An epic bulwark

Editor's note: China is home to 56 UNESCO World Heritage sites. To find out how these natural and cultural gems still shine and continue to inspire the nation in this new era of development, China Daily is running a series of reports covering 10 groups of selected sites from across the country. In this installment, we trek the breadth of this vast country, tracing the route of a true world wonder, the Great Wall.

One of the largest construction projects in the history of mankind, the Great Wall is the epitome of ancient Chinese wisdom and perseverance. It was an awe-inspiring defense strategy that spanned dynasties and remains an eloquent testimony to the edifice of Chinese civilization.

The earliest sections of the Great Wall were built by the ancient Chinese people to keep invaders at bay. After the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the first emperor of China, Qinshihuang, wiped out six states and established the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). He ordered consolidation and extension of the Great Wall to protect his territory from his archenemy, the Xiongnu in the north.

In the 2,000 years that followed, and until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), this effective military master plan was applied by rulers of different ethnicities.

From Northeast China's Liaoning province to swathes of arid land in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, from Central China's Henan province to the border between China and Mongolia in the north, the incredible fortifications ran through rugged mountains, vast grasslands and remote deserts.

In 1987, the Great Wall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More recently, a nationwide survey of different sections of the Great Wall found that its total length of 21,196.18 kilometers surpassed the distance between the Earth's two poles.

Among the 15 provincial-level administrative regions through which the Great Wall runs, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region boasts the most extensive fortifications, adding up to 7,570 kilometers across 80 banners and counties.

Construction of the bulwark in Inner Mongolia spanned more than 2,000 years, beginning during the Warring States Period, continuing through the Qin, Han (206 BC-AD 220), Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties, and ending with the Ming Dynasty.

Based on the lengthy time frame, the Great Wall in the autonomous region is divided into 12 types. The most well-known section was built during the Ming Dynasty. It enters Inner Mongolia's Xinghe county from Hebei province and winds its way westward for over 860 km, across cities of Ulaanqab, Hohhot, Ordos and Wuhai, and Alshaa League.

The earliest section of the Great Wall in the region was built in the 4th century BC by the king of the state of Zhao. "The Great Wall of Zhao was a military installation to defend the agricultural state from nomadic powers in the north," says Zhang Wenping, deputy director of Inner Mongolia Museum.

Such coexistence of agrarian dynasties and nomadic powers lasted for more than 2,000 years, Zhang says.

"Rulers of the Central China Plains built the Great Wall along the Yanshan and Yinshan mountains. The latter lies in the central part of Inner Mongolia (connecting the Greater Hinggan Mountains on the east and the Helan Mountains on the west), forming a natural boundary between agrarian and nomadic civilizations in ancient times," he adds.

The Great Wall helped rulers of the Central China Plains secure a relatively peaceful environment for development of an agricultural civilization.

"During some historical periods, when nomadic powers broke the defense of the Great Wall and dominated the Central China Plains, the nomadic people became a part of the more influential agricultural civilization. Thus, the Great Wall played a key role in the progress of Chinese history," Zhang says.

Building the extensive bulwark — sometimes on dangerous cliffs — and dispatching garrisons cost too much money and labor. Bricks, stones and lime were carried along the mountain ridges on shoulders or by using handcarts and rolling logs. Sometimes, donkeys and goats were used to ferry raw materials.

Some dynasties employed other strategies. Tang (618-907) rulers, for example, built three cities in the Hetao Plain and stationed troops there as defense against the comparatively weaker nomadic powers. Qing (1644-1911) rulers including Emperor Kangxi managed the Mongolian powers with a banner system instead of building a wall extension.

As both troops and commoners ventured into uncharted territory for security and farming purposes, people of different ethnicities exchanged goods and traditions. "In other words, areas along the Great Wall became a melting pot of cultures and civilizations," Zhang says.

However strong it is, the Great Wall, made of stones, lime, bricks, wood or rose willow, still faced wind erosion and people's influence over centuries so that in many sections, only obscure ruins remain. "This is why we need to capture images for posterity," says 72-year-old Hohhot photographer Lei Qinghui.

Since he retired 10 years ago, Lei has visited 95 percent of the 924-km-long Ming Great Wall in Inner Mongolia and snapped 80,000 pictures.

What fascinates Lei the most are the beacon towers, some of which are 22 meters tall, a feature "rarely seen" elsewhere.

The Ming Great Wall is in relatively better shape than the sections built by other dynasties. Some portions are still magnificent, like the Badaling section in Beijing, which has hosted many world dignitaries, including former US president Richard Nixon and the late Queen Elizabeth II.

"Apart from some beacon towers, some sections of the Great Wall, despite the vicissitudes, still appear tough and glorious after so many years, which is really touching to see," he says.

In Alshaa League, Lei used drone cameras to capture the breathtaking beauty of the three lines of the Ming Great Wall.

Alshaa League is also famous for the section built under the Han Dynasty, especially in Juyan, a military stronghold 17 km southeast of Ejine Banner.

Running through a bleak desert, the fortifications, including beacon towers and castles for stationing troops, are well-preserved.

During an excursion in 1930, Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman unearthed in Juyan more than 10,000 bamboo slips dating back to the Han Dynasty — most of them are military archives, while the rest are books, private letters and calendars.

These bamboo slips piece together the defense system of the Great Wall, as well as social lives of local people, says Jing Xueyi, director of the Alshaa League cultural heritage bureau.

Another major portion of the Great Wall in the league was built under the Western Xia regime (1038-1227).

Facing threats from the Liao in the north, the Jin in the northeast and the Song (960-1279) in the east, the Western Xia rulers erected the bulwark against rivals.

Since the Han Dynasty, Alshaa League has been an area of overlapping agricultural and nomadic cultures, especially with the involvement of the central government of many dynasties, whose troops and farmers came and stayed there, Jing says.

Despite its pronounced military role, the Great Wall in Alshaa League symbolized order instead of chaos in peacetime, which covers a greater part of history, Jing adds.