China - June 2002
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Construction of the Great Wall started in the 7th century BC The vassal states n the northern parts of the country each built their own walls for defense purposes. After the state of Qin unified China in 221 B.C., it joined the walls to hold off the invaders from the the north and extended them to more than 5,000 kilometers. A major renovation of the Great Wall started in he Ming Dynasty in 1368, and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today is the result of this effort. Its total length is over 4,500 miles long (the distance between Miami and the North Pole.) It was built over 2,000 years. The Great Wall's height averages from 15 to 30 feet high it's width averages from 15 to 25 feet wide with about a 13-foot wide roadway on top. |
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Great Wall Facts: Sentries on the wall burned wood and straw mixed with wolf dung to produce thick black columns of smoke. One column meant a force of less than 500 was attacking; four columns indicated an attack by up to 10,000 men. One section of the Wall ascends mountain ridges that climb at an angle of 70 degrees and are 7,000 feet above sea level. Three million people--70 percent of China's population at the time--was involved in building the Qin Wall. For every one person that was involved in construction the was, 6 were providing supplies for the wall. The death toll in the building of the first Great Wall was astounding: More than a million people died building this 3,000 mile section more than 300 people per mile If you took all the bricks from the Ming portion of the Wall alone, they could circle the Earth at the equator in a wall five feet high and three feet thick. . If you want to see what the Great Wall looks like from space and to learn more interesting facts check out the Great Wall on the Discovery Channel. |
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At its peak the Ming Wall contained thousands of individual
forts
and towers and was guarded by more than a million men. |
The wall is quite steep in some areas. (Spikey took this picture) |
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Ming Tombs |
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On the way to the Great Wall, we stopped at the Ming Tomb which were built from 1409 A.D. -1644 A.D is where 13 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644), their empresses and concubines were buried. Changling is the tomb of emperor Yongle (reigned 1403-1424), the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty whose personal name was Zhu Di, and of his empress. Built in 1413, the mausoleum extends over an area of 100,000 square meters. The soul tower, which tells people whose tomb it is, rests on a circular wall called the "city of treasures" which surrounds the burial mound. The "city of treasures" at Changling has a length of more than a kilometer. |
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Morgan is crossing the threshold into the other world.
He made sure we returned the same way so he wouldn't be stuck there. |
Morgan found a collection of great weapons...
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Spikey got an elephant ride, kind of.
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Spikey and the elephant gargoyle.
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