vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
History of the Great Wall of China
Wall configurations were changed to reflect the new borders under the Qin . General Meng Tian erected walls beyond the northern loop of the Yellow River , effectively linking the border walls of Qin , Zhao , and Yan . Concurrent to the building of the frontier wall was the destruction of the walls within China that used to divide one warring state from another -- contrary to the outer walls , which were built to stabilize the newly united China , the inner walls threatened the unity of the empire . In the following year , 214 BC , Qin Shi Huang ordered new fortifications to be built along the Yellow River to the west of the Ordos while work continued in the north . This work was completed probably by 212 BC , signalled by Qin Shi Huang 's imperial tour of inspection and the construction of the Direct Road ( 直道 ) connecting the capital Xianyang with the Ordos . The result was a series of long walls running from Gansu to the seacoast in Manchuria .
Great Wall of China
Unlike the earlier fortifications , the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth . Up to 25,000 watchtowers are estimated to have been constructed on the wall . As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years , the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls . Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong . Qi Jiguang between 1567 and 1570 also repaired and reinforced the wall , faced sections of the ram - earth wall with bricks and constructed 1,200 watchtowers from Shanhaiguan Pass to Changping to warn of approaching Mongol raiders . During the 1440s -- 1460s , the Ming also built a so - called `` Liaodong Wall '' . Similar in function to the Great Wall ( whose extension , in a sense , it was ) , but more basic in construction , the Liaodong Wall enclosed the agricultural heartland of the Liaodong province , protecting it against potential incursions by Jurched - Mongol Oriyanghan from the northwest and the Jianzhou Jurchens from the north . While stones and tiles were used in some parts of the Liaodong Wall , most of it was in fact simply an earth dike with moats on both sides .
Great Wall of China
The collection of fortifications known as the Great Wall of China has historically had a number of different names in both Chinese and English .
Geography of China
Beijing , at the north tip of the North China Plain , is shielded by the intersection of the Taihang and Yan Mountains . Further north are the drier grasslands of the Inner Mongolian Plateau , traditionally home to pastoralists . To the south are agricultural regions , traditionally home to sedentary populations . The Great Wall of China was built in the mountains across the mountains that mark the southern edge of the Inner Mongolian Plateau . The Ming - era walls run over 2,000 km ( 1,200 mi ) east to west from Shanhaiguan on the Bohai coast to the Hexi Corridor in Gansu .
Great Wall of China
The sections of the Great Wall around Beijing municipality are especially famous : they were frequently renovated and are regularly visited by tourists today . The Badaling Great Wall near Zhangjiakou is the most famous stretch of the Wall , for this is the first section to be opened to the public in the People 's Republic of China , as well as the showpiece stretch for foreign dignitaries . South of Badaling is the Juyong Pass ; when used by the Chinese to protect their land , this section of the wall had many guards to defend China 's capital Beijing . Made of stone and bricks from the hills , this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 m ( 25 ft 7 in ) high and 5 m ( 16 ft 5 in ) wide .
History of the Great Wall of China
As with Yu Zijun 's wall in the Ordos , the Mongols shifted their attacks away from the newly strengthened Xuan -- Da sector to less well - protected areas . In the west , Shaanxi province became the target of nomads riding west from the Yellow River loop . The westernmost fortress of Ming China , the Jiayu Pass , saw substantial enhancement with walls starting in 1539 , and from there border walls were built discontinuously down the Hexi Corridor to Wuwei , where the low earthen wall split into two . The northern section passed through Zhongwei and Yinchuan , where it met the western edge of the Yellow River loop before connecting with the Ordos walls , while the southern section passed through Lanzhou and continued northeast to Dingbian . The origins and the exact route of this so - called `` Tibetan loop '' are still not clear .
History of the Great Wall of China
With the Ordos now adequately fortified , the Mongols avoided its walls by riding east to invade Datong and Xuanfu ( 宣 府 ; present - day Xuanhua , Hebei Province ) , which were two major garrisons guarding the corridor to Beijing where no walls had been built . The two defence lines of Xuanfu and Datong left by the Northern Qi and the early Ming had deteriorated by this point , and for all intents and purposes the inner line was the capital 's main line of defence .
History of the Great Wall of China
The Northern Wei collapsed in 535 due to civil insurrection to be eventually succeeded by the Northern Qi ( 550 -- 575 ) and Northern Zhou ( 557 -- 580 ) . Faced with the threat of the Göktürks from the north , from 552 to 556 the Qi built up to 3,000 li ( about 1,600 kilometres ( 990 mi ) ) of wall from Shanxi to the sea at Shanhai Pass . Over the course of the year 555 alone , 1.8 million men were mobilized to build the Juyong Pass and extend its wall by 450 kilometres ( 280 mi ) through Datong to the eastern banks of the Yellow River . In 557 a secondary wall was built inside the main one . These walls were built quickly from local earth and stones or formed by natural barriers . Two stretches of the stone - and - earth Qi wall still stand in Shanxi today , measuring 3.3 metres ( 11 ft ) wide at their bases and 3.5 metres ( 11 ft ) high on average . In 577 the Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi and in 580 made repairs to the existing Qi walls . The route of the Qi and Zhou walls would be mostly followed by the later Ming wall west of Gubeikou , which includes reconstructed walls from Qi and Zhou . In more recent times , the reddish remnants of the Zhou ramparts in Hebei gave rise to the nickname `` Red Wall '' .
History of the Great Wall of China
The Sui took power from the Northern Zhou in 581 before reuniting China in 589 . Sui 's founding emperor , Emperor Wen of Sui ( r . 581 -- 604 ) , carried out considerable wall construction in 581 in Hebei and Shanxi to defend against Ishbara Qaghan of the Göktürks . The new walls proved insufficient in 582 when Ishbara Qaghan avoided them by riding west to raid Gansu and Shaanxi with 400,000 archers . Between 585 and 588 Emperor Wen sought to close this gap by putting walls up in the Ordos Mountains ( between Suide and Lingwu ) and Inner Mongolia . In 586 as many as 150,000 men are recorded as involved in the construction . Emperor Wen 's son Emperor Yang ( r . 604 -- 618 ) continued to build walls . In 607 -- 608 he sent over a million men to build a wall from Yulin to near Huhhot to protect the newly refurbished eastern capital Luoyang . Part of the Sui wall survives to this day in Inner Mongolia as earthen ramparts some 2.5 metres ( 8 ft 2 in ) high with towers rising 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 .
History of the Great Wall of China
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 north of Nong'an County to the banks of the Songhua River .
History of the Great Wall of China
Following the success of the Ordos walls , Yu Zijun proposed construction of a further wall that would extend from the Yellow River bend in the Ordos to the Sihaiye Pass ( 四海 冶 口 ; in present - day Yanqing County ) near the capital Beijing , running a distance of more than 1300 li ( about 700 kilometres ( 430 mi ) ) . The project received approval in 1485 , but Yu 's political enemies harped on the cost overruns and forced Yu to scrap the project and retire the same year . For more than 50 years after Yu 's resignation , political struggle prevented major wall constructions on a scale comparable to Yu 's Ordos project .
History of the Great Wall of China
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 .
History of the Great Wall of China
However , wall construction continued regardless of court politics during this time . The Ordos walls underwent extension , elaboration , and repair well into the 16th century . Brick and stone started to replace tamped earth as the wall building material , because they offered better protection and durability . This change in material gave rise to a number of necessary accommodations with regard to logistics , and inevitably a drastic increase in costs . Instead of being able to draw on local resources , building projects now required brick - kilns , quarries , and transportation routes to deliver bricks to the work site . Also , masons had to be hired since the local peasantry proved inadequate for the level of sophistication that brick constructions required . Work that originally could be done by one man in a month with earth now required 100 men to do in stone .
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall concept was revived again under the Ming in the 14th century , and following the Ming army 's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu . The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper hand over the Mongolian tribes after successive battles , and the long - drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire . The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China . Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert , the wall followed the desert 's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Yellow River .
History of the Great Wall of China
Nevertheless , records show that in the Kaiyuan era ( 713 -- 742 ) of Emperor Xuanzong 's reign , the general Zhang Yue built a wall 90 li ( 48 kilometres ( 30 mi ) ) to the north of Huairong ( 懷 戎 ; present - day Huailai County , Hebei ) , although it remains unclear whether he erected new walls or only reinforced the existing Northern Qi walls .
History of the Great Wall of China
Details of the construction were not found in the official histories , but it could be inferred that the construction conditions were made especially difficult by the long stretches of mountains and semi-desert 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 Qin Shi Huang 's Ordos project in 128 BC :
Great Wall of China
`` The First Mound '' -- at Jiayuguan , the western terminus The Great Wall of China at Badaling A portion of the Great Wall of China at Simatai , overlooking the gorge Mutianyu Great Wall , China . This is atop the wall on a section that has not been restored The Old Dragon Head , the Great Wall where it meets the sea in the vicinity of Shanhaiguan
History of the Great Wall of China
From 1544 to 1549 , Weng Wanda ( 翁 萬達 ; 1498 -- 1552 ) embarked on a defensive building program on a scale unprecedented in Chinese history . Troops were re-deployed along the outer line , new walls and beacon towers were constructed , and fortifications were restored and extended along both lines . Firearms and artillery were mounted on the walls and towers during this time , for both defence and signalling purposes . The project 's completion was announced in the sixth month of 1548 . At its height , the Xuan -- Da portion of the Great Wall totalled about 850 kilometres ( 530 miles ) of wall , with some sections being doubled - up with two lines of wall , some tripled or even quadrupled . The outer frontier was now protected by a wall called the `` outer border '' ( 外邊 , wàibiān ) that extended 380 kilometres ( 240 mi ) from the Yellow River 's edge at the Piantou Pass ( 偏 頭 關 ) along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi into Hebei province ; the `` inner border '' wall ( 內 邊 , nèibiān ) ran southeast from Piantou Pass for some 400 kilometres ( 250 mi ) , ending at the Pingxing Pass ; a `` river wall '' ( 河 邊 , hébiān ) also ran from the Piantou Pass and followed the Yellow River southwards for about 70 kilometres ( 43 mi ) . A
History of the Great Wall of China
Later dynasties adopted different policies towards northern frontier defense . The Han ( 202 BC -- 220 AD ) , the Northern Qi ( 550 -- 574 ) , the Sui ( 589 -- 618 ) , and particularly the Ming ( 1369 -- 1644 ) were among those that rebuilt , re-manned , and expanded the Walls , although they rarely followed Qin 's routes . The Han extended the fortifications furthest to the west , the Qi built about 1,600 kilometres ( 990 mi ) of new walls , while the Sui mobilised over a million men in their wall - building efforts . Conversely , the Tang ( 618 -- 907 ) , the Song ( 960 -- 1279 ) , the Yuan ( 1271 -- 1368 ) , and the Qing ( 1644 -- 1911 ) mostly did not build frontier walls , instead opting for other solutions to the Inner Asian threat like military campaigning and diplomacy .
Great Wall of China
The current English name evolved from accounts of `` the Chinese wall '' from early modern European travelers . By the 19th century , `` The Great Wall of China '' had become standard in English , French , and German , although other European languages continued to refer to it as `` the Chinese wall . ''
Great Wall of China
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 means of smoke or fire , and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor .
History of the Great Wall of China
The Zhao walls to the north were built under King Wuling of Zhao ( r . 325 -- 299 BC ) , whose groundbreaking introduction of nomadic cavalry into his army reshaped Chinese warfare and gave Zhao an initial advantage over his opponents . He attacked the Xiongnu tribes of Linhu ( 林 胡 ) and Loufan ( 樓 煩 ) to the north , then waged war on the state of Zhongshan until it was annexed in 296 BC . In the process , he constructed the northernmost fortified frontier deep in nomadic territory . The Zhao walls were dated in the 1960s to be from King Wuling 's reign : a southern long wall in northern Henan encompassing the Yanmen Pass ; a second line of barricades encircling the Ordos Loop , extending from Zhangjiakou in the east to the ancient fortress of Gaoque ( 高 闕 ) in the Urad Front Banner ; and a third , northernmost line along the southern slopes of the Yin Mountains , extending from Qinghe in the east , passing north of Hohhot , and into Baotou .
History of the Great Wall of China
The restorer Emperor Guangwu ( r . 25 -- 57 AD ) initiated several projects to consolidate his control within the frontier regions . Defense works were established to the east of the Yanmen Pass , with a line of fortifications and beacon fires stretching from Pingcheng County ( present - day Datong ) through the valley of the Sanggan River to Dai County , Shanxi . By 38 AD , as a result of raids by the Xiongnu further to the west against the Wei River valley , orders were given for a series of walls to be constructed as defences for the Fen River , the southward course of the Yellow River , and the region of the former imperial capital , Chang'an . These 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 40s AD 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 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 .
History of the Great Wall of China
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 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 .
History of the Great Wall of China
The conflict between the Chinese and the nomads , from which the need for the Great Wall arose , stemmed from differences in geography . The 15 '' isohyet marks the extent of settled agriculture , dividing the fertile fields of China to the south and the semi-arid grasslands of Inner Asia to the north . The climates and the topography of the two regions led to distinct modes of societal development .
History of the Great Wall of China
The State of Yan , the easternmost of the three northern states , began to erect walls after the general Qin Kai drove the Donghu people back `` a thousand li '' during the reign of King Zhao ( 燕 昭王 ; r . 311 -- 279 BC ) . The Yan wall stretched from the Liaodong peninsula , through Chifeng , and into northern Hebei , possibly bringing its western terminus near the Zhao walls . Another Yan wall was erected to the south to defend against the Zhao ; it was southwest of present - day Beijing and ran parallel to the Juma River for several dozen miles .
Great Wall of China
One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes in Jinshanling . There it runs 11 km ( 7 mi ) long , ranges from 5 to 8 m ( 16 ft 5 in to 26 ft 3 in ) in height , and 6 m ( 19 ft 8 in ) across the bottom , narrowing up to 5 m ( 16 ft 5 in ) across the top . Wangjinglou ( t 望 京 樓 , s 望 京 楼 , Wàngjīng Lóu ) is one of Jinshanling 's 67 watchtowers , 980 m ( 3,220 ft ) above sea level . Southeast of Jinshanling is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty , cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for 2.25 km ( 1.40 mi ) . It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east . This section was one of the first to be renovated following the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution .
Great Wall of China
In Chinese histories , the term `` Long Wall ( s ) '' ( 長城 , changcheng ) appears in Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian , where it referred both to the separate great walls built between and north of the Warring States and to the more unified construction of the First Emperor . The Chinese character 城 is a phono - semantic compound of the `` place '' or `` earth '' radical 土 and 成 , whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as * deŋ . It originally referred to the rampart which surrounded traditional Chinese cities and was used by extension for these walls around their respective states ; today , however , it is much more often the Chinese word for `` city '' .
Great Wall of China
At the edge of the Bohai Gulf is Shanhai Pass , considered the traditional end of the Great Wall and the `` First Pass Under Heaven '' . The part of the wall inside Shanhai Pass that meets the sea is named the `` Old Dragon Head '' . 3 km ( 2 mi ) north of Shanhai Pass is Jiaoshan Great Wall ( 焦 山 長城 ) , the site of the first mountain of the Great Wall . 15 km ( 9 mi ) northeast from Shanhaiguan is Jiumenkou ( t 九 門口 , s 九 门口 , Jiǔménkǒu ) , which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge . Beyond Jiumenkou , an offshoot known as the Liaodong Wall continues through Liaoning province and terminates at the Hushan Great Wall , in the city of Dandong near the North Korean border .
Great Wall of China
The North African traveler Ibn Battuta , who also visited 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 had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it , suggesting that although there were remnants of the wall at that time , they were n't significant .
History of the Great Wall of China
Potential nomadic incursion from three main areas of Inner Asia caused concern to northern China : Mongolia to the north , Manchuria to the northeast , and Xinjiang to the northwest . Of the three , China 's chief concern since the earliest times had been Mongolia -- the home of many of the country 's fiercest enemies including the Xiongnu , the Xianbei , the Khitans , and the Mongols . The Gobi Desert , which accounts for two - thirds of Mongolia 's area , divided the main northern and southern grazing lands and pushed the pastoral nomads to the fringes of the steppe . On the southern side ( Inner Mongolia ) , this pressure brought the nomads into contact with China .