I also decided to write a little about the Great Wall of China, or rather the walls, since there are several of them. Information from Wikipedia:
A map and graph of the various sections of the Great Wall of China throughout history.
The history of the Wall of China spans about 2000 years from the end of 300 BC. In yellow, the diagram shows the earliest construction of the wall, during the Zhou Dynasty. Finished building the wall during the Ming Dynasty in the 1600s. In the diagram, this wall is shown in lilac. Intermediate colors: black, orange, red, brown, green and blue belong to the time period of the Qin, Han, Sui, Jin dynasties. The blue line on the diagram shows the Yellow River - the second longest in China and 6th longest in the world.
Initially, these were independent walls, not connected in any way with each other. They were called the Great Wall of China much later.
Walls up to Qin
Sites of the Great Wall built before the Qin Dynasty to 221 BC
During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC), and especially during the Warring States period (403-221 BC), China was divided into many small feudal states and was often at war with each other. friend. During this period, several long and short walls were built. Some of the walls were built as defensive walls between the warring kingdoms and as a defense against nomads. The walls of the Qin, Yan and Zhao kingdoms were built at the end of 300 BC. Later, during the reign of the Qin dynasty, they formed the basis of the Great Wall of China.
Promotional video:
The Zhao Kingdom expanded its territory at the end of 300 BC. during the reign of King Wuling (b. 325-299 BC) areas north of the northern bend of the Yellow River. Representatives of King Kulings and Father Marquis Su built in 333 BC. an embankment about 100 km long near the Taihangshan Mountains in the southern part of Hebei Province as a defense against the Qi and Qin dynasties. No archaeological evidence has been found from this wall, and it was never part of the later Chinese Wall.
The mound was built by the Qi kingdom in Shandong province.
Around 300 BC. During the reign of King Zhao (311-279 BC), the Yang state built an East-West wall along the Yang mountain range to keep out nomads. The wall begins in the west of Hebei province near Zhangjiakou and runs 150 km northwest of Beijing and, capturing a bit of Inner Mongolia, passes through Chifeng, Liaoning province and ends in North Korea. The wall is partly composed of parallel walls about 50 km apart. Although Yang built the Taihangshan southern wall as a defense against Qin, just like the Zhao southern wall, it is not part of the Great Wall of China.
Qin dynasty wall
Qin Dynasty Wall A wall built in 215-206 BC From which the foundation of the Great Wall of China is usually considered.
During the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the wall was created, from which the popular story of the origin of the Great Wall of China begins.
221 BC the state of Qin won the civil war that lasted for a quarter of a millennium during the rebellious states and the united China in the kingdom. The Qin king Ying Zheng proclaimed himself emperor of the Qin dynasty, and took the name Qin Shi Huangdi. The Emperor began several major construction of separate walls and continued to build until the Great Wall became one.
Warlord Meng Tian in 215 BC drove the Huns out of the country south of the Yellow River, which were the eternal problem of the Qin dynasty. During this campaign, which took place in 209 BC. Meng Tian also supervised the construction of the new wall. The defensive walls between the former warring states were destroyed. The new wall, according to historian Sima Qian, extended from Lintao (in the southern part of Gansu province) to Liaodong (the area around the peninsula in Liaoning province).
Han dynasty wall
An exemplary drawing of a wall from the Han Dynasty, which was built around 206 BC. until 39 AD
The Han Dynasty Wall is an extension and reconstruction of the former Qin Wall and is more than 8,000 km long, possibly up to 10,000 km. Which makes it the longest wall in China throughout history.
During the civil war after the fall of the Qin dynasty, in 206 BC. Liu Bang began the reconstruction of the former Qin Wall around the Yellow River to protect China from the now united and powerful unification of the nomadic Huns. After a heavy military defeat in the war with the Huns in 200 BC. the Han dynasty was forced to agree to a humiliating diplomatic solution to peace and trade with the Huns and to stop the construction of the wall.
In 141 BC. Emperor Udi ("emperor of war") started a war with the Huns. In 127 BC. again, a large-scale restoration was made of the former wall south of the Yellow River. It was more than just a big restoration, but new walls were also built to replace the old ones. Along the northern border of Hebei and Inner Mongolia, walls from the time of the Wudi emperor have been discovered, probably replacing at least part of the earlier wall of the Qin dynasty. Towers were built along the northern wall north of the Yellow River, and even cities, which became the headquarters of the defense garrisons. North of the North Wall of the early Qin dynasty in 102 BC. Two parallel walls were built in Inner Mongolia, which ran from the north of Hohhot to the west of today's Mongolia.
The Great Wall of China from the Han Dynasty in Gansu, built of compressed earth reinforced with reeds.
Yumenguan.
A close-up of the structure of the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty in Gansu province. The wall is built of compacted earth, reinforced with reeds and tamarisk.
Walls built during the Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui and Jin times
An exemplary drawing of the Great Wall of China, built by the Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui and Jin dynasties in 423-1201
- The diagram shows the wall built by the Northern Wei Dynasty in yellow
- Pink - Qi Dynasty Wall
- In red - the wall of the Sui dynasty
- And green - the wall of the Jin dynasty
Northern Wei Dynasty Wall (386-534)
The wall was built, oddly enough, by the northern nomadic people to protect themselves from other nomadic people. After the fall of the Han dynasty, many small kingdoms and dynasties have come and gone. And one of the most stable was the Northern Wei dynasty, created in northern China by the Xianbei nomads.
Beginning in 423, about 1000 km of the wall was built in an area located north of the Northern Trough of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia and to the east, protecting the Eurasian nomads and Khitan (nomadic Mongol tribes) from the north. This wall ran in about the same place as the original Zhao Dynasty wall. The wall began in Baotou or a little to the west. Between 446-448, the capital, Ping Cheng (now Datong), was built in the inner wall, south of North Wei. And then the wall was extended northeast toward Badaling, northwest of Beijing, to gain remote communications access and protect the capital. The Inner Wall was built of compacted earth and was lower and thinner than the northern Outer Wall.
Northern Qi Dynasty Wall
After the fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty (Qidynastin - 550-577) seized control of its territories. And began building a defensive wall along the northwestern border of Shanxi Province as a defense against the Western Wei Dynasty, and then as a defense against the Northern Zhou Dynasty. In order to also protect themselves from the northern nomads, who were now the Turks (if before the Chinese dynasties were conquered by the Huns, they have now become conquered by the Turks - etc. mine), they built a wall along the northern border. In 555, 1,800,000 people were involved in the construction of the wall, and 450 km of the wall was built. The wall extended from Beijing, further west along the city of Datong and reached the eastern bank of the Yellow River in 556. This wall was a mixture of building technologies:built towers and posts in combination with natural terrain - protruding rocks. A year after the wall reached Shanghai in Bohai Bay and the inner wall was built in Shanxi province, the dynasty continued to expand the wall for another 5 years, and completed its construction in 563/564 to further repair and patch 1,500 km of the previously built wall. … Around 1000 years later, most of the wall ruins built by the Northern Qi Dynasty were incorporated into the Ming Dynasty wall. Around 1000 years later, most of the wall ruins built by the Northern Qi Dynasty were incorporated into the Ming Dynasty wall. Around 1000 years later, most of the wall ruins built by the Northern Qi Dynasty were incorporated into the Ming Dynasty wall.
Sui Dynasty Wall (Suidynastins)
Immediately when Emperor Weng unified China in 581 and created the Sui Dynasty (581-618), the construction of defensive walls began. To protect against the Turks, a wall was built in the northwest of Shanxi province in just 20 days. However, the Turks quickly broke through this barrier and the Sui dynasty began building long walls and placing thousands of soldiers on the border. In addition, in the same year, parts of the walls built by previous dynasties were restored and completed.
Later walls were built in Ordos (Ningxia, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia).
Inner Mongolia is Manchuria, and Ordos, according to the Russian-language Wikipedia, is considered the ancestral home of the Turks. At the beginning of the 1st millennium, the region was inhabited (by the Huns), who constantly fought with the Chinese, one of the results of which was the construction of the Great Wall of China.
In 585, 350 km of the wall was built quite close to the place where the Ming Dynasty wall will be built later. The construction involved 30,000 people.
In 607, Emperor Yang (the second emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty, the second son of Emperor Wen) sent 1 mln. people to build the wall, starting at the northeast bend of the Yellow River in Shaanxi Province and continuing east to Youyu. The following year, another 200,000 people were sent to continue building walls in the same area. This wall ran roughly parallel to the current border between Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, and protected the land north of the new capital Luoyang. Emperor Yang built the wall in Qinghai Province and beyond its northern border that same year.
Jin Dynasty Wall (Jindynastins)
The Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) built walls, and above all ditches, ditches and ramparts, which protected it from the Mongols. Most of these lines of defense were built in Inner Mongolia, as well as in Heilongjiang province. These walls were located much further north than the walls of previous dynasties. (walls are shown in green in the diagram) In 1106, a short wall, about 100 km long, was built in Yanbian near the border between China, North Korea and Russia, and an equally short wall was built in neighboring Mudanjiang.
Most of the defense lines were built between 1123 and 1201. And in 1198, 750,000 people were mobilized at once for this work. The defense lines of the Jin Dynasty differed from the walls of other dynasties in that they consisted of an outer moat, an outer wall, an inner moat, and a main wall. Chinese archaeologist Ai Jin does not classify these defensive barriers as part of the Great Wall of China, but calls them "boundary ditches." The defensive walls of the Jin Dynasty consisted of several barriers and the innermost ones ran about 200 km north of modern Beijing. And the northern part of the defense lines was built where the modern borders of China, Mongolia and Russia meet.
This line of defense was destroyed by Genghis Khan on his way to Beijing, which fell in 1215. Remnants of these defensive lines still existed when Marco Polo arrived in China in 1275.
(like this, they built, built, and as a result it still didn't save! - mine's note)
Ming dynasty wall
Map of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. The gray dots mark the headquarters of the defense garrisons.
Immediately after the Mongols were expelled from China in 1368, the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) began to improve the walls built by the previous dynasties. To protect the northern borders, 9 garrisons were created. The renovated walls were additionally reinforced.
During the reign of Emperor Yongle (r. 1402-1424), construction of a wall began in Liaodong Province to protect the area east of the Liao River. The wall was built in stages and was completed in 1479.
A wall was also built between Beijing and the strategically important military city of Datong. This construction began in 1399 and continued until 1484. While parallel walls were built. The walls in these areas were largely built of compacted soil and ditches. Due to the growing threat from the Mongol leader Altan Khan, who established his headquarters in Hohhot, north of the northern bend of the Yellow River, the Ming dynasty continued to build walls in the 1540s north of the cities of Datong and Xuanhua (Xuanhua).
In 1550 Altan Khan managed to bypass the wall on the east side and plundered and burned the suburbs of Beijing.
(Again they built, built, and again it did not help? - approx. Mine)
To close this gap in the capital's defense, starting in 1551, a solid wall was built from the Juyongguan Pass (50 km from Beijing)
View of the Great Wall in the Juyongguan area.
to the Shanhaiguan Pass, the very last section of the Chinese Wall, ending in the sea.
The bay of the Yellow Sea with a part of the Great Wall of China protruding into it.
The wall in the Beijing area was partially built on the basis of the former wall of the Northern Qi Dynasty. It was renovated, expanded and supplemented with many watchtowers in 1567-1572.
Ming Dynasty wall of compacted soil in the Juyongguan area.
***
After the army of the Ming dynasty in early 1470 managed to drive off the Mongols in the Ordos desert, the Yulin Wall was built, 900 km long, stretching across the country, from the Yellow River to Ordos. This wall was completed in 1474 and was an earthen rampart combined with deep ditches along some sections.
The Ming Dynasty continued to build the wall throughout their reign (until 1644), continuing to fill the spaces between sections of previously built walls, build additional watchtowers, walkways, fortifications, brick earthen walls, and even build secondary parallel walls. The western portions of the wall in Gansu province were first built mostly of tamped earth, and were later lined with bricks or stones. The wall around the western part of Beijing was reinforced in this way in 1570.
It was through the Shanhaiguan Pass that the Chinese commander Wu Sangui opened the gate in the wall in the spring of 1644 and let in the Manchu army, which overthrew the Ming dynasty and founded the Qing dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty to build the Great Wall of China.
Even in relatively modern times, the Great Wall of China played a role in the defense of China. So in 1933, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese captured the Great Wall of China.
Chinese soldiers armed with swords repulsed more than twenty attacks on Yiyuankou, but on March 21 the Japanese still occupied the outpost. On April 8, the 29th Corps surrendered Sifenkou. On April 11, the Japanese finally gained a foothold on Lankou, after fierce battles, when a section of the wall passed from hand to hand more than once. The NRA soldiers were significantly inferior to the enemy in armament, mainly their ammunition was mechidao, pistols and grenades. Under overwhelming Japanese fire, on May 20, the Chinese retreated from the last sections of the Wall they held. Despite the final complete defeat of the NRA, some of its units inflicted local defeats on the Japanese, widely using the road on the fortress wall to move troops. [Source]
Great Wall of China in the Jiayuguan area.
The westernmost point of the Ming Dynasty wall in the Jiayuguan area.
So, to summarize: The Wall was built over almost 2500 years: from 700 BC. until 1700 AD In other matters, they continue to restore it, I think, even now. But it was not one wall, but many different, short and long, unconnected segments, sometimes thousands of kilometers apart. A wall, or rather a wall, was built by various peoples, including nomads. From whom? First from the Huns, then from the Turks, then from the Mongols. Times have changed, the peoples attacking China have changed. Only one thing has not changed: in spite of everything, the wall stubbornly continued to be built. Despite the fact that during the attacks, the enemy…. just walked around the side of the wall …
The name Yang is mentioned twice in this text.
First time:
Around 300 BC. During the reign of King Zhao (311-279 BC), the Yang state built an East-West wall along the Yang mountain range to keep out nomads.
And the second time:
In 607, Emperor Yang (the second emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty, the second son of Emperor Wen) sent 1 mln. people to build the wall, starting at the northeast bend of the Yellow River in Shaanxi Province and continuing east to Youyu. The following year, another 200,000 people were sent to continue building walls in the same area. This wall ran roughly parallel to the current border between Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, and protected the land north of the new capital Luoyang. Emperor Yang built the wall in Qinghai Province and beyond its northern border that same year.
Nikolaas Witsen in his book "Northern and Eastern Tartary" also mentions the name Jan when talking about the state of Tangut:
“In this country, says Marco Polo the Venetian, many Christians lived in his time (this was in the 12th century), and they believe that this is the country of the famous priest, or priest, Jan. Maybe it was earlier a Christian monarch who simultaneously possessed secular power, or it was a Christian prince who ruled over both pagans and Christians, and the word priest, or priest (Jan), maybe comes from a misinterpretation of words."
The first Yang is mentioned in 300 BC, the second in the 7th century AD, and the third in the 12th century AD. Although in our time, Jan – Ivan is a common name.
Nikolaas Witsen in his book "Northern and Eastern Tartary" also mentions the name Jan when talking about the state of Tangut:
“In this country, says Marco Polo the Venetian, many Christians lived in his time (this was in the 12th century), and they believe that this is the country of the famous priest, or priest, Jan. Maybe it was earlier a Christian monarch who simultaneously possessed secular power, or it was a Christian prince who ruled over both pagans and Christians, and the word priest, or priest (Jan), maybe comes from a misinterpretation of words."
The first Yang is mentioned in 300 BC, the second in the 7th century AD, and the third in the 12th century AD. Although in our time, Jan – Ivan is a common name.
Map and construction schedule of various sections of the Great Wall of China.
In this diagram, I drew attention to the alternating periods of activity in the construction of the Great Wall with periods of a very long lull. For many centuries, the Wall seemed to be forgotten. In theory, the adobe walls would have completely collapsed during this time. The source claims that brick and stone were laid on these walls only in the 17th century. The same source claims that during the indicated periods the wall was constantly repaired. There are no words about intermediate periods. Which dynasties ruled in between? What did they do? Or were their deeds completely lost to history?
A modern source mentions the Huns, Turks and Mongols as nomadic peoples threatening the Chinese. Apparently nothing was known about this in the 17th century, because Nikolaas Witsen and all the sources of that time mentioned by him do not say anything about them, but tartare is called as a threat to China.
N. Witsen has a whole chapter in his book "Northern and Eastern Tartary" dedicated to the Chinese Wall. Here's what he writes about her:
“Mr. Thomas Hyde, in his letter on Sinsky weights and measures to Mr. Edward Barnard, professor at Oxford, writes about the Sinsky wall as follows:
“This is a great and extraordinarily amazing wall * Ferbist finds that it is one of the seven wonders of the world built by the Sinians against the invasion of the Tartars. It separates northern Sina from Tartary at about 42 ° north latitude.
…. the wall divides the northern part of Sina, starting from Moku Taku, which means Mogul Tartary, and, passing by Leotun, it reaches the Yalo Kiang sea, or Kang, which means "Yalo lake", that is, to the sea bay where the Yalo river flows, [current] from Tartary.
…… The easternmost end of this wall reaches the sea, or Zhang Bay, or Sang, and further, through the waves, up to over four English miles. To lay its foundation, ships were flooded, loaded with large blocks of raw iron ore, sand, stones, until all this was equal to the water level. A wall of large rectangular stones was built on this foundation. The height of the wall, according to Martini, who, however, did not see it himself, is 30 cubits of blue, the width is 12, and in some places - 15 cubits. At a certain distance, very solid square towers were built on the wall so that they could hit the enemy from a distance. All stones are so tightly fitted that a nail cannot be driven in in any place along the entire length of the wall. So it was ordered to builders and masons on pain of beheading"
The elbow is approximately 45 cm. the indicated height of the Wall is 13.5 m, width is from 5.5 to 7 meters.
This section of the wall is described here:
End point of the Great Wall of China.
Everything seems to converge in size.
It is also similar, but if we take the dimensions of a person, then the width in this meta is probably 3-4 meters:
Jinshanling is a section of the Great Wall of China, located 125 km northwest of Beijing.
Further, what N. Witsen writes:
“This famous wall is spoken of in the Arabic books“the itch of Yagog and Magog”, which means“the dam of Gog and Magog”. Some attribute its construction to Alexander the Great. This is where Thomas Haide's information ends.
But by "the wall of Gog and Magog", perhaps, they mean the wall of Derbent, or Demir Kapi, near the Caspian Sea.
(At that time there was no Internet and satellite communication, so people did not know geography very well - note mine)
……. Watchtowers are not always attached to or on a wall; in some places they are even 10 yards from it and, like a wall, are built of bricks and plastered. Eyewitnesses report that there are a lot of such large wall towers, or castles, along the entire wall, and they are located at intervals of 100 fathoms. There is a guard on the towers. He says that there are only five gates in the entire wall, and some of them are so low and narrow that the rider can hardly get there. The city of Kapki is fortified, fenced with a wall with stone towers and a large garrison. All foreigners on their way to Sina stop here, even ambassadors, until they receive permission from the main city of Beijing. Merchants are being interrogated here. Food in the city of Kapki is poor and expensive.
…… The wall crosses all rivers with vaults. Protective fortifications were built near the gate. A million zintsy guarded the wall.
(That should be a grandiose spectacle and the pinnacle of technical thought of that time! But apparently these vaults have not survived. I found only this photo on the Internet:
Jiumenkou.
But here you can see that this is a modern construction.
Emperor Xi, or Xia, Exi, was a minor khan at the beginning of his reign, because the neighbors waged fierce wars with China, or Sina, and conquered the Chinese state. Gathering a large army, he entered the lands of the Bogdo people and scared them, destroyed them and, taking into account the inconstancy of these peoples and foreseeing that they, as happened before, could return and attack China and plunder it, he came up with an interesting tool to remove them forever: built this insurmountable wall.
…… It is believed that he completed this work in the 22nd year of his reign, 215 years before the birth of the Savior. In the fifth year from the beginning of the work, the wall was completely finished, because countless people, gathered all over China, worked on it: out of every 10 men, 3 people were taken. These people could pass stones from hand to hand. There were so many people that they even interfered with each other. Construction began simultaneously in different locations. The emperor issued a strict decree: the stones must be fitted to each other so tightly that it would be impossible to drive a nail between them; otherwise, the perpetrator will be punished with death.
The lower part of the wall was built of very large natural hewn stones, and the upper part was made of bricks. In some places it is all built of natural stones. Its height is about five fathoms, its width is about two; [the wall] is equipped with towers and loopholes.
…… Now, due to the fact that the tartars own Sina, passages are made here and there. It is noteworthy that the Sinets write and say that there are only two states in the world: Sina and Tartary, and that the Wall was built to separate them."
(It is also interesting that the built wall did not prevent the tartars from taking possession of Sina … my comment)
According to eyewitnesses, they write to me the following about this wall in French from Paris: “The length of the wall is 300 miles in a straight line, but because of the bends on the high mountains, it is believed that its length is 400 miles. Every half hour of driving, a tower comes across the wall. The wall does not reach the sea, and according to the story of a certain Jesuit who was there, it lacks about 2.5 miles, which were filled with a palisade. Its height is four sazhens, and it is so wide that eight people can ride along it on horseback. This is a message from Paris.
Another message sent to me from Sina in High German says the following: “Since ancient times, Nanking has been the capital of Sina. It has now been moved to Beijing, near the Great Wall. The wall was built over 2,600 years ago by the Xing emperor named Tsienchuvoan, against the invasion of the Tartar neighbors. It covers three provinces: Beijing, Xanxi, Xingxi. It is 650-660 French miles in a straight line, but because of its curvature is probably about 1,000. It stretches over very high mountains; on the highest places were built shooting towers: three or four for each mile. The wall ends in the province of Xincy, which borders Western Tartary (where the head of the clergy called "lama" comes from). Further, it borders on Tibet (an independent principality, or small kingdom) and on the Mogul regions, from where many merchants come,to the city of Zining, below the province of Xinxi. The width of the wall is seven to eight fathoms, the height is about six."
Western Tartary here probably means Tangut. Mughal is India:
“Since ancient times, the Mugals and the present [current] rulers of Mughal, or Hindustan, were considered one people with the Tartars. For the Mughal region was conquered by the Mughal prince Chinggis Khan, and then again by his descendants and, finally, by Tamerlane (who, as many believe, died in 1404). He sent chiefs and governors from Mugalia there to rule the country, who finally betrayed his son after his [Tamerlane's] death and made themselves chief chiefs, so that Mogolia became a separate state called Hindustan, or "the state of the Great Mogul."
The sons of Tamerlane, due to their cowardice, lost a lot of lands.
The Mohammedan faith was adopted by the Mughal princes, although their descendants, that is, the indigenous natives of India, are pagans.
Tavernier says that the word "Mogul" means "white" and that the ancient Indian pagans, the inhabitants of modern Mughal, called the rulers of Hindustan so because their [Indians] skin was brown and olive."
It is also interesting why the Chinese defended themselves from tartars only from the north, if the tartars were also located to the west of China and to the south.
This is how it looks on N. Witsen's map:
Map of Russian territory in Europe and Asia. N. Witsen.
On which, for some reason, everything south of Dauria is called Chinea Tartary.
Further in N. Witsen:
“It was built over 2,000 years ago. This is such an amazing architectural art that the tartars did not destroy it during the invasion, so it has been preserved as if it had recently been built. The king who built it sent a million soldiers to guard it. " This is where Temple's message ends."
An excerpt from the message of the Jesuit Le Comte:
“… Almost all the work is made of bricks, and so solidly that for many centuries it not only continues to exist, but almost all is safe and sound. More than 1,800 years have passed since Emperor Chihoamti ordered it to be built as a barrier against tartars. It was an unprecedented undertaking, huge and equally reckless. For, indeed, caution demanded that the zines should close the most accessible places.
But it would be ridiculous to do this kind of work on the tops of the mountains, where even birds hardly flew and where the terrain is impassable for Tartar horses. And even if it happened that the tartars got to her, how then could such a weak wall be able to stop them. It's amazing how they could have lifted tools and materials to such heights and used them there. The obstacles could be overcome only with huge losses, and also human lives. Tartar troops could not have killed as many people. It is said that under the rule of the Xin kings, millions of soldiers guarded this wall. But now, when they are the masters of a part of Tartary, they keep soldiers only in those places where the gates are larger and better fortified. " This is where the Jesuit's message ends."
(One sensible person was found who thought: why did you have to build this? - my comment)
“Some foreigners, especially those who entered through the northern gate, imagine that the Sinskaya wall is double, triple and quadruple. This misconception probably stems from the fact that the gates and their rotundas near the northern borders of Sina are double and even quadruple, why the uninformed thought that the entire wall was double.
As eyewitnesses tell me, in the northern part of the Great Sinskaya Wall, breastworks with holes are visible from the outside. The towers are about two human heights."
Drawings from the book by N. Witsen:
Rode in the Chinese Wall.
Passage in the Chinese Wall Drawing from N. Witsen's book "Northern and Eastern Tartary".
“The Mugals call the Sinsky wall“Xongan”, or“Tsakhan Krim”. One traveler who entered Sina from the north writes the following about her:
“In the evening we drove up to the Great Sinskaya wall and first passed through the gate, where the wall is in continuous destruction. At a distance of about a musket shot, we passed through the gate with the rotunda. And then there are two more gates. We saw three walls; each of them on a large platform. Where we passed through the first gate, we saw a watchtower, where guards were continuously stationed. There was also a guardhouse with a garrison of 20 men behind the last gate. From this, obviously, we can conclude that the wall near this gate is doubled and several gates with weapons depots are built into the fortress. A quarter of a mile from the first gate to the left, we saw the town of Galgan, or Kalgan, surrounded by a beautiful wall of natural stone, with towers covered with tiles. It was inhabited by blue breeds. There is also a suburb outside the city wall. There is an iron gate in the wall, but no moats. In 1686 g.there was a garrison of 70 people."
“About the Great Wall, a letter from a Sino Christian says that it was built almost 2,000 years ago by the Emperor Jingekhi; starts from the sea bay near Leotun and ends at Xinxi, encompassing the Pekim, Xanxi and Xinxi regions. Its length in a straight line is 660 miles * I believe it is Portuguese miles, with bends of more than 1,000, its width is seven to eight fathoms, and its height is six fathoms. High guard towers are built at a short distance; the brick is still very well preserved."
“The Great Sinskaya Wall, which separates Sina from Tartaria, was built of natural stone and brick. Before approaching the gate, through which Muscovites usually pass, you need to walk a three-day road. To the surprise of all, it is carved into a stone mountain. The wall itself runs along very high steep cliffs, so unusually built that it amazes the observer."
(Interestingly, and who carved the road - nomads, or what? - approx. Mine)
“This wall runs northward at about Beijing's height, according to various reports; most often through high mountains and rocks. The towers on the wall are not pointed and, according to approximate calculations, are twice the height of the wall itself. Holes are visible in the towers and here and there iron cannons, often composed of iron rings and apparently made many centuries ago."
“About the destroyed cities between the Sinskaya wall and the city of Naun, neighboring and nomadic peoples say that they were built by order of Alexander the Great, and that he stayed there somewhere, although others say that they were founded later, that is, during the time of Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. Russians call these buildings "heroes", or "dwellings of heroes and giants."
What caught my eye in these various messages: the descriptions of the wall by many authors roughly coincide (which, in other respects, do not quite coincide with reality), the time of construction is all indicated more ancient: 1800, 2000 and 2600 years ago. But everyone calls different names of the emperors who built the wall: Emperor Xi, Tsienchuvoan, Chihoamti, Jingekhi.
Modern official sources say that they began to build the walls of the Qin, Wei, Yan, Zhao dynasties. And the first walls were adobe. And only in the 17th century, during the reign of the Ming dynasty, they began to be faced with stone and brick. Just at the time that, apparently, the travelers of the 17th century describe in their messages. No wonder they are surprised that the walls look like new, although they are more than 2000 years old …
Author: i_mar_a