THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building projects ever carried out. It stretches about 1,500 miles from Bo Hai off the Yellow Sea in the East to the Gansu province in the West. It is so large it can be seen from space. A majority of the wall was built between 500-3000 years ago. It is believed to be the largest graveyard in history because bones of the workers that died during construction were utilized along with the material to build the wall. “The wall served to mark the boundary between the agricultural civilization of China and the civilization of the nomadic tribes of the north and northwest” (www.travelchinaguide.com). "The Great Wall was considered to be a great asset to the first emperor, Chin Shih-Huang-Ti, known the founder of the Chin Dynasty. He and other states of north China joined together and extended the separate walls built by earlier states to serve as a defensive barrier against the nomads, especially the Turkish tribes. It took roughly ten years to complete and long hours of hard labor. Each stone is believed to be equal to one human life lost in its building. The cost of the wall in money and lives may have been a factor in the fall of the Chin Dynasty." (AOL's Academic Assistance Center). Construction of the Great Wall began in 400 BC. The first emperor of China, Chin Shih-Huang-Ti, wanted the wall built to protect his people from Mongolian invaders. He ordered just about one million people to work day and night for ten years to build the wall. The workers were not allowed to rest and those that complained or ran away, were captured and buried alive. The people, who died while working, were buried in the wall because the emperor did not want to waste time giving them proper burials. After ten years of hard labor, the wall was finished. “The emperor Chin Shih Huang-Ti believed that his defensive barrier would prevent invasion of the Mongolian tribes.