Camille Ewing
Great Wall of China Research Paper Rough Draft
Great Wall of China
Introduction: The Great Wall of China is one of China’s greatest achievements. It is a historical form of protection for the Chinese people, and it serves as a tourist attraction today, as well as a barrier between China and its invaders. The main purpose of its building was to stop invasions, and keep its people protected. Now, it symbolizes national strength and makes the people feel safe and proud. The main purpose of its building was to stop invasions, mainly from the Mongols, who were attacking them, and keeping its people protected. The current emperor of the time, Qin Shihuang, decided to build the wall to protect his people; the building process
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In total over 20 dynasties contributed to the Great Wall’s construction. The work was extremely hard and many people suffered during the building. Many different people were forced or brought in to work on the wall, such as soldiers, common people, criminals, etc. Every worker was required to build for 4 years. There were many deaths during the building of the wall. The workers built in any weather, season, or time; this hardship caused many people to die. The main labor force was people instead of animals, and the heavy work also resolved with deaths as well. Soldiers were not only building the wall, some were in charge of stopping riots among the people, which often happened. They were also hired to keeping people working; not letting any of the feeble people who had been working night and day to rest. This was also one of the conditions that led to many deaths. There were many difficulties for the people not working aswell, such as women and people market people. No men were farming because they were forced to build the wall, so no crops were being made and this lead to people not having much to eat. Women were having a hard time helping their families, trying hard to fill in for the fathers who were away. Women also usually wanted to have a male child to help with the harder work and labor, but since they knew that if they had a boy, it would be sent to build the wall and he would be apart from her, they did not want to have a boy
The Great Wall of China is often regarded as one of the man made wonder of the world. The wall was built over a 2,000 year period. Such a big and sturdy Wall did not come cheap in terms of many people killed, a huge investment, and a lot of time spent working on the wall. Although the wall did serve many of its purposes, was it really worth the cost? There are three main reasons the construction of the wall did not outweigh the cost. Many died in the making, huge investment for china, did not keep invaders out.
The Great Wall of China was built to protect China from invaders and to keep out raiding parties of nomadic tribes, such as the Mongol, Turic and Xiongnu, from modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria. The Mongols were a tribal group that would regularly raid China. The wall was successful in keeping the Mongols out of China for a while but eventually, the Mongols conquered China. The Wall also kept Chinese citizens from leaving China.
The Great Wall was first build by Qin and Han.The reason why they build the wall is because to keep the enemies away like The Mongols.However, the benefits of the Great Wall of China did not outweigh the costs.
Many different people helped built the wall like soldiers, people, and criminals. The wall’s construction took a long time. The time of year the construction started was Spring to Autumn. As soon Spring started the state of Chu began building the wall. All the other states also began in the effort. When this happened Emperor Qin Shi Huang had all the states be united. When they all unified they connected their existing walls and this is how the wall was made.
In order to fend off the Xiongnu, Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of an enormous defensive wall. The work was carried out by hundreds of thousands of slaves and criminals between 220 and 206 BCE; untold thousands of them died at the task.
For thousands years, the Mongols have been a big threat to the Chinese civilization. The Great Wall of China took about 2000 years to build and finish. It has been measured to be over 5,488 miles long. Due to the many threats and enemies of Chinese, the wall was built. In my opinion, the benefits of building the wall do outweigh the costs for many reasons surrounding the topic.
The lives ruined or lost in the building of the wall was the greatest cost. According to one ancient chinese scripture “During a ten year period of Qin Dynasty wall building, there was a heavy use of peasant laborers who worked seven days a week with little food.” And another scripture, “One campaign in 104 B.C. Reported 80% of Han Dynasty casualties.” (from attacks by the Xiongnu). The great wall of china was needed to protect the people of china from the northern nomads who wanted to pillage villages, but the great wall of china was actually very weak and the Xiongnu could even bribe their way in if they wanted. Any advantage of the wall do not justify any of the cost associated with building it. In all it is clear that the great wall of china should not have been built.
The Great Wall of China is often regarded as one of the man-made wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China was constructed by two early Chinese dynasties; the Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-206 BCE) and the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). Emperor Qin was considered to be cruel and brutal. Cruel rulers invite rebellion and in 206 BCE, his successors were overthrown by the Han Dynasty. Both dynasties shared a common concern, border security. The wall was constructed over a period of 2,500 years and stretch to be 5,488 miles long. The wall was built to increase security, impress visitors and enhance the glory of china. However the wall also required much sacrifice on the part of the Chinese people. Overall did the benefits outweigh the costs? There were both costs and benefits into building the Great Wall of China, but the benefits outweigh the cost. The great walls benefits outweighed the costs by providing protection, create new towns
The Great Wall was built by The Qin and the Han Dynasty. They built The Great Wall to keep out and protect China from the Mongols. The benefits of building The Great Wall of China did not outweigh the costs. In Document B, it showed that tribute was being paid by The Han. The Han was one of the the dynasties who first built The Great Wall. This shows that the benefits did not outweigh the costs because The Han still had tribute to pay to the Xiongnu Mongols and The Han dynasty still had to build and protect The Wall from the Mongols. In Document C, the text indicated that The Qin and The Han dynasties were peasants, and worked on The Great Wall while they got feed a little bit of food and suffered. The Qin and The Han were not treated well
The Great Wall probably remains his most famous contribution to Chinese civilization. The wall scaled off walls originally built for defense against nomads and served as protection as well as a punishment for those who broke Qin laws. Due to the strict nature of the law code and the efficiency of the Qin government, many Chinese were sentenced to construction labor. The new infrastructure, including highways, canals, and irrigation systems, connected distant regions together and allowed the central government to more effectively carry out duties (53). The new routes undoubtedly facilitated travel and
One of the wonders of the world today is the Great Wall of China which was inspired by none other than the Qin Dynasty. Other dynasties put in dedication to having the Great Wall constructed but the Qin Dynasty played a significant role in coming up with the idea for it. The Great Wall of China would benefit China greatly because it would serve as defense against nomadic tribes. Apart from being protected by nomadic tribes, the Great Wall would be a benefit for China’s forever. Other countries
When Emperor Qin took the throne, he ordered the general Mengtian to reorganise/extend the separate walls of the former states, reaching an extent to all 7 ‘warring states’. This was to provide a more stable form of protection for habitants in his empire. 300 000 captured soldiers and conscripts lived, worked and died in the remote areas of the empire. Slaves were also commissioned to take part in the construction of the wall. Little of the wall built by Qin remains today, as it has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the wall seen today was built by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This structure is now a form of transporting to other states/a tourist attraction, and is labelled one of the ‘7 Wonders of the Medieval World’.
The Great Wall of China was built by the Qin and Han dynasties. The main reason they built this structure was to keep out the northern invaders, known as the Mongols. However, the benefits of the Great Wall did not outweigh the costs. For example, Document C shows many soldiers left their families, and their villages for several years. Also, millions of soldiers and workers died from coldness, and hunger. This means that more lives were taken than actually saved, which isn't fair. It isn't fair because everyone was in the army risking their lives to build the wall for it to not be worth it. The wall wasn't worth it because according to Document B, Han still had to pay
Picture having to work on a wall while it was raining or while it snowed, that is what the slaves and armies had to do while building the Great Wall of China. Was it really all worth the cost was it worth many men dying each day and being buried under the wall? It was not only bricks being used to make the wall but it was also the flesh and blood of these men that was being used. They were already slaves and did not deserve to die because they were doing something because they thought the Mongols would attack. Next time you think it would be amazing to be walking on the Great Wall of China also think of how many people died out there in the cold and the funny days when they should have been enjoying.
China’s unity of its civilians helped the prosperity of its nation to become well known to other power nation. At this period China became well known and believed to be as equally strong to other power nations. Sterling extensively explains that building The Great Wall of China came at an immeasurable cost for a "temporary advantage" (147). Many citizens of China have died for the cause of building a national symbol for China, which was not known as The Great Wall of China until foreigners gave it a name to remember. Only during the Ming dynasty did the interconnections of the walls that once divided China, became a unity. The expansion of many walls together came at a great cost. The Great Wall of China made it very difficult for the Mongols and Manchus to penetrate their defensive system, but this did not stop them from failing to attack the dynasty. The perceived barbarians had bankrupt the dynasty. Strategies of keeping enemies from infiltrating is a vital key to keep an economy from chaos and destroying a nation’s wealth that took years or centuries to achieve.