query: what dynasty commissioned the great wall of china

pos: History of the Great Wall of China History of the Great Wall of China The history of the Great Wall of China began when fortifications built by various states during the Spring and Autumn (771–476) and Warring States periods (475–221) were connected by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect his newly founded Qin dynasty (221–206) against incursions by nomads from Inner Asia. The walls were built of rammed earth, constructed using forced labour, and by 212 ran from Gansu to the coast of southern Manchuria. Later dynasties adopted different policies towards northern frontier defense. The Han (202 – 220), the Northern Qi (550–574),

pos: Rise of the Great Wall Rise of the Great Wall Rise of the Great Wall is a 1986 Hong Kong television series based on the life of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China and founder of the Qin dynasty. The series is one of the biggest productions by ATV. The series follows the life of Ying Zheng, the ruler of the Qin state in the Warring States period, who eventually unified China, established the Qin dynasty, and became the First Emperor of a unified China. The series also includes a subplot about Jing Ke, an assassin who attempted to take the emperor's life.

pos: Battle of Mobei protecting the northern borders from nomadic raids had been a military priority. During the Zhou Dynasty, northern vassal states such as Yan, Zhao and Qin resorted to defensive strategies, constructing elongated fortresses that served as the precursors of the Great Wall of China. During the Qin Dynasty, the first emperor Qin Shi Huang conscripted thousands of civilian labourers to perfect the Great Wall in order to reinforce military campaigns along the northern border. Han Dynasty China and the nomadic Xiongnu Empire had a very bitter relationship. The Xiongnu were initially a group of steppe tribes kept in check by the

pos: Great Wall of China BC by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. The Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced over various dynasties; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Apart from defense, other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the

pos: Rise of the Great Wall "Rise of the Great Wall" set a new standard for ATV because most of its prior television series were not as good as those produced by its rival, TVB. Rise of the Great Wall Rise of the Great Wall is a 1986 Hong Kong television series based on the life of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China and founder of the Qin dynasty. The series is one of the biggest productions by ATV. The series follows the life of Ying Zheng, the ruler of the Qin state in the Warring States period, who eventually unified China, established the

pos: Meng Yi was commissioned as an "Interior Minister" (內史). With the fall of Qi, Qin unified all the states in China under its rule. Ying Zheng proclaimed himself "Qin Shi Huang" (First Emperor of Qin) and established the Qin dynasty. In the following years, Qin Shi Huang put Meng Tian in charge of defending the Qin Empire's northern border from attacks by the Xiongnu and overseeing the construction of the Great Wall. Qin Shi Huang trusted the Meng family and regarded them very highly. Meng Yi served in Qin Shi Huang's court as a minister and was one of the emperor's close

pos: Qin dynasty Emperor developed plans to fortify his northern border, to protect against nomadic invasions. The result was the initial construction of what later became the Great Wall of China, which was built by joining and strengthening the walls made by the feudal lords, which would be expanded and rebuilt multiple times by later dynasties, also in response to threats from the north. Another project built during Qin Shi Huang's rule was the Terracotta Army, intended to protect the emperor after his death. The Terracotta Army was inconspicuous due to its underground location, and was not discovered until 1974. The dominant religious

pos: History of science and technology in China on much supposition. The "Book of Silk" was the first definitive atlas of comets, written "c." 400 BC. It listed 29 comets (referred to as "sweeping stars") that appeared over a period of about 300 years, with renderings of comets describing an event its appearance corresponded to. In architecture, the pinnacle of Chinese technology manifested itself in the Great Wall of China, under the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang between 220 and 200 BC. Typical Chinese architecture changed little from the succeeding Han Dynasty until the 19th century. The Qin Dynasty also developed the crossbow, which later became the

pos: Ming Great Wall modern times, in Ming times they were called "border barriers" (邊牆; "bianqiang") by the Chinese, since the term "changcheng" was said to evoke imagery of the tyranny of Qin Shi Huang (260–210 BC). In 1368, the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang, r.136898) ousted the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty from China to inaugurate the Ming dynasty. The Mongols fled back to Mongolia, but even after numerous campaigns, the Mongol problem remained. In the early years of his reign, Hongwu envisioned a border policy where mobile armies along the northern frontier guarded the safety of China. To this end he set up the "eight

neg: History of the Great Wall of China of the Han dynasty, with the Dunhuang manuscripts (discovered in 1900) indicating that the military establishment in the northwest was maintained for most of the Eastern Han period. Following the end of the Han dynasty in 220, China disintegrated into warlord states, which in 280 were briefly reunited under the Western Jin dynasty (265316). There are ambiguous accounts of the Jin rebuilding the Qin wall, but these walls apparently offered no resistance during the Wu Hu uprising, when the nomadic tribes of the steppe evicted the Chinese court from northern China. What followed was a succession of short-lived states in

neg: China–Mongolia relations complicated relations. The Great Wall was constructed to ward off the northern nomads attacks, from the Huns during the Qin Dynasty, the Turks during the Tang Dynasty, and later, the Mongolians and Central Asians. In 1271, Mongols under Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty and conquered all of China in 1279. In 1368, the Chinese under the Ming Dynasty successfully expelled the Mongols from China and in 1388, sacked the Northern Yuan's capital at Karakorum. The Ming Great Wall was strengthened and the period was characterized by repeated Mongol raids into China and Chinese raids into

neg: Empire the era of the Warring States ended in 221 BC with the universal conquest of Qin. The King of Qin, Ying Zheng, became China's First Emperor and began the pattern of successive dynasties. Ying Zheng connected all the existing defense walls of northern China into what is known today Great Wall of China which marked the northern frontier of China. The Qin Dynasty was short lived and in 207 BC was overthrown by the Han Dynasty (207 BC - AD 220) which became one of East Asia's most long-lived dynasties. In the second century AD the Han Empire expanded into

neg: History of the Great Wall of China Manchus without, decided to surrender to the Manchus and opened the gates for them. The Manchus, having thus entered through the Great Wall, defeated Li Zicheng at the Battle of Shanhai Pass and seized Beijing on June5. They eventually defeated both the rebel-founded Shun dynasty and the remaining Ming resistance, establishing their rule over all of China as the Qing dynasty. Opinions about the Wall's role in the Ming dynasty's downfall are mixed. Historians such as Arthur Waldron and Julia Lovell are critical of the whole wall-building exercise in light of its ultimate failure in protecting China; the former compared

neg: Great Wall of China Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen to Li Zicheng's rebels. Before this time, the Manchus had crossed the Great Wall multiple times to raid, but this time it was for conquest. The gates at Shanhai Pass were opened on May 25 by the commanding Ming general, Wu Sangui, who formed an alliance with the Manchus, hoping to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and eventually defeated both the rebel-founded Shun dynasty and the remaining Ming resistance, establishing the Qing dynasty rule over all of China. Under Qing rule, China's

neg: Guangwu Great Wall Dynasty and Liao Dynasty. The "Moon Gate" is a distinctive arched shaped door from the ruins of a watchtower. Guangwu Great Wall The Guangwu Great Wall () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Shanyin County, Shanxi. The section of the wall was integral to the defensive system built around the Yanmen Pass because nomadic invaders would first attack the Guangwu section since it was to the north and west of the pass. Nearby the Guangwu section are the present day inhabited villages of New Guangwu and Old Guangwu. New Guangwu was built during the Ming

neg: Ming Great Wall in light of its ultimate failure in protecting China; the former compared the Great Wall with the failed Maginot Line of the French in World War II. However, independent scholar David Spindler notes that the Wall, being only part of a complex foreign policy, received "disproportionate blame" because it was the most obvious relic of that policy. Ming Great Wall The Ming Great Wall (明長城; "Ming changcheng"), built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), forms the most visible parts of the Great Wall of China today. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure from

neg: History of the Great Wall of China Great Wall failed to stop enemies, including in 1644 when the Manchu Qing marched through the gates of Shanhai Pass and replaced the most ardent of the wall-building dynasties, the Ming, as rulers of China. The Great Wall of China visible today largely dates from the Ming dynasty, as they rebuilt much of the wall in stone and brick, often extending its line through challenging terrain. Some sections remain in relatively good condition or have been renovated, while others have been damaged or destroyed for ideological reasons, deconstructed for their building materials, or lost due to the ravages of time.

neg: History of the Great Wall of China Great Wall snaking over dramatic landscapes that tourists still see today. Wall construction continued until the demise of the Ming dynasty in 1644. In the decades that led to the fall of the Ming dynasty, the Ming court and the Great Wall itself had to deal with simultaneous internal rebellions and the Manchu invasions. In addition to their conquest of Liaodong, the Manchus had raided across the Great Wall for the first time in 1629, and again in 1634, 1638, and 1642. Meanwhile, the rebels led by warlord Li Zicheng had been gathering strength. In the early months of 1644,

neg: Simatai Simatai Simatai (), a section of the Great Wall of China located in the north of Miyun County, 120 km northeast of Beijing, holds the access to Gubeikou, a strategic pass in the eastern part of the Great Wall. It was closed in June 2010 but has been reopened to tourists in 2014. The section was originally built during the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577) and rebuilt during the Hongwu Emperor's reign during the Ming dynasty. Simatai Great Wall is 5.4 km long with 35 beacon towers. This section of the Great Wall incorporated the different characteristics of each section of

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the Great Wall with the failed Maginot Line of the French in World War II. However, independent scholar David Spindler notes that the Wall, being only part of a complex foreign policy, received "disproportionate blame" because it was the most obvious relic of that policy. The usefulness of the Great Wall as a defence line against northern nomads became questionable under the Qing dynasty, since their territory encompassed vast areas inside and outside the wall: China proper, Manchuria, and Mongolia were all under Qing control. So instead, the Great Wall became the means to limit Han Chinese movement into the

neg: Inner Mongolia ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty. Kublai Khan's summer capital Shangdu (aka Xanadu) was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia. After the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, which roughly follows the southern border of the modern Inner Mongolia

neg: Badaling Badaling Badaling () is the site of the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately northwest of urban Beijing city in Yanqing District, which is within the Beijing municipality. The portion of the wall running through the site was built in 1504 during the Ming Dynasty, along with a military outpost reflecting the location's strategic importance. The highest point of Badaling is Beibalou (北八樓), approximately above sea level. Badaling Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1505) to occupy a commanding and strategic position for protecting the Juyongguan Pass (Juyongguan section of the Great Wall) on

neg: History of the Great Wall of China clearly defined in a series of subsequent bilateral agreements. Several stretches of the old Great Walls, including the Northern Qi Inner Wall near the Hengshan mountain range, became the border between the Song and the Liao. In the northwest, the Song were in conflict with the Western Xia, since they occupied what the Song considered as Chinese land lost during the Tang dynasty. The Song utilized the walls built during the reign of Qin's King Zhaoxiang of the Warring States period, making it the Song–Western Xia border, but the topography of the area was not as sharp and distinct as

neg: History of the Great Wall of China sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing (modern-day Beijing). The Jin dynasty eventually collapsed following the siege of Caizhou in 1234. Western Xia had already fallen in 1227, and the Southern Song resisted the Mongols until 1279. With that, the Yuan dynasty, established by Genghis Khan's grandson Khublai Khan, became the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China. Despite being the head of the Mongol Empire, Khublai Khan's rule over China was not free from the threat of the steppe nomads. The Yuan dynasty faced challenges from rival claimants to the title of Great Khan and from rebellious Mongols in

neg: History of the Great Wall of China During this period, non-Han "conquest dynasties" ruled the north: the Khitan Liao dynasty (9071125) and the succeeding Jurchen Jin dynasty (11151234) in the east and the Tangut Western Xia (10381227) in the west, all of which had built walls against the north. In 907, the Khitan chieftain Abaoji succeeded in getting himself appointed khaghan of all Khitan tribes in the north, laying the foundations to what would officially become the Liao dynasty. In 936, the Khitan supported the Shanxi rebel Shi Jingtang in his revolt against the Shatuo Turkic Later Tang, which had destroyed the usurpers of the Tang in

neg: Chinese architecture that has survived intact is the Pagoda of Fogong Temple of the Liao Dynasty, located in Ying County of Shanxi. While the East Hall of Foguang Temple features only seven types of bracket arms in its construction, the 11th century Pagoda of Fogong Temple features a total of fifty-four. The earliest walls and platforms in China were of rammed earth construction, and over time brick and stone became more frequently used. This can be seen in ancient sections of the Great Wall of China, while the brick and stone Great Wall seen today is a renovation of the Ming Dynasty

neg: History of the Great Wall of China to double that. The dynastic history of Sui estimates that 500,000 people died building the wall, adding to the number of casualties caused by Emperor Yang's projects including the aforementioned redesign of Luoyang, the Grand Canal, and two ill-fated campaigns against Goguryeo. With the economy strained and the populace resentful, the Sui dynasty erupted in rebellion and ended with the assassination of Emperor Yang in 618. Frontier policy under the Tang dynasty reversed the wall-building activities of most previous dynasties that had occupied northern China since the third century BC, and no extensive wall building took place for the next

neg: Shanxi between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, to the Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in 1127 after the Jingkang Incident of the Jin-Song wars. The Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) which were of the same landarea and borders as the previous Hedong Commandery that existed during the Tang Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), Shanxi extended north beyond the Great Wall to include parts of

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the Shanhai Pass, proved popular destinations for these wall watchers. The travelogues of the later 19th century in turn further contributed to the elaboration and propagation of the Great Wall myth. Examples of this myth's growth are the false but widespread belief that the Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon or Mars. The Xinhai Revolution in 1911 forced the abdication of the last Qing Emperor Puyi and ended China's last imperial dynasty. The revolutionaries, headed by Sun Yat-sen, were concerned with creating a modern sense of national identity in the chaotic post-imperial era. In contrast to Chinese

neg: Great Wall of China during the Yuan dynasty "ca." 1346, had heard about China's Great Wall, possibly before he had arrived in China. He wrote that the wall is "sixty days' travel" from Zeitun (modern Quanzhou) in his travelogue "Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling". He associated it with the legend of the wall mentioned in the Qur'an, which Dhul-Qarnayn (commonly associated with Alexander the Great) was said to have erected to protect people near the land of the rising sun from the savages of Gog and Magog. However, Ibn Battuta could find no one who

neg: History of the Great Wall of China brought back the first reports of the Wall to the West, European scholars were puzzled that Marco Polo had not mentioned the presumably perennial "Great Wall" in his "Travels". Some 17th-century scholars reasoned that the Wall must have been built in the Ming dynasty, after Marco Polo's departure. This view was soon replaced by another that argued, against Polo's own account, that the Venetian merchant had come to China from the south and so did not come into contact with the Wall. Thus, Father Martino Martini's mistaken claim that the Wall had "lasted right up to the present time without

neg: Ming Great Wall Ming Great Wall The Ming Great Wall (明長城; "Ming changcheng"), built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), forms the most visible parts of the Great Wall of China today. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure from Jiayu Pass in the west to the sea in Shanhai Pass, then looping over to terminate in Manchuria at the Hushan Great Wall. This is made up of sections of actual wall, of trenches and of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. While the Ming walls are generally referred to as "Great Wall" ("changcheng") in

neg: Hushan Great Wall Koreans consider to have first built Bakjak (Hushan). However, the Yan and Qin Great Wall was known to have extended through Dandong to modern Pyongan Province in North Korea. Qin dynasty relics have been discovered at the Great Wall in south Chifeng, to the west of Dandong. Hushan Great Wall The Hushan or Tiger Mountain Great Wall (), known to Koreans as Bakjak Fortress (Hangul :박작성 Hanja :泊汋城), is the most easterly known part of the Great Wall of China. About 600 metres of remains were excavated here in 1989. In 1992, a section of wall was renovated and opened

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the war with the Western Xia, the Song also settled land disputes with them by referring to prior agreements, as with the Liao. However, soon after the Jin dynasty overthrew the Liao dynasty, the Jurchens sacked the Song capital in 1127 during the Jin–Song wars, causing the Song court to flee south of the Yangtze River. For the next two and a half centuries, the Great Wall played no role in Han Chinese geopolitics. After the Tang dynasty ended in 907, the northern frontier area remained out of Han Chinese hands until the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368.

neg: Shanhai Pass to the east, south and north, making it one of the most heavily fortified passes in China. Today it is one of the best preserved passes in the Great Wall. In 1644, Li Zicheng led a rebel army into the Ming dynasty capital of Beijing, marking the official end of the Ming dynasty. After occupying the capital, Li attempted to enlist the support of Ming general Wu Sangui, commander of the powerful Ningyuan garrison north of the Great Wall. Rather than submit to Li, Wu contacted the Manchu Qing dynasty, suggesting that they combine forces to drive the rebels from

neg: Great Wall of China the western edge of the Yellow River loop at Yinchuan. Here the first major walls erected during the Ming dynasty cuts through the Ordos Desert to the eastern edge of the Yellow River loop. There at Piantou Pass "Piāntóuguān") in Xinzhou, Shanxi province, the Great Wall splits in two with the "Outer Great Wall" "Wài Chǎngchéng") extending along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi into Hebei province, and the "inner Great Wall" "Nèi Chǎngchéng") running southeast from Piantou Pass for some , passing through important passes like the Pingxing Pass and Yanmen Pass before joining the Outer Great Wall at

neg: Wu Weizhong to reconstruct the Great Wall of China, in fact, much of the Great Wall we see today was contributed by Wu and other men under Qi. In 1571, he was promoted to a low ranking general. Wu continued Qi Jiguang's method of training soldiers, and his men were often regarded as the most capable fighting force of the Ming dynasty, especially when they were put to the test in 1592 during the Imjin War. In late 1592, the Ming dynasty decided to aid the Korean Joseon Dynasty, who was being overran by the Japanese invasion ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In

neg: History of China dynasty was to station at the Shanhai Pass to guard the last stronghold against the Manchus, which weakened its suppression of internal peasants uprisings. The Qing dynasty (1644–1911) was the last imperial dynasty in China. Founded by the Manchus, it was the second conquest dynasty to rule the entire territory of China and its people. The Manchus were formerly known as Jurchens, residing in the northeastern part of the Ming territory outside the Great Wall. They emerged as the major threat to the late Ming dynasty after Nurhaci united all Jurchen tribes and established an independent state. However, the Ming

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the north. Khublai Khan dealt with such threats by using both military blockades and economic sanctions. Although he established garrisons along the steppe frontier from the Juyan Lake Basin in the far west to Yingchang in the east, Khublai Khan and the Yuan emperors after him did not add to the Great Wall (except for the ornate Cloud Platform at Juyong Pass). When the Venetian traveller Marco Polo wrote of his experiences in China during the reign of Khublai Khan, he did not mention a Great Wall. In 1368, the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang, r.136898) ousted the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty

neg: Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing Liu Xiaoqing (born 30 October 1955) is a Chinese actress and businesswoman. She was one of the leading actresses in China in the 1980s. In her early days Liu worked as a farm labourer, then as a propagandist for the People's Liberation Army and later a stage actor for the Chengdu Military Drama Group. Liu acted in mainland Chinese films before she turned 30 — "The Great Wall of the South China Sea" (1976), "What a Family" (1979) and "The Little Flower" (1980). Her breakthrough role was the ruthless Qing Dynasty Empress Dowager Cixi in "The Burning of

neg: Guangwu Great Wall Guangwu Great Wall The Guangwu Great Wall () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Shanyin County, Shanxi. The section of the wall was integral to the defensive system built around the Yanmen Pass because nomadic invaders would first attack the Guangwu section since it was to the north and west of the pass. Nearby the Guangwu section are the present day inhabited villages of New Guangwu and Old Guangwu. New Guangwu was built during the Ming Dynasty on a site first occupied during the Warring States Period while Old Guangwu was built during the Song

neg: Fortification Warring States (481–221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The Great Wall of China had been built since the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodelling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). In addition to the Great Wall, a number of Chinese cities also employed the use of defensive walls to defend their cities. Notable Chinese city walls include the city walls of Hangzhou, Nanjing, the Old City of Shanghai, Suzhou, Xi'an and the walled villages of Hong Kong. The famous

neg: History of the Great Wall of China followed the rebellion that toppled the Qin dynasty, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Han dynasty, becoming known as Emperor Gaozu of Han (r.202–195) to posterity. Unable to address the problem of the resurgent Xiongnu in the Ordos region through military means, Emperor Gaozu was forced to appease the Xiongnu. In exchange for peace, the Han offered tributes along with princesses to marry off to the Xiongnu chiefs. These diplomatic marriages would become known as "heqin", and the terms specified that the Great Wall (determined to be either the Warring States period Qin state wall or a short stretch of

neg: Cheolli Jangseong preparation and coordination was completed in 647, after which Yeon Gaesomun took control of the Goguryeo court in a coup. The network of fortresses ran for approximately 1000 li in what is now Northeast China, from Buyeoseong (부여성, 扶餘城) (present-day Nong'an County) to the Bohai Bay. The most important of the garrisons were as follows: Cheolli Jangseong also refers to the stone wall built from 1033 to 1044, during the Goryeo dynasty, in the northern Korean peninsula. Sometimes called "Goryeo Jangseong" ("Great Wall of Goryeo"), it is roughly 1000 li in length, and about 24 feet in both height and

neg: Pipa the north and west of ancient China). Another Han Dynasty text also indicates that, at that time, "pipa" was a recent arrival, although later 3rd-century texts from the Jin Dynasty suggest that pipa existed in China as early as the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC). An instrument called "xiantao" (弦鼗), made by stretching strings over a small drum with handle, was said to have been played by labourers who constructed the Great Wall of China during the late Qin Dynasty. This may have given rise to the "Qin pipa", an instrument with a straight neck and a round sound box, and

neg: Inner Mongolia of Yunzhong near modern Hohhot. King Wuling of Zhao also built a long wall stretching through the Hetao region. After Qin Shihuang created the first unified Chinese empire in 221 BC, he sent the general Meng Tian to drive the Xiongnu from the region, and incorporated the old Zhao wall into the Qin dynasty Great Wall of China. He also maintained two commanderies in the region: Jiuyuan and Yunzhong, and moved 30,000 households there to solidify the region. After the Qin dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, these efforts were abandoned. During the Western Han dynasty, Emperor Wu sent the general

neg: Shanhai Pass the pass towards Beijing. Shanhai Pass Shanhai Pass is one of the major passes in the Great Wall of China. It is located in Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province. In 1961, the pass was selected as a National Cultural Site of China. It is a popular tourist destination at the eastern terminal point of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. The location where the wall meets the Bohai Sea is nicknamed "Old Dragon's Head" Laolongtou (). The pass lies nearly east of Beijing and is linked via the Jingshen Expressway that runs northeastward to Shenyang. Throughout Chinese history, the pass served

neg: Shanhai Pass Shanhai Pass Shanhai Pass is one of the major passes in the Great Wall of China. It is located in Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province. In 1961, the pass was selected as a National Cultural Site of China. It is a popular tourist destination at the eastern terminal point of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. The location where the wall meets the Bohai Sea is nicknamed "Old Dragon's Head" Laolongtou (). The pass lies nearly east of Beijing and is linked via the Jingshen Expressway that runs northeastward to Shenyang. Throughout Chinese history, the pass served as a frontline defensive

neg: Ming Great Wall China by 1642. Throughout his rise there were several occasions on which he could have been extinguished by the Ming, but Jurchen breaches of the Great Wall – the Jurchens had raided across the Great Wall several times since 1629, including in 1634, 1638, and 1642 – distracted the Ming court's attention. The Ming were not able to effectively deal with the simultaneous internal and external threats, much less maintain a consistent defence along the Great Wall. In 1635 Hung Taiji renamed his people the Manchus and declared himself the emperor of a new Qing dynasty the following year. However,

neg: Liaoning to become known as the Manchu people). Although similar in purpose to the Great Wall of China, this "Liaodong Wall" was of a lower-cost design. While stones and tiles were used in some parts, most of the wall was in fact simply an earth dike with moats on both sides. Despite the Liaodong Wall, the Manchus conquered Liaodong, or eastern Liaoning, in the early 17th century, decades before the rest of China fell to them. The Manchu dynasty, styled "Later Jin", established its capital in 1616–1621 in Xingjing (), which was located outside of the Liaodong Wall in the eastern

neg: Dandong Shenyang and Sinuiju. A significant amount of trade with North Korea flows through the city. The size of the administrative city (prefecture) is . As of 2010, the built-up area made of 3 urban districts is in size and had 865,576 inhabitants. The administrative city contained approximately 2.45 million inhabitants as of the 2010 census. The Hushan Great Wall, the far eastern end of the Great Wall of China, is located here. Maps and artifacts suggest that the area has been settled since the Zhou Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty (221 BC–220 AD), the Dandong region was under the jurisdiction

neg: Juyong Pass The pass had many different names during former Chinese dynasties. However, the name "Juyongguan" was used by more than three dynasties. It was first used in the Qin Dynasty when Emperor Qinshihuang ordered the building of the Great Wall. Juyongguan pass was connected to the Great Wall in the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. The present pass route was built in the Ming Dynasty and received much renovation later. It was a very important strategic place connecting the inner land and the area near the northern border of China. It was also used to defend the ancient city of Beijing.

neg: Defensive wall ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481–221BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin Dynasty (221–207BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644AD) during the 15th and 16th centuries. The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the walls of

neg: Battle of Shanhai Pass Battle of Shanhai Pass The Battle of Shanhai Pass, fought on 27 May 1644 at Shanhai Pass (Shanhaiguan, 山海關) at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China, was a decisive battle leading to the formation of the Qing dynasty in China. There, Qing Prince-Regent Dorgon allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui to defeat rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty, allowing Dorgon and the Manchus to rapidly conquer Beijing and replace the Ming dynasty. As the Ming dynasty faltered and the threat from northern enemies grew, Ming emperors saw the strategic value of Shanhai Pass and

neg: Jinshanling Jinshanling Jinshanling (), is a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping County, Hebei Province, 125 km northeast of Beijing. This section of the wall is connected with the Simatai section to the east. Some distance to the west lies the Mutianyu section. Jinshanling section of the wall was built from 1570 CE during the Ming Dynasty. The Jinshanling section of the Great Wall is 10.5 km long with 5 passes, 67 towers and 3 beacon towers. The initial section of the wall has been restored to original condition, but the condition of

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the now-neglected Great Wall—a direct product of Tang's frontier policy. Han Chinese power during the tumultuous post-Tang era was represented by the Song dynasty (9601279), which completed its unification of the Chinese states with the conquest of Wuyue in 971. Turning to the north after this victory, in 979 the Song eliminated the Northern Han, ultimate successors to the Later Jin, but were unable to take the Sixteen Prefectures from the Liao dynasty. As a result of Song's military aggression, relations between the Song and Liao remained tense and hostile. One of the battlegrounds in the Song–Liao War was the

neg: History of the Great Wall of China in favour of peace under Emperor Wu's successors. The peace was largely respected even when the Han throne was usurped by the minister Wang Mang in 9AD, beginning a brief 15-year interregnum known as the Xin dynasty (923). Despite high tensions between the Xin and the Xiongnu resulting in the deployment of 300,000 men on the Great Wall, no major fighting broke out beyond minor raids. Instead, popular discontent led to banditry and, ultimately, full-scale rebellion. The civil war ended with the Liu clan on the throne again, beginning the Eastern Han dynasty (25220). The restorer Emperor Guangwu (r.25–57) initiated

neg: Shandong people was prevalent in Shandong 4000 to 7000 years ago. Additionally, Shandong is home to the oldest Chinese inscriptions: Dawenkou Pottery Inscription and Longshan Pottery Inscription; the largest prehistoric settlement found to date: Chengziya (城子崖) Archeological Site; the oldest section of the Great Wall in China: the Great Wall of Qi State; and the oldest Oracle Bone Script: Huantai County Oracle Bone Script, were all found in Shandong. According to the research of archaeologists, Shandong was the main place for silk manufacture from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and it was the origin of the ancient Silk Road. Samuel

neg: Gansu "neck" of the province. The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, building the strategic Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang) and Yangguan fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there. The Ming dynasty built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the Yuezhi, Wusun, and other nomadic tribes dwelt (Shiji 123), occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese geopolitics. By the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, China lost much

neg: History of Mongolia change the course of history in Bactria, Iran, and eventually India. In 200 BC, the Han dynasty of China launched a military campaign into the territory, attempting to subjugate the Xiongnu. However the Xiongnu forces ambushed and encircled the Han Emperor Gao at Baideng for seven days. Emperor Gao was forced to submit to the Xiongnu, and a treaty was signed in 198 BC recognising all the territories to the north from the Great Wall should belong to the Xiongnu, while the territory to the south of the Great Wall should belong to the Han. In addition, China was obliged

neg: Wu Sangui force under the Ming in northern China. Wu Sangui and his 40,000-man army were on the way to Beijing to come to the Chongzhen Emperor's aid but had received word of the emperor's suicide so they garrisoned the Shanhai Pass, the eastern terminus of the main Great Wall instead. He and his men were then caught between the rebels within the Great Wall and the Manchus without. After the collapse of the Ming dynasty, Wu Sangui and his army became a vital military force in deciding the fate of China. Both Dorgon and Li Zicheng tried to gain support from

neg: Huangya Pass as a site of relics protection in 1986. Recent found drawings on the walls showed the builders of the wall smoked cones for every metre of the wall they completed. Huangya Pass Huangyaguan or Huangya Pass () is a small section of the Great Wall of China located in the north of Ji County, Tianjin municipality, approximately north of urban Tianjin city. The site lies on a steep and abrupt mountain ridge. Huangyaguan was originally built over 1400 years ago in the Northern Qi Dynasty and reinforced with brick walls in the Ming Dynasty. In 1984, major repair work has

neg: Imperial hunt of the Qing dynasty From the beginning of the Qing dynasty, Manchu emperors positioned themselves not only as the emperors of China, but also as Great Khans in the mold of Genghis and Kublai. Originally the khan of the later Jin dynasty, Hong Taiji renamed his empire the Great Qing and declared himself its emperor in 1636 after receiving the surrender of the Chahar Mongols. The Qing sponsorship of Tibetan Buddhism was inherited from the Mongol tradition. The secondary capital and its hunting grounds, both outside the Great Wall, thus bolstered the Qing emperors' rhetoric of having brought the inner (Chinese) and outer (Mongol,

neg: Lady Meng Jiang Lady Meng Jiang Lady Meng Jiang or Meng Jiang Nü () is a Chinese tale, with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Lady Meng Jiang's husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wall of China. Lady Meng Jiang heard nothing after his departure, so she set out to bring him winter clothes. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the Great Wall, her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she wept so bitterly that a part of the Great Wall collapsed, revealing his bones.

neg: Ancient history the new tribes Xianbei and Wuhuan. The Xiongnu were the largest nomadic enemies of the Han Dynasty fighting wars for over three centuries with the Han Dynasty before dissolving. Afterwards the Xianbei returned to rule the Steppe north of the Great Wall. The titles of Khangan and Khan come from the Xianbei. Korea's early history was often determined by its relationship with early Chinese states. According to Records of the Grand Historian by Chinese historian Sima Quan, Korea was founded by Wiman from China in 197 BC. In 105 BC, Han dynasty China ruined Korea and ruled for about 400

neg: History of the Great Wall of China constructions were defensive in nature, which marked a shift from the offensive walls of the preceding Emperor Wu and the rulers of the Warring States. By the early 40sAD the northern frontiers of China had undergone drastic change: the line of the imperial frontier followed not the advanced positions conquered by Emperor Wu but the rear defences indicated roughly by the modern (Ming dynasty) Great Wall. The Ordos region, northern Shanxi, and the upper Luan River basin around Chengde were abandoned and left to the control of the Xiongnu. The rest of the frontier remained somewhat intact until the end

neg: History of the Great Wall of China that the Great Wall traversed, the sparse populations of these areas, and the frigid winter climate. Although the walls were rammed earth, so the bulk of the building material could be found "in situ", transportation of additional supplies and labour remained difficult for the reasons named above. The sinologist Derk Bodde posits in "The Cambridge History of China" that "for every man whom Meng Tian could put to work at the scene of actual construction, dozens must have been needed to build approaching roads and to transport supplies." This is supported by the Han dynasty statesman Zhufu Yan's description of

neg: History of the Great Wall of China 923. The Khitan leader, Abaoji's second son Yelü Deguang, convinced Shi to found a new dynasty (the Later Jin, 936946), and received the crucial border region known as the Sixteen Prefectures in return. With the Sixteen Prefectures, the Khitan now possessed all the passes and fortifications that controlled access to the plains of northern China, including the main Great Wall line. Settling in the transitional area between agricultural lands and the steppe, the Khitans became semi-sedentary like their Xianbei predecessors of the Northern Wei, and started to use Chinese methods of defence. In 1026 walls were built through central Manchuria

neg: Jisi Incident Jisi Incident The Jisi Incident (己巳之變) was a military conflict between the Later Jin and Ming dynasty, named because it happened in 1629, a "jisi" year according to the Chinese sexagenary cycle. In the winter of 1629 Hong Taiji bypassed Ming's northeastern defenses by breaching the Great Wall of China west of the Shanhai Pass and reached the outskirts of Beijing before being repelled by reinforcements from Shanhai Pass. The Later Jin secured large amounts of war material by looting the region around Beijing. This was the first time the Jurchens had broken through the Great Wall into China proper

neg: History of the Great Wall of China from China to inaugurate the Ming dynasty. The Mongols fled back to Mongolia, but even after numerous campaigns, the Mongol problem remained. During his early reign, Hongwu set up the "eight outer garrisons" close to the steppe and an inner line of forts more suitable for defence. The inner line was the forerunner to the Ming Great Wall. In 1373, as Ming forces encountered setbacks, Hongwu put more emphasis on defence and adopted Hua Yunlong's (華雲龍) suggestion to establish garrisons at 130 passes and other strategic points in the Beijing area. More positions were set up in the years up

neg: History of the Great Wall of China have not yet found traces of human activity around this stretch of wall, which suggests that the Western Xia wall in this location may have been incomplete and not ready for use. In the 13th century, the Mongol leader Genghis Khan, once a vassal of the Jurchens, rose up against the Jin dynasty. In the ensuing Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, the nomadic invaders avoided direct attacks on the Jin fortifications. Instead, when they could, the Mongols simply rode around the walls; an effective example of this tactic is in 1211, when they circumvented the substantial fortress in Zhangjiakou

neg: Gates of Alexander of repair. The Great Wall of Gorgan was built during the Parthian dynasty simultaneously with the construction of the Great Wall of China and it was restored during the Sassanid era (3rd-7th centuries) Gates of Alexander The Gates of Alexander was a legendary barrier supposedly built by Alexander the Great in the Caucasus to keep the uncivilized barbarians of the north (typically associated with Gog and Magog) from invading the land to the south. The gates were a popular subject in medieval travel literature, starting with the "Alexander Romance" in a version from perhaps the 6th century. The wall, also

neg: History of the Great Wall of China several hundred years. Soon after the establishment of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Taizong (r.626649), the threat of Göktürk tribesmen from the north prompted some court officials to suggest drafting corvée labourers to repair the aging Great Wall. Taizong scoffed at the suggestion, alluding to the Sui walls built in vain: "The Emperor Yang of Sui made the people labor to construct the Great Wall in order to defend against the Turks, but in the end this was of no use." Instead of building walls, Taizong claimed he "need merely to establish Li Shiji in Jinyang for

neg: Defense of the Great Wall managed to win minor victories in passes like Xifengkou and Gubeikou by using the ramparts to move soldiers from one sector to another in the Great Wall, just like the Ming dynasty soldiers before them. On May 22, 1933, Chinese and Japanese representatives met at Tanggu, Tianjin, to negotiate an end of the conflict. The resulting Tanggu Truce created a demilitarized zone extending one hundred kilometers south of the Great Wall, which the Chinese army was prohibited from entering, thus greatly reducing the territorial security of China proper, whereas the Japanese were permitted to use reconnaissance aircraft or ground units

neg: Jin dynasty (1115–1234) Jin emerged from Taizu's rebellion against the Liao dynasty (907–1125), which held sway over northern China until the nascent Jin drove the Liao to the Western Regions, where they became known as the Western Liao. After vanquishing the Liao, the Jin launched an over hundred-year war against the Song dynasty (960–1279), which was based in southern China. Over the course of their rule, the Jurchens of Jin quickly adapted to Chinese customs, and even fortified the Great Wall against the rising Mongols. Domestically, the Jin oversaw a number of cultural advancements, such as the revival of Confucianism. The Mongols invaded

neg: History of construction soil on the planet". It's amazing that sections 2,000 years old still remain mostly intact! Sand doesn't stick together, so how could a wall be built with sand? Sand was used as a fill material between reed and willow layers. West China around Dunhuang is desert. Innovative builders there made use of reeds and willow brought in from rivers and oases to build a strong wall. Jade Gate Pass (Yumenguan) Great Wall Fort was built with 20-cm layers of sand and reed, an impressive 9 meters high. The Ming Dynasty Great Wall was mostly built with bricks. To build a

neg: History of the Great Wall of China northern China known as the Sixteen Kingdoms, until they were all consolidated by the Xianbei-led Northern Wei dynasty (386535). As Northern Wei became more economically dependent on agriculture, the Xianbei emperors made a conscious decision to adopt Chinese customs, including passive methods of frontier defence. In 423, a defence line over 2,000 "li" () long was built to resist the Rouran; its path roughly followed the old Zhao wall from Chicheng County in Hebei Province to Wuyuan County, Inner Mongolia. In 446, 100,000 men were put to work building an inner wall from Yanqing, passing south of the Wei capital

neg: Queen Mother of the West States of China through brilliant military strategy and diplomacy to control the greatest territory yet seen in China. It was also under his command that workers joined pre-existing sections of wall to create the Great Wall of China. Even after these accomplishments he is known in history as a failure both as a king and as a seeker of immortality. Qin had the opportunity to meet the Queen Mother of the West and attain greatness from her, but instead wasted it and died without the Mandate of Heaven or a dynasty. His story of not jumping at the chance to

neg: History of the Great Wall of China the Western Xia dynasty. Although the Tanguts were not traditionally known for building walls, in 2011 archeologists uncovered of walls at Ömnögovi Province in Mongolia in what had been Western Xia territory. Radiocarbon analysis showed that they were constructed from 1040 to 1160. The walls were as tall as at places when they were discovered, and may have been around taller originally. They were built with mud and saxaul (a desert shrub) in one section, and dark basalt blocks in another, suggesting that the rocks may have been quarried from nearby extinct volcanoes and transported to the construction site. Archaeologists

neg: Huangya Pass Huangya Pass Huangyaguan or Huangya Pass () is a small section of the Great Wall of China located in the north of Ji County, Tianjin municipality, approximately north of urban Tianjin city. The site lies on a steep and abrupt mountain ridge. Huangyaguan was originally built over 1400 years ago in the Northern Qi Dynasty and reinforced with brick walls in the Ming Dynasty. In 1984, major repair work has been performed on over 3 kilometres of the wall including on 20 water towers and 1 water pass. The pass is a major tourist attraction within Tianjin and was listed

neg: Great Wall of China of what constitutes a "Great Wall" has not been agreed upon, making the full course of the Great Wall difficult to describe in its entirety, the course of the main Great Wall line following Ming constructions can be charted. The Jiayu Pass, located in Gansu province, is the western terminus of the Ming Great Wall. Although Han fortifications such as Yumen Pass and the Yang Pass exist further west, the extant walls leading to those passes are difficult to trace. From Jiayu Pass the wall travels discontinuously down the Hexi Corridor and into the deserts of Ningxia, where it enters

neg: Marco Polo Persian books. Wood maintains that it is more probable that Polo only went to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) and some of the Italian merchant colonies around the Black Sea, picking hearsay from those travellers who had been farther east. Supporters of the book's basic accuracy countered on the points raised by skeptics such as footbinding and the Great Wall of China. Historian Stephen G. Haw argued that the Great Walls were built to keep out northern invaders, whereas the ruling dynasty during Marco Polo's visit were those very northern invaders. They note that the Great Wall familiar to us today

neg: Great Wall of China means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from present-day Sino-Russian border in the north to Qinghai in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of Mongolian steppe. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the walls built by the Ming dynasty measure . This is made up of sections of actual wall, of trenches and of

neg: History of the Great Wall of China steppes. In the case of Manchuria, considered to be the sacred homeland by the ruling Manchu elites, some parts of the Ming Liaodong Wall were repaired so it could serve to control Han Chinese movement into Manchuria alongside the newly erected Willow Palisade. Culturally, the wall's symbolic role as a line between civilized society and barbarism was suppressed by the Qing, who were keen to weaken the Han culturalism that had been propagated by the Ming. As a result, no special attention was paid to the Great Wall until the mid-Qing dynasty, when Westerners started to show interest in the

neg: The Travels of Marco Polo from the earlier dynasties. He noted the Great Wall familiar to us today is a Ming structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels. The Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta did mention the Great Wall, but when he asked about the wall while in China during the Yuan dynasty, he could find no one who had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it. Haw also argued that practices such as footbinding were not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. While the Italian missionary Odoric of Pordenone who visited Yuan

neg: Gate of China, Nanjing Gate of China, Nanjing The Gate of China (), is a gate and defensive complex on the city wall of Nanjing, China. It is the southern gate of Nanjing city. It is a renowned ancient city gate in China and the city gate with the most complex structure in the world. The city wall of Nanjing was built from 1360 to 1386 under the founder of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang was crowned Emperor, and made Nanjing his capital. The southern and eastern sections of the old city wall from the Tang dynasty

neg: Hebei who established the Later Tang (923–936). The next dynasty, the Later Jin under Shi Jingtang, posthumously known as Emperor Gaozu of Later Jin, ceded much of modern-day northern Hebei to the Khitan Liao dynasty in the north; this territory, called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, became a major weakness in the Chinese defense against the Khitans for the next century, since it lay within the Great Wall. During the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of hot contention between Song China and the Liao dynasty. The Southern Song dynasty that came after abandoned

neg: Bedel Pass Bedel Pass Bedel Pass (Kyrgyz: ; ) is a mountain pass in the Tian-Shan mountain range between Kyrgyzstan and China's Xinjiang province. It has an elevation of . The pass linked China to Barskon, a settlement on the southern shore of lake Issyk-kul. Historically, the Bedel Pass served as a Silk Road trade route between China and Central Asia. On the Chinese side, the Bedel Beacon Tower () is located on the foothills along the path. It was built during the Han dynasty as part of the Han Great Wall. The beacon was reused and renovated during the Tang dynasty.

neg: Shanxi that lasted for centuries from the Song to the Qing Dynasty. Shanxi merchants ranged far and wide from Central Asia to the coast of eastern China; by the Qing Dynasty they were conducting trade across both sides of the Great Wall. During the late Qing Dynasty, a new development occurred: the creation of "piaohao" (), which were essentially banks that provided services like money transfers and transactions, deposits, and loans. After the establishment of the first "piaohao" in Pingyao, the bankers in Shanxi dominated China's financial market for centuries until the collapse of Qing Dynasty and the coming of British

neg: History of Asia ensuing rebellion by local dissenters until the enemy had invaded the Forbidden City (his personal estate). He soon hanged himself in the imperial gardens. For a brief amount of time, the Shun Dynasty was claimed, until a loyalist Ming official called support from the Manchus to put down the new dynasty. The Shun Dynasty ended within a year and the Manchu were now within the Great Wall. Taking advantage of the situation, the Manchus marched on the Chinese capital of Beijing. Within two decades all of China belonged to the Manchu and the Qing Dynasty was established. By 1644, the

neg: Nomadic empire parts of Mesopotamia and the Caucasus. Later Mongol khanates such as the Northern Yuan dynasty based in Mongolia and the Dzungar Khanate based in Xinjiang were also nomadic empires. Right after the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, the succeeding Ming dynasty established by Han Chinese rebuilt the Great Wall, which had been begun many hundreds of years earlier to keep the northern nomads out of China proper. During the subsequent centuries the Mongols, who were then based in Mongolia as the Northern Yuan dynasty, tended to continue their independent, nomadic way of life as much as possible. On

neg: Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom nearly 3300 years of classical Chinese history, from the Xia Dynasty to the Jin dynasty. Notable monuments that can be built include the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canal connecting the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers, and the Terracotta Army. In the first campaign, the player is simply a humble villager elder, in charge of leading a nomadic tribe to settle down along the river. In the final levels, the player is servant to the Emperor of China, and oversees the construction of the Imperial capital Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing) and fortifying its defense to foil the invading Mongols and their

neg: Islam in China Muslims were massacred by the Yuan loyalist commander Chen Youding. During the following Ming dynasty, Muslims continued to be influential around government circles. Six of Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted generals are said to have been Muslim, including Lan Yu who, in 1388, led a strong imperial Ming army out of the Great Wall and won a decisive victory over the Mongols in Mongolia, effectively ending the Mongol dream to re-conquer China. During the war fighting the Mongols, among the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's armies was the Hui Muslim Feng Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang also wrote a praise of

neg: Gonbad-e Kavus blocks. The Divar defensive wall has also been known variously as Alexander Dam, Anushirvân Dam, Firuz Dam and Golestan's Defense Wall in various historical texts. Dr. Kiani, who led the archaeological team in 1971, believes that the wall was built during the Parthian dynasty, simultaneously with the construction of the Great Wall of China, and that it was restored during the Sassanid era (3rd to 7th centuries AD). During the Neolithic period, this area had many populated settlements. For example, Yarim Tepe (Iran). The Jeitun culture started before 6000 BC. Gonbad-e Kavus Gonbad-e Kavus (; ) is the Iranian city

neg: History of China which led to the Ming Great Wall being built. Most of what remains of the Great Wall of China today was either built or repaired by the Ming. The brick and granite work was enlarged, the watchtowers were redesigned, and cannons were placed along its length. At sea, the Ming became increasingly isolationist after the death of the Yongle Emperor. The treasure voyages which sailed Indian Ocean were discontinued, and the maritime prohibition laws were set in place banning the Chinese from sailing abroad. European traders who reached China in the midst of the Age of Discovery were repeatedly rebuked

neg: History of China south and western China over the period, cumulatively constituted the "Ten Kingdoms". Amidst political chaos in the north, the strategic Sixteen Prefectures (region along today's Great Wall) were ceded to the emerging Khitan Liao dynasty, which drastically weakened the defense of the China proper against northern nomadic empires. To the south, Vietnam gained lasting independence after being a Chinese prefecture for many centuries. With wars dominated in Northern China, there were mass southward migrations of population, which further enhanced the southward shift of cultural and economic centers in China. The era ended with the coup of Later Zhou general Zhao

neg: Jiayu Pass Jiayu Pass Jiayu Pass or () is the first frontier fortress at the west end of the Ming dynasty Great Wall of China, near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province. Along with Juyong Pass and Shanhai Pass, it is one of the main passes of the Great Wall. The pass is located at the narrowest point of the western section of the Hexi Corridor, southwest of the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu. The structure lies between two hills, one of which is called Jiayuguan Pass. It was built near an oasis that was then on the extreme western edge

neg: Lanzhou (jùn), and later of the Jincheng county (xiàn), later renamed "Yunwu". The city used to be called the Golden City, and since at least the first millennium BC it was a major link on the ancient Northern Silk Road, and also an important historic Yellow River crossing site. To protect the city, the Great Wall of China was extended as far as Yumen. Parts of the Great Wall still exist within the built-up area. After the fall of the Han dynasty, Lanzhou became the capital of a succession of tribal states. In the 4th century it was briefly the capital

neg: Jiankou sections of the Great Wall of China. The Jiankou section of the wall was constructed in 1368 during the period of the Ming Dynasty. It is made of large light colored rocks which can be seen from a great distance. The Jiankou section has never been restored since its construction, with some sections having fallen into disrepair. This, along with its location along a mountain ridge bordered by jagged cliffs and steep drop-offs, makes this section potentially dangerous to climb, while at the same time a popular place for adventurous and experienced hikers and photographers. The section is more easily

neg: Gansu largest and most intact pass, or entrance, of the Great Wall. Jiayuguan Pass was built in the early Ming dynasty, somewhere around the year 1372. It was built near an oasis that was then on the extreme western edge of China. Jiayuguan Pass was the first pass on the west end of the great wall so it earned the name “The First And Greatest Pass Under Heaven.” An extra brick is said to rest on a ledge over one of the gates. One legend holds that the official in charge asked the designer to calculate how many bricks would be