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93-571: Kebineng was initially from a minor Xianbei tribe. As he was brave, fair in his judgment and not avaricious, his people elected him as their head chief. His tribe resided near the Great Wall , and when the Chinese warlord, Yuan Shao took control of Hebei , many people fled to join Kebineng. These people taught his tribe how to make weapons and armour, and also introduced them to some writing. As

186-686: A branch of the Uralic language family, who previously lived in the steppe in what is now Southern Russia, settled in the Carpathian basin in year 895. Mongolic languages are in Mongolia. In Manchuria one finds Tungusic languages and some others. Tengrism was introduced by Turko-Mongol nomads. Nestorianism and Manichaeism spread to the Tarim Basin and into China, but they never became established majority religions. Buddhism spread from

279-581: A central desert. It often behaved as a westward extension of Mongolia and connected Mongolia to the Kazakh Steppe. To the north of Dzungaria are mountains and the Siberian forest. To the south and west of Dzungaria, and separated from it by the Tian Shan mountains, is an area about twice the size of Dzungaria, the oval Tarim Basin . The Tarim Basin's arid conditions make it unsuitable for sustaining

372-484: A diplomat, Yan Zhi , to call for a cease-fire. The power of Kebineng's tribes did not significantly wane until his death, and before his death, he initiated several devastating raids on You and Bing provinces. Kebineng was ultimately assassinated by Cao Wei in 235, after which there was a period of relative peace between the Xianbei and Han Chinese for several decades. In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of

465-476: A nomadic population. However, along its periphery, rivers descend from the mountains, creating a circle of cities that thrived on irrigation agriculture and engaged in east-west trade. The Tarim Basin formed an island of near civilization in the center of the steppe. The Northern Silk Road went along the north and south sides of the Tarim Basin and then crossed the mountains west to the Fergana Valley . At

558-557: A number of ecoregions , distinguished by elevation, climate, rainfall, and other characteristics and home to distinct animal and plant communities and species and distinct habitat ecosystems . The major centers of population and high culture in Eurasia are Europe, the Middle East, India and China. For some purposes it is useful to treat Greater Iran as a separate region. All these regions are connected directly or indirectly by

651-744: A relatively dry area marked by the Gobi Desert . South of the Mongol Steppe is the high and thinly peopled Tibetan Plateau . The northern edge of the plateau is the Gansu or Hexi Corridor , a belt of moderately dense population that connects China proper with the Tarim Basin . The Hexi Corridor was the main route of the Silk Road . In the southeast the Silk Road led over some hills to

744-721: A result, Kebineng was able to imitate the Han dynasty's method of commanding an army. When going out to hunt, he would erect flags and used drums to signal an advance or retreat. When the Wuhuan chieftain Tadun lost to the warlord Cao Cao at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207, Kebineng and several other Xianbei tribal leaders decided to pay tribute to the Han imperial court, then under Cao Cao's control. Because of this deed, Kebineng and these other chiefs were given kingly status. According to

837-477: A rich caravan the steppe nomads could either rob it, or tax it, or hire themselves out as guards. Economically, these three forms of taxation or parasitism amounted to the same thing. Trade was usually most vigorous when a strong empire controlled the steppe and reduced the number of petty chieftains preying on trade. The silk road first became significant and Chinese silk began reaching the Roman Empire about

930-535: A total length of more than 10 km (6 mi), believed to be part of the Great Wall, were discovered along the border of Ningxia autonomous region and Gansu province. Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. During the Ming, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime , and stone. The size and weight of

1023-817: Is figurative in a similar manner to the Greek and English myriad and simply means "innumerable" or "immeasurable". Because of the wall's association with the First Emperor's supposed tyranny , the Chinese dynasties after Qin usually avoided referring to their own additions to the wall by the name "Long Wall". Instead, various terms were used in medieval records, including "frontier(s)" ( 塞 , Sài ), "rampart(s)" ( 垣 , Yuán ), "barrier(s)" ( 障 , Zhàng ), "the outer fortresses" ( 外 堡 , Wàibǎo ), and "the border wall(s)" ( t 邊 牆 , s 边 墙 , Biānqiáng ). Poetic and informal names for

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1116-772: 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

1209-563: Is 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) high and 5 m (16 ft 5 in) wide. 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

1302-675: Is a predecessor not only of the Silk Road , which developed during antiquity and the Middle Ages , but also of the Eurasian Land Bridge in the modern era. It has been home to nomadic empires and many large tribal confederations and ancient states throughout history, such as the Xiongnu , Scythia , Cimmeria , Sarmatia , Hunnic Empire , Sogdia , Xianbei , Mongol Empire and Göktürk Khaganate . The Eurasian Steppe extends for 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) from near

1395-582: Is no more conspicuous than many other human-made objects. Veteran US astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 100 to 200 miles [160 to 320 km] high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu , Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station , adds that, "It's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look." In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see

1488-529: Is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe , and may be discerned at the Moon." The claim was also mentioned by Henry Norman in 1895 where he states "besides its age it enjoys the reputation of being the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the Moon." The issue of "canals" on Mars was prominent in the late 19th century and may have led to

1581-720: Is the western terminus of the Ming Great Wall. From Jiayu Pass the wall travels discontinuously down the Hexi Corridor and into the deserts of Ningxia , where it enters the western edge of the Yellow River loop at Yinchuan . Here the first major walls erected during the Ming dynasty cut through the Ordos Desert to the eastern edge of the Yellow River loop. There at Piantou Pass ( t 偏 頭 關 , s 偏 头 关 , Piāntóuguān ) in Xinzhou , Shanxi province,

1674-508: The Zizhi Tongjian , Kebineng was a just, honest, and charismatic man who managed to win the support of most of the Xianbei tribes. Kebineng's greatest rival was another Xianbei chief, Budugen , a grandson of the influential Tanshihuai . After Kebineng lured Budugen's brother, Fuluohan into a trap and killed him, Budugen and Kebineng waged war against each other incessantly. Budugen's clan weakened in strength from this fighting, while

1767-664: The Eurasian Steppe . Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC, with selective stretches later joined by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China . Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Apart from defense, other purposes of

1860-683: The Kurgan hypothesis , their common ancestor is thought to have originated on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The Tocharians were an early Indo-European branch in the Tarim Basin . At the beginning of written history the entire steppe population west of Dzungaria spoke Iranian languages . From about 500 AD the Turkic languages replaced the Iranian languages first on the steppe, and later in the oases north of Iran . Additionally, Hungarian speakers,

1953-673: The Liaodong province, protecting it against potential incursions by Jurchen-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. Towards the end of the Ming, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Even after

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2046-565: The Mongolian gerbil , the little souslik and the bobak marmot . Furthermore, the Eurasian steppe is home to a great variety of bird species. Threatened bird species living there are for example the imperial eagle , the lesser kestrel , the great bustard , the pale-back pigeon and the white-throated bushchat . The primary domesticated animals raised were sheep and goats with fewer cattle than one might expect. Camels were used in

2139-630: The Moon . Even though the myth is thoroughly debunked, it is still ingrained in popular culture. The apparent width of the Great Wall from the Moon would be the same as that of a human hair viewed from 3 km (2 mi) away. One of the earliest known references to the myth that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquary William Stukeley . Stukeley wrote that, "This mighty wall [ Hadrian's wall ] of four score miles [130 km] in length

2232-624: The National Cultural Heritage Administration states that 22% of the Ming Great Wall has disappeared, while 1,961 km (1,219 mi) of wall have vanished. In 2007 it was estimated that more than 60 km (37 mi) of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms . In some places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than 5 m (16 ft 5 in) to less than 2 m (6 ft 7 in). Various square lookout towers that characterize

2325-498: The Qin dynasty ("Qin Shi Huang") in 221 BC. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the sections of the walls that divided his empire among the former states. To position the empire against the Xiongnu people from the north, however, he ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's northern frontier. "Build and move on"

2418-563: The Urals to Dzungaria . To the south, it grades off into semi-desert and desert which is interrupted by two great rivers, the Amu Darya (Oxus) and Syr Darya (Jaxartes), which flow northwest into the Aral Sea and provide irrigation for agriculture. In the southeast is the densely populated Fergana Valley and west of it the great oasis cities of Tashkent , Samarkand and Bukhara along

2511-688: The Zeravshan River . The southern area has a complex history (see Central Asia and Greater Iran ), while in the north, the Kazakh Steppe proper was relatively isolated from the main currents of written history . Along the former Sino-Soviet border , mountains extend north almost to the forest zone, separating the Central Steppe from the Eastern Steppe, leaving only limited grassland in Dzungaria . This discontinuous section of

2604-504: 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". The longer Chinese name "Ten-Thousand Mile Long Wall" ( t 萬里長城, s 万里长城, Wànlǐ Chángchéng ) came from Sima Qian's description of it in the Records , though he did not name the walls as such. The AD 493 Book of Song quotes

2697-741: The temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome . It stretches through Hungary , Bulgaria , Romania , Moldova , Ukraine , southern Russia , Kazakhstan , Xinjiang , Mongolia and Manchuria , with one major exclave , the Pannonian steppe , located mostly in Hungary . Since the Paleolithic age , the Steppe Route has been the main overland route between Europe , Western Asia , Central Asia , East Asia and South Asia economically, politically, and culturally. The Steppe route

2790-502: The 13th and 14th centuries, such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , William of Rubruck , Marco Polo , Odoric of Pordenone and Giovanni de' Marignolli , mentioned the Great Wall. The North African traveler Ibn Battuta , who also visited China during the Yuan dynasty c.  1346 , had heard about China's Great Wall, possibly before he had arrived in China. He wrote that the wall

2883-721: The Eurasian Steppe route which was an active predecessor of the Silk Road . The latter started in the Guanzhong region of China and ran west along the Hexi Corridor to the Tarim Basin. From there it went southwest to Greater Iran and turned southeast to India or west to the Middle East and Europe. A minor branch went northwest along the great rivers and north of the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. When faced with

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2976-560: The Eurasian steppe connects the great steppes of Central Asia and East Asia . The east-west Tian Shan Mountains divide the steppe into Dzungaria in the north and the Tarim Basin to the south. Dzungaria is bounded by the Tarbagatai Mountains on the west and the Mongolian Altai Mountains on the east, neither of which is a significant barrier. Dzungaria has good grassland around the edges and

3069-612: 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 , meaning city or fortress, is a phono-semantic compound of the "earth" radical 土 and phonetic 成 , whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as * deŋ . It originally referred to

3162-657: The Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. The Tang and Song dynasties did not undertake any significant effort in the region. Dynasties founded by non-Han ethnic groups also built their border walls: the Xianbei -ruled Northern Wei , the Khitan -ruled Liao , Jurchen -led Jin and the Tangut -established Western Xia , who ruled vast territories over Northern China throughout centuries, all constructed defensive walls but those were located much to

3255-421: 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 watchtowers , troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and

3348-541: The Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between 160 and 320 km (100 and 200 mi), the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye. The image was actually a river in Beijing. Leroy Chiao , a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that

3441-573: The Great Wall splits in two with the "Outer Great Wall" ( t 外 長城 , s 外 长城 , Wài Chǎngchéng ) extending along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi into Hebei province, and the "Inner Great Wall" ( t 內 長城 , s 內 长城 , Nèi Chǎngchéng ) running southeast from Piantou Pass for some 400 km (250 mi), passing through important passes like the Pingxing Pass and Yanmen Pass before joining

3534-460: The Great Wall. A formal definition of what constitutes a "Great Wall" has not been agreed upon, making the full course of the Great Wall difficult to describe in its entirety. The defensive lines contain multiple stretches of ramparts, trenches and ditches, as well as individual fortresses. In 2012, based on existing research and the results of a comprehensive mapping survey, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China concluded that

3627-521: The Great Wall. Perhaps the first recorded instance of a European actually entering China via the Great Wall came in 1605, when the Portuguese Jesuit brother Bento de Góis reached the northwestern Jiayu Pass from India. Early European accounts were mostly modest and empirical, closely mirroring contemporary Chinese understanding of the Wall, although later they slid into hyperbole, including

3720-558: The Outer Great Wall at Sihaiye ( 四海 冶 , Sìhǎiyě ), in Beijing's Yanqing County . 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 was the first section to be opened to the public in the People's Republic of China, as well as

3813-406: The Three Kingdoms , Kebineng was an ally of the Cao Wei state against its rival state, Shu Han . Kebineng was a Xianbei chieftain bribed by Wei to assault Shu, but ended up fleeing when he learned that the Shu general Ma Chao was in command of the army dispatched to stop him. The reason it is believed he fled was because of Ma Chao's reputation a great warrior among the Qiang people , who formed

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3906-406: The belief that long, thin objects were visible from space. The claim that the Great Wall is visible from the moon also appears in 1932's Ripley's Believe It or Not! strip. A more controversial question is whether the wall is visible from low Earth orbit (an altitude of as little as 160 km (100 mi)). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it

3999-404: The bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use. Consequently, stones cut into rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims , and gateways of the wall. Battlements line

4092-426: The bulk of Kebineng's army. Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China ( traditional Chinese : 萬里長城 ; simplified Chinese : 万里长城 ; pinyin : Wànlǐ Chángchéng , literally "ten thousand li long wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from

4185-405: The civilization of their subjects, lost their nomadic skills and were either assimilated or driven out. Along the northern fringe of the Eurasian steppe, nomads would collect tribute from and blend with the forest tribes (see Khanate of Sibir , Buryats ). Russia paid tribute (compare yasak ) to the Golden Horde from about 1240 to 1480. South of the Kazakh steppe the nomads blended with

4278-411: The commanding Ming general, Wu Sangui , who formed an alliance with the Manchus, hoping to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and eventually defeated both the Shun dynasty and the remaining Ming resistance , consolidating the rule of the Qing dynasty over all of China proper . Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia

4371-409: The conversion of the whole area to agricultural land. In the southeast the Black Sea–Caspian Steppe extends between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea to the Caucasus Mountains . In the west, the Great Hungarian Plain is an island of steppe separated from the main steppe by the mountains of Transylvania . On the north shore of the Black Sea, the Crimean Peninsula has some interior steppe and ports on

4464-400: The defensive system of the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history. The collection of fortifications known as the Great Wall of China has historically had a number of different names in both Chinese and English. In Chinese histories , the term "Long Wall(s)" ( t 長城, s 长城, Chángchéng ) appears in Sima Qian 's Records of

4557-491: The drier areas for transport as far west as Astrakhan . There were some yaks along the edge of Tibet . The horse was used for transportation and warfare. The horse was first domesticated on the Pontic–Caspian or Kazakh steppe sometime before 3000 BC, but it took a long time for mounted archery to develop and the process is not fully understood. The stirrup does not seem to have been completely developed until 300 AD (see Stirrup , Saddle , Composite bow , Domestication of

4650-530: The east of India to the Tarim Basin and found a new home in China. By about 1400 AD, the entire steppe west of Dzungaria had adopted Islam . By about 1600 AD, Islam was established in the Tarim Basin while Dzungaria and Mongolia had adopted Tibetan Buddhism . Raids between tribes were prevalent throughout the region's history. This relates to the ease with which a defeated enemy's flocks and herds can be driven away, making raiding profitable. In terms of warfare and raiding, in relation to sedentary societies,

4743-414: The east-flowing Wei River valley which led to the North China Plain . South of the Khingan Mountains and north of the Taihang Mountains , the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe extends east into Manchuria as the Liao Xi steppe. In Manchuria, the steppe grades off into forest and mountains without reaching the Pacific. The central area of forest-steppe was inhabited by pastoral and agricultural peoples, while to

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4836-473: The east. This section was one of the first to be renovated following the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution . 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 ( t 焦山 長城 , s 焦 山 长城 , Jiāoshān Chángchéng ),

4929-413: The erroneous but ubiquitous claim that the Ming walls were the same ones that were built by the first emperor in the 3rd century BC. When China opened its borders to foreign merchants and visitors after its defeat in the First and Second Opium Wars , the Great Wall became a main attraction for tourists. The travelogues of the later 19th century further enhanced the reputation and the mythology of

5022-405: The exact length and course of the Qin walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. The human cost of the construction is unknown, but it has been estimated by some authors that hundreds of thousands of workers died building the Qin wall. Later, the Han , the Northern dynasties and the Sui all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of

5115-469: The fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from the present-day Sino–Russian border in the north to Tao River (Taohe) in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of the Mongolian steppe ; spanning 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi) in total. Today,

5208-466: The frontier general Tan Daoji referring to "the long wall of 10,000 miles", closer to the modern name, but the name rarely features in pre-modern times otherwise. The traditional Chinese mile ( 里 , lǐ ) was an often irregular distance that was intended to show the length of a standard village and varied with terrain but was usually standardized at distances around a third of an English mile (540 m). However, this use of "ten-thousand" ( wàn )

5301-443: The horse and related articles). Parts of the Eurasian steppe experience an ecological regime shift in form of woody plant encroachment , such as the Black Sea-Kazakhstan steppe, the Tibetan Plateau steppe, and the Central Asian steppe. This process involves the gradual increase of shrubs at the expense of grasses. The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Eurasian steppe's temperate grasslands , savannas and shrublands into

5394-512: The horse gave the nomads an advantage of mobility. Horsemen could raid a village and retreat with their loot before an infantry -based army could be mustered and deployed. When confronted with superior infantry, horsemen could simply ride away, retreat and regroup. Outside of Europe and parts of the Middle East, agrarian societies had difficulty raising a sufficient supply of war horses and often had to enlist cavalry from their nomadic enemies (as mercenaries ). Nomads could not easily be pursued onto

5487-406: 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 . Unlike the earlier fortifications, the Ming construction

5580-458: The loss of all of Liaodong , the Ming army held the heavily fortified Shanhai Pass , preventing the Manchus from conquering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen to Li Zicheng 's short-lived Shun dynasty . Before this time, the Manchus had crossed the Great Wall multiple times to raid, but this time it was for conquest. The gates at Shanhai Pass were opened on May 25 by

5673-444: The main steppe by the Carpathian Mountains . It is found in modern-day Austria , Hungary , Romania , Serbia and Slovakia . The Pontic–Caspian Steppe is the main European end of the Eurasian Steppe and begins near the mouth of the Danube , stretching northeast almost to Kazan and then southeast to the southern tip of the Ural Mountains . Its northern edge was a broad band of forest steppe which has now been obliterated by

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5766-525: The mixture of agriculture and pastoralism in Manchuria its inhabitants, the Manchu knew how to deal with both nomads and the settled populations and therefore were able to conquer much of northern China when both Chinese and Mongols were weak. The steppe culture of Russia was shaped in Russia through cross-cultural contact mostly by Slavic, Tatar-Turkic, Mongolian and Iranian people. Rus' rulers would ally themselves by marriage with fellow-steppe peoples. In addition to ethnicity, also instruments such as

5859-466: The mortar or any part of the wall, contrary to what a legend states. Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warn garrisons of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility. Wooden gates could be used as a trap against those going through. Barracks, stables, and armories were built near

5952-455: The most famous images of the wall have disappeared. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud , rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion. In 2014 a portion of the wall near the border of Liaoning and Hebei province was repaired with concrete. The work has been much criticized. A section of the wall in Shanxi province was severely damaged in 2023 by construction workers, who widened an existing gap in

6045-422: The mouth of the Danube in Romania to the western edge of Manchuria . It is bounded on the north by the forests of European Russia and Asian Russia or Siberia . There is no clear southern boundary although the land becomes increasingly dry as one moves south. The steppe narrows at two points, dividing it into three major parts. The Pannonian Steppe is a western exclave of the Eurasian Steppe, separated from

6138-416: The nineteenth century, "the Great Wall of China" had become standard in English and French, although other European languages such as German continue to refer to it as "the Chinese wall". The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. During this time and the subsequent Warring States period ,

6231-414: The north and east was a thin population of hunting tribes of the Siberian type. Big mammals of the Eurasian steppe were the Przewalski's horse , the saiga antelope , the Mongolian gazelle , the goitered gazelle , the wild Bactrian camel and the onager . The gray wolf , corsac fox , Pallas's cat and occasionally the brown bear are predators roaming the steppe. Smaller mammal species are

6324-402: The north of the other Great Walls as we know it, within China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia and in modern-day Mongolia itself. 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 Mongol tribes after successive battles, and

6417-429: The one contained in João de Barros 's 1563 Asia . Other early accounts in Western sources include those of Gaspar da Cruz , Bento de Goes , Matteo Ricci , and Bishop Juan González de Mendoza , the latter in 1585 describing it as a "superbious and mightie work" of architecture, though he had not seen it. In 1559, in his work "A Treatise of China and the Adjoyning Regions", Gaspar da Cruz offers an early discussion of

6510-408: The photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the China Daily later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from 'space' with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look. Eurasian Steppe The Eurasian Steppe , also called the Great Steppe or The Steppes , is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in

6603-436: The power of Kebineng's faction grew greatly, in part due to support from the Chinese Three Kingdoms -era state of Cao Wei . After Budugen went to the Han imperial court to offer tribute, Kebineng decided to attack the eastern branch of the Xianbei. The Han imperial court deemed Kebineng a threat and ordered Tian Yu , the Han-appointed protector of the Wuhuan, to lead Han imperial forces to attack Kebineng's rear while Kebineng

6696-528: The relative strength of the nomadic and agrarian heartlands. Over the last few hundred years, the Russian steppe and much of Inner Mongolia has been cultivated. The fact that most of the Russian steppe is not irrigated implies that it was maintained as grasslands as a result of the military strength of the nomads. According to the most widely held hypothesis of the origin of the Indo-European languages ,

6789-757: The remainder date back to Northern Wei , Northern Qi , Sui , Tang , the Five Dynasties , Song , Liao and Xixia . About half of the sites are located in Inner Mongolia (31%) and Hebei (19%). Han fortifications starts from Yumen Pass and Yang Pass , southwest of Dunhuang , in Gansu province. Ruins of the remotest Han border posts are found in Mamitu ( t 馬 迷途 , s 马 迷途 , Mǎmítú , l "horses losing their way" ) near Yumen Pass. The Jiayu Pass , located in Gansu province,

6882-845: The remaining Great Wall associated sites include 10,051 wall sections, 1,764 ramparts or trenches, 29,510 individual buildings, and 2,211 fortifications or passes, with the walls and trenches spanning a total length of 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi). Incorporating advanced technologies, the study has concluded that the Ming Great Wall measures 8,850 km (5,500 mi). This consists of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) of wall sections, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. In addition, Qin , Han and earlier Great Wall sites are 3,080 km (1,914 mi) long in total; Jin dynasty (1115–1234) border fortifications are 4,010 km (2,492 mi) in length;

6975-488: The sedentary population, partly because the Middle East has significant areas of steppe (taken by force in past invasions) and pastoralism. There was a sharp cultural divide between Mongolia and China and almost constant warfare from the dawn of history until the Qing conquest of Dzungaria in 1757. The nomads collected large amounts of tribute from the Chinese and several Chinese dynasties were of steppe origin. Perhaps because of

7068-472: The showpiece stretch for foreign dignitaries. The Badaling Great Wall saw nearly 10 million visitors in 2018, and in 2019, a daily limit of 65,000 visitors was instated. South of Badaling is the Juyong Pass ; when it was used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall had many guards to defend the capital Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall

7161-474: 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. In 2009, 180 km of previously unknown sections of the Ming wall concealed by hills, trenches and rivers were discovered with the help of infrared range finders and GPS devices. In March and April 2015, nine sections with

7254-1073: The south coast which link the steppe to the civilizations of the Mediterranean basin. The steppe narrows around the southern end of the Ural Mountains , about 650 km (400 mi) northeast of the Caspian Sea , forming the Ural-Caspian Narrowing, that joins the Pontic-Caspian Steppe in Europe with the Kazakh Steppe in Central Asia . The Kazakh Steppe makes up most of the Eurasian Steppe in Central Asia. It extends from

7347-408: The states of Qin , Wei , Zhao , Qi , Han , Yan , and Zhongshan all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly of stone or by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. King Zheng of Qin conquered the last of his opponents and unified China as the First Emperor of

7440-478: The steppe since the steppe could not easily support a land army. If the Chinese sent an army into Mongolia, the nomads would flee and come back when the Chinese ran out of supplies. But the steppe nomads were relatively few and their rulers had difficulty holding together enough clans and tribes to field a large army. If steppe nomads conquered an agricultural area they often lacked the skills to administer it. If they tried to hold agrarian land they gradually absorbed

7533-467: The time that the Emperor of Han pushed Chinese power west to the Tarim Basin. The nomads would occasionally tolerate colonies of peasants on the steppe in the few areas where farming was possible. These were often captives who grew grain for their nomadic masters. Along the fringes there were areas that could be used for either plowland or grassland. These alternated between one and the other depending on

7626-472: The top. Wangjing Lou ( 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

7719-411: The uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm (12 in) tall, and about 23 cm (9.1 in) wide. From the parapets, guards could survey the surrounding land. Sticky rice mortar , consisting of sticky rice soup mixed with slaked lime , was extensively used to hold bricks together; no human bones or body parts were ever incorporated into

7812-409: The wall at that time, they were not significant. Soon after Europeans reached Ming China by ship in the early 16th century, accounts of the Great Wall started to circulate in Europe, even though no European was to see it for another century. Possibly one of the earliest European descriptions of the wall and of its significance for the defense of the country against the " Tartars " (i.e. Mongols) may be

7905-793: The wall included "the Purple Frontier" ( 紫 塞 , Zǐsài ) and "the Earth Dragon" ( t 土 龍 , s 土 龙 , Tǔlóng ). Only during the Qing period did "Long Wall" become the catch-all term to refer to the many border walls regardless of their location or dynastic origin, equivalent to the English "Great Wall". Sections of the wall in south Gobi Desert and Mongolian steppe are sometimes referred to as "Wall of Genghis Khan", even though Genghis Khan did not construct any walls or permanent defense lines himself. The current English name evolved from accounts of "the Chinese wall" from early modern European travelers. By

7998-421: The wall to make a shortcut for an excavator to pass through. Police described the act as causing "irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and to the safety of the cultural relics". Various factoids in popular culture claim that the Great Wall can be seen (with the naked eye) from space, with questionable degrees of veracity. The Great Wall of China cannot be seen by the naked human eye from

8091-504: The wall's inner surface. While portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many other locations the wall is in disrepair. The wall sometimes provided a source of stones to build houses and roads. Sections of the wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism , while inscribed bricks were pilfered and sold on the market for up to 50 renminbi . Parts have been destroyed to make way for construction or mining. A 2012 report by

8184-406: 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

8277-715: The west end of the basin the Pamir Mountains connect the Tian Shan Mountains to the Himalayas . To the south, the Kunlun Mountains separate the Tarim Basin from the thinly peopled Tibetan Plateau . The Mongolian-Manchurian Steppe is the main part of the Eurasian Steppe in East Asia. It covers large parts of Mongolia and the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia . The two are separated by

8370-441: Was a central guiding principle in constructing the wall, implying that the Chinese were not erecting a permanently fixed border. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating

8463-635: Was annexed into the empire, so constructions on the Great Wall were discontinued. On the other hand, the so-called Willow Palisade , following a line similar to that of the Ming Liaodong Wall, was constructed by the Qing rulers in Manchuria. Its purpose, however, was not defense but rather to prevent Han Chinese migration into Manchuria. None of the Europeans who visited China or Mongolia in

8556-803: Was away attacking the eastern branch of the Xianbei. After this incident, relations between the Xianbei tribes under Kebineng's leadership and the Eastern Han dynasty (and later the state of Cao Wei) became strained. Although the Zizhi Tongjian states that on several occasions generals like Tian Yu and Liang Xi defeated Kebineng, it is highly unlikely that Kebineng's clan was completely overwhelmed every time it engaged Han and Wei troops in battle. On one occasion when Tian Yu went to besiege Kebineng's father-in-law for instance, Kebineng came to assist with tens of thousands of cavalry and would have defeated Tian Yu had he not been persuaded by his advisers and

8649-432: 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

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