The Great Wall of China = The Greatest Curse

Throughout history, the Great Wall of China has always been the symbol of the nation. The world looks upon it as one of the greatest things ever made by man. However, not very many people know the dark story behind the Great Wall. In this article, I will cover a couple of things. First, the basic knowledge and history of the Great Wall, and secondly, how the Great Wall was operated during ancient times. Finally, I will explain why I say the Great Wall is the greatest curse to the Chinese people.

Let the story begin...

The story starts about 221 BCE, when the Qin emperor, Win Shi Huang Di, successfully unified the six kingdoms of China into one. Even after accomplishing this, the emperor still want to protect China from the barbarians and tribes up in the north so he decided to recruit people to build a wall along the border. That is when that Great Wall was born. In Chinese, the wall is also known as "Wan Li Chang Cheng" which means "The wall of 10,000 li." (10,000 li = 5,000 km)

The Great Wall of China

Even though the Qin emperor started the wall, he died before it was finished. As a matter of fact, the wall took a total of three dynasties to finish. Those dynasties were (drum roll, please), the Qin (221-207 BCE), the Han (206 BC -220 AD), and the Ming (1368-1644).

When the Great Wall of China was finished, it was actually about 6,000 km or more, which is longer than 10,000 li. The height of the wall is roughly about 4.5m to 9m.

You may ask, "Yeah, that's nice but how does it work?" Well, every wall tower is equipped with dry straw mixed with animal dung as an alarm system, which will be used when enemies attack. If 100 enemies attack, then 1 column of straw will be lit; if 500 enemies attack, then 2 columns will be lit, and so forth.

In theory, the wall will able to keep the barbarians at bay, but in reality it is useless. If you've ever seen the wall in person, you will notice that the wall is not continuous. Sometimes, there were big spaces in the wall and because of that there were cases when the barbarians were able to ride around it, climb over it (yes, climb over), and even knock some sections down easily.

I guess that is what happens when something is made in China. (Please, don't sue me.)

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Raphita Tobing
Sophy Yu