The Great Wall of China & The Grand Canal
"Few battles occurred along the Great Wall for thousands of years, and those that did were of short duration. The Great Wall was built to avoid wars, and its solidity was with the aim maintaining peace. There are forks on certain sections, and it is not continuous in mountainous regions as building on steep slopes was pointless. The Great Wall, therefore, should not be defined simply as a military project,"
-Vice President Dong Yaohui of the China Great Wall Society
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Shi Huangdi was the first to connect the Great Wall of China from the existing defensive walls of the Eastern Zhou period (770-221B.C.). He built the Great Wall of China to protect his empire from the nomad tribes. He had 300,000 soldiers, slaves, criminals, scholars, and captured enemies work and expand it 5,000 km. However, many people died during the building of the wall.
The Qin wall was divided into an eastern, central and western sections that all run through the western end of the Yellow River into modern day Korea. It was not until later that the Great Wall of China was improved by the Ming Dynasty by adding brick instead of rammed earth stones used by the Qin. The Qin empire also established roads that increased travel and trade. The Grand Canal was another project the Qin empire made to unify China. |