For
generations, the Chinese people have farmed their
fertile land. Ancient China was ruled by emperors*
who kept order and maintained harmony as China prospered
and Chinese culture flourished.
The
nomadic tribes, north of China, led a different life
style. Because the nomads* lived on the steppe* where
there was insufficient rainfall to grow crops, they
moved from place to place grazing sheep and trading
horses for food and clothing. They were very skilled
at hunting and fighting.
The
nomadic tribes, such as the Mongols, traded horses
to their Chinese neighbors for things they could not
produce themselves such as grain, silk and iron.
The
great differences between the two cultures often led
to conflict. When the nomads could not get what they
wanted by trading, they would steal and plunder from
the Chinese to get what they wanted.
Different
emperors throughout the ages had different ways of
dealing with the nomads. Some tried making peace treaties,
some sent soldiers to fight the nomads and some tried
to encourage rules and regulations for trading between
the two cultures. Other emperors built walls to keep
the nomadic invaders out of China.
Qin
Shi Huangdi (chin shi hwong-dee) was the first emperor
of China (221 B.C.-206 B.C.). He is credited for creating
a unified China by conquering independent states know
as the Warring States. In order to defend his new
unified country against invading nomads, Qin Shi Huangdi
built the first long wall in China. According to Chinese
legend, more than 800,000 soldiers, peasants and prisoners
worked for 10 years to build it. Over the years, the
wall fell into ruins and other walls were built by
other emperors to keep out invaders wherever they
appeared.
The
nomads were a disjointed group with insufficient man
power to conquer China despite their fierceness until
Genghis Khan, a talented and ambitious fighter, impressed
other tribes to join with him to plunder China's riches.
For many years the fighting went on. Many people and
cities were destroyed. In 1279, Genghis Khan's grandson,
Khubilai or Kublai Khan (koo-bill-eye-kahn) overthrew
the last emperor of China and took the throne for
himself and his descendants and named his new dynasty
the Yuan Dynasty. Khan ruled from the city that we
know today as Beijing. During this time, Marco Polo
arrived at Khan's court. Polo traveled to China from
his home in Italy and stayed in China for the next
17 years. It was Polo's reports about China, after
returning home to Italy, that sparked great interest
in China among Europeans.
During
Khubilai Khan's reign, he taxed the Chinese people
so heavily that many people had little food or money
causing much suffering and unrest. The Mongols continued
their war like ways on neighboring countries and invaded
Japan and Java. Mongol war lords even fought among
themselves.
A
peasant farmer named Zhu Yuanzhang (ju yuon-jong)
knew many hardships during this life under the Yuan
empire. He devoted himself to the downfall of the
Yuan empire. He joined a group called the Red Turbans
and became their leader. They attracted many followers
and drove the Mongols out of China and back onto the
steppe.
Zhu
Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor of China and
named his dynasty, Ming. He was a firm ruler and under
his leadership, China prospered and grew.
In
1449, the Mongols attacked China again and kidnapped
Zhu Qizhen, Son of Heaven, sixth emperor of the Ming
dynasty and ruler of all China. Once again, power
had shifted to the Mongol invaders and they threatened
to invade the Forbidden City.
The
Chinese people were so frightened of the Mongols being
in power again that they decided to once again build
a wall to keep invaders out.
There
was no master plan for building this wall. Each leader
in a given town built a portion of the wall where
they thought the Mongols threat of invasion was the
greatest. Construction across northern China continued
in this way for 200 years. This way the routes through
mountain passes that the Mongols used most often to
reach China were blocked with walls. Those walls were
then connected with other sections of wall, thus creating
the Great Wall of China.
In
the western part of China, the wall was constructed
out of pounded earth, in the eastern part of China,
then the city of Peking and now called Beijing, workers
used bricks and blocks of stone. Many workers were
needed to build the wall. Where it was made of pounded
earth, peasants and prisoners were used and where
it was made of brick and stone, stonemasons and brick
makers were needed. Tens of thousands of men were
involved in building the Great Wall of China.
Along
the wall, they built forts and watch towers. Soldiers
patrolled the walls sending up smoke signals and cannon
shot as communication signals if Mongols approached.
The
wall was built to shape and fit the Chinese landscape
it passed through. In the hilly areas, it twisted
and turned like a dragon and in the desert, it ran
straight. At its eastern end, the Great Wall of China
ran into the sea.
By
1644, the Great Wall of China ran from Jiayuguan in
the west, past the Gobi Desert, across the Yellow
River, past Peking (Beijing) all the way to Shanhaiguan
on the Bohai Sea in the east. Over time, the world
outside China was changing. The Manchus, another nomadic
tribe, attacked the Forbidden City and seized power
by offering to help the leaders of the Ming dynasty.
They instead seized the throne and established the
Qing (ching) dynasty. The combined forces of the Manchu
and Chinese soldiers drove the Mongols to distant
parts of the steppe and the Qing dynasty controlled
both sides of the Great Wall and the Mongols were
no longer a threat. In 1912, a two year old boy named
Pu Yi became the last emperor of China when a revolt
led by Sun Yat-sen threw the Manchus out of power.
China then became a republic headed by a president.
The days of emperors and dynasties had come to an
end in China.
In
1949, the republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek,
was overthrown by communists led by Mao Zedong. Chiang
Kai-shek and his followers fled to the island of Taiwan.
Mao Zedong made China a communist country and gave
it a new name, the People's Republic of China.
Restoration
work is still being done on the Great Wall of China.
Today, the Great Wall of China is a tourist attraction.
