beijing, 1997
5 Yipeng Jiao , “Beijing and environment,” travel Paperback , DuMont Verlag, Cologne, 1999
6 Gabowitsch , Eugen , “China : How did and how correct the chronology of antiquity ” , Time Lapse , 1999 , 1, 118-129 .
7 Gabowitsch , Eugene, ” Persuasion or information ? Once again to Morozov’s HYPO- thesis ” , Time Lapse , 1999 , 1, 130-137 .
8 Zhiang Yuhuan , “The Great Wall” , in: “Ancient China ‘s Technology and Science” , Compiled by
the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences , Chinese Academy of Science , second ed , Foreign languages ​​press, Beijing, 1987 , pp . 436-444 .
9 Shen Fuwel , “Cultural Flow Between China and Outside World Throughout History” , Foreign languages ​​press, Beijing , 1996.
10 ” Palace Museum Beijing. Treasures from the Forbidden City “(edited by Lothar Lederho – se in collaboration with Heribert Butz ) , Insel Verlag , Frankfurt am Main , 1985.
11 ” countries and peoples. East Asia ” , published by The best Stuttgart- Zurich – Vienna , 1991.
12.Larrieu , ” La grande muraille de Chine ; où il est que cette prouvé muraille adjusting qu’elle est communément décrite , non seulement n’existe pas, mais n’a jamais existe même ” , Paris, 1887 ( 23 pp ). .
13.Liu Wenyuan , “The history of the Great Wall ” , published by Foreign Languages ​​Press , Beijing,
In 1996.
14.Richard L. Edmonds, ” The Willow
Palisade ” , Annals of the Association of American Geographers , 1979, V. 69 , No. 4 , 599-621 .
15.Wolfgang Bauer ( Hrgb. ) , “China and the stranger. 3000 years of war and conflict in
Peace, ” C.H.Beck , Munich , 1980.
16.Arthur Waldron, “The Great Wall of China. From History to Myth ” , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge , 1990.

Please help Google Translate improve quality for your language here.

Google Translate for Business:Translator ToolkitWebsite TranslatorGlobal Market Finder

Bottom of Form

Turn off instant translationAbout Google TranslateMobilePrivacyHelpSend feedback