Penglai , formerly known as Dengzhou or Tengchow , is a district in the prefecture-level city of Yantai , Shandong Province , in the People's Republic of China . It lies on the northwest corner of the Shandong Peninsula on the southern coast of the Gulf of Bohai . Penglai is famous for its mirages out at sea, which are frequent during May and June. Formerly a county-level city under Yantai's administration, Penglai became a district in 2020.
63-526: Tengchow may refer to the following cities in Shandong (Shantung), China: Penglai , formerly known as 'Dengzhou' in Chinese Tengzhou [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
126-539: A barbican ( Chinese : 瓮城 ; pinyin : wèngchéng ). In its final form during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the archery tower was an elaborate construction, of comparable height to the main gatehouse, which stands some distance in front of the main gatehouse. At its base was a gate. The archery tower is so-named because of its rows of archery (and later cannon) placements, from which defenders could fire projectiles on attackers. Auxiliary walls, running perpendicularly to
189-417: A moat surrounded the wall. This could be connected to canals or rivers both in the city and outside, thus providing both a defense and a convenient transportation route. Nearby waterways might be adopted or altered to connect to, or form part of, the moat. Before the introduction of modern artillery, city walls were almost indestructible. Their solidity made any attempt to breach them by mining or bombardment
252-504: A bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand artillery. European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. It is apt to note that when referring to
315-490: A cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" to be ridiculous and
378-589: A cost of 500m RMB (more than $ 60m). There is a plank walk along the cliffs nearby. More than US$ 25 million has also been invested into developing the Penglai Pavilion and other sites. The Penglai Pavilion is a large park of ancient buildings, palaces and temples, that have been restored and rebuilt. It has been a tourist goal for more than a thousand years, and the site features inscriptions from famous poets and calligraphers like Su Shi and Dong Qichang . Among other cultural attractions of Penglai are
441-444: A couple kilograms at most for the small ones during the early Ming era. Guns themselves had proliferated throughout China and become a common sight during sieges, so the question has arisen then why large guns were not first developed in China. According to Tonio Andrade , this was not a matter of metallurgy, which was sophisticated in China, and the Ming dynasty did construct large guns in the 1370s, but never followed up afterwards. Nor
504-446: A difficult task. Their height, ranging mostly from five to fifteen meters, made an escalade difficult and hazardous, even though the escalade for military use had been invented as early as the fourth century BCE. A city resolutely defended could withstand attack from the largest armies, and Chinese history includes many tales of famous sieges and heroic defenses. To raze the walls of a city was considered such an exhaustive task that even if
567-460: A hammer blow could make a depression in them an inch deep, he would have the responsible worker killed. He also had the earth used to make the wall boiled with rice to harden it. While Chinese city walls always had an earthen core, the outer facings could be of either baked bricks laid in lime mortar, or stone where it was commonly available, such as in Sichuan . Bricks were also used for constructing
630-593: A highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. During certain time periods such as the Song dynasty and later, rammed earth walls were covered with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. Most Chinese walls were also sloped, which better deflected projectile energy, rather than vertical. The defensive response to cannon in Europe
693-621: A settlement may be; if not properly defined and enclosed by walls, it is not a city in the traditional Chinese sense. Thus, for instance, Shanghai (outside the "native town"), the most important commercial centre of modern China, is, to the old-fashioned Chinaman, not a real city, only a settlement or a huge trading centre, grown out of a fishing village. And the same is true of several other comparatively modern commercial centres without encircling walls; they are not ch'engs, or cities, according to traditional Chinese conception, whatever modern republican officials may choose to call them. The invention of
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#1732790420611756-477: A very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen , a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. Andrade goes on to note that
819-525: A wall at a Liangzhu culture site, a stone wall at Sanxingdui , and several tamped earthen walls at the Longshan culture site. In 15th century BC the Shang dynasty constructed large walls around the site of Ao with dimensions of 20 metres (66 ft) in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards (1,900 m) squared. Walls of similar dimensions were also found at the ancient capital of
882-512: Is the mainstay of Penglai's economy, bringing more than two million tourists annually, in fact the entire center of the town around the harbour was walled off and completely razed in 2006. The production of wine is the second largest industry in the province. Agriculture is first. However, in Penglai, tourism is the primary industry, and wine-making is second. The hills south of Penglai have an average elevation of 200 metres (660 ft), while
945-773: Is to the east, Longkou City to the west, and Qixia City to the south. Its limits in geographic coordinates are 37° 25'–37° 50' N, 120° 35'–121° 09' E. Penglai District is located in the mid-latitude region of the northern hemisphere, with a continental climate in the warm temperate monsoon zone, annual average temperature of 12.5°C, annual average daily maximum temperature of 28.8°C, annual average daily minimum temperature of -2.3°C, extreme maximum temperature of 38.8°C, extreme minimum temperature of -14.9°C, annual average precipitation of 664mm, annual average sunshine of 2826 hours, frost-free period of 206 days on average, relative humidity 65%, average annual wind speed 5.2 m/s, no floods, not affected by typhoons. The Red Cliffs ( 丹 崖 ) of
1008-603: The Eastern Han dynasty local gentry, clansmen, and villagers built more confined defensive structures in the form of square forts known as wū bì (塢壁). These were erected in remote countrysides and had particularly high walls, cornered watchtowers, and gates to the front and back. According to Stephen Turnbull, the wū bì are the closest approximation to the concept of a European castle that has ever existed in Chinese history. According to Jan van Linschoten, writing in 1596,
1071-579: The Former Han capital of Chang'an , the city wall constructed around 200 BC by Yang Yangcheng was 15m tall and 12m wide. It was also protected by a moat 45m wide with a depth of 4.5m. During the Yuan dynasty , Suzhou 's walls were over 7m tall and, 11m thick at the base, and 5m thick at the top. During the Ming dynasty , prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at
1134-457: The Great Wall of Qi , which was built with a variety of different materials and construction techniques - such as one section being made of stones and another section being made of rammed earth. The walls of Han dynasty Chang'an were completed in 189 BC and covered a perimeter of 25.5 km while the later Eastern Han capital of Luoyang measured 4.3 km by 3.7 km. By the end of
1197-575: The Second Opium War , Dengzhou became the first port opened to foreigners on the Shandong Peninsula in 1858. Christian missions were quickly established. The harbor was found inadequate for the traders, however, and Zhifu (now central Yantai ) was developed 30 miles (48 km) away to function as Dengzhou's port. Penglai is mentioned in the fictional stories about Judge Dee by Robert van Gulik , first mentioned in
1260-603: The coastal areas are relatively flat. Most of the soil is loose, well-aerated, and rich in minerals and organic matters that enable full development of the root systems. The wineries are located mainly in the Nanwang Grape Valley and along the Yan-Peng Sightseeing Highway. The main varieties grown there, like Cabernet Sauvignon , Cabernet Gernischt , Merlot , Riesling and Chardonnay , are all reaching 20 years of age, considered to be
1323-615: The 1950s. But apart from the Forbidden City, whose walls remain well-preserved, city walls from the Ming dynasty have suffered wholesale demolition in the decades since. The only surviving sections are Qianmen 's gate and arrow tower, Deshengmen 's arrow tower, a section of the wall and Southeast Corner Tower preserved in the Ming City Wall Relics Park , and the Xibianmen corner tower. The Yongdingmen Gate
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#17327904206111386-480: The Chinese Communists could not take the city of Tatung is a puzzle, although they besieged it for 45 days last summer. All you need to do is to look at the outer wall, and then the inner ones.... In places, the masonry is at least 50 feet thick. Communist artillery shells may have been able to play havoc with the old wooden drum tower above one gate, but they could not make more than dents and scratches on
1449-546: The Chinese evidently did not have castles or fortresses, but only city walls for defense: All the Townes in that Countrie are walled about with stone Walles, and have Ditches of water round about them for their Securitie; they use no Fortresse nor Castles, but onely upon every Gate of the Towne they have strong Towers, wherein they place their Ordnance for the defence of ye Towne. They use all kinde of armes, as Calivers, etc. Under
1512-572: The French "braggarts by nature." In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached
1575-410: The Ming dynasty, enclosed an area large enough to house an airport, bamboo forests, and lakes in modern times. Gates were placed symmetrically along the walls. The principal gate was traditionally located at the centre of the south wall. Gatehouses were generally built of wood and brick , which sat atop a raised and expanded section of the wall, surrounded by crenellated battlements. A tunnel ran under
1638-571: The Naval Museum with exhibits of ancient ships and the restored residence of the famous patriotic general Qi Jiguang . Penglai also has the largest ocean aquarium in Asia. It includes a polar area, a shark hall, a tropical rainforest, and a theater with mermaids, dolphins and sea lions. A picturesque festival takes place in January for the birthday of Tianhou , a local sea goddess. While tourism
1701-585: The Sui dynasty, the capital of Chang'an was renamed Da Xingcheng and its outer wall was expanded to cover a perimeter of 35 km. Under the Tang dynasty, the capital of Chang'an's outer walls measured 9.72 km east to west by 8.65 km north to south. Under the Jin dynasty the capital of Zhongdu had walls covering a perimeter of 24 km and reached a height of 12m. The oldest form of wall construction in China
1764-555: The area are reputed to have been the site where the Eight Immortals set out for the land of the immortals and where Qin Shi Huang later sent off five hundred boys and five hundred girls on ships to search for them. Chinese legends held that a mystic dolphin was seen from the cliffs above and, missing it with his spear, the emperor knew that his days were numbered. The Emperor Wu of Han ( Hàn Wǔdì ) later also visited
1827-538: The area while searching for the elixir of immortality . The old city walls incorporate guard towers of three stories (rather than the usual two) because the uncle of the first emperor of the 6th-century Sui dynasty had been prince of the area. Under the Ming , the harbor was fortified and used by the war junks of the imperial navy . During the early years of the Manchu invasion of China , Portuguese artillerists were instructing Ming forces at Dengzhou when it
1890-622: The availability of resources and the time period - ranging from stones to bricks to rammed earth. Sometimes, different sections of the same wall used different materials and construction techniques - such as one section being made of stones and another section being made of rammed earth. By the medieval period, Chinese walls with rammed earthen cores which absorbed the energy of artillery shots were common. Rammed earth walls also helped prevent intrusion by mining since only localized sections would collapse. Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to
1953-410: The base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top. Most Chinese walls were sloped rather than vertical. Sometimes the walls were raised on a plinth or supporting platform. Aside from the wall itself were attached watch towers and gate towers, usually two or three stories tall. Wall bricks came in many dimensions depending on regional variations. In the north, 30 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm
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2016-744: The book The Chinese Gold Murders . In 2020, Changdao County , consisting of the Changdao Islands in the Bohai Strait, was merged into Penglai. As of July 2020, Penglai District has 6 streets, 8 towns and 6 townships: Dengzhou Sub-district, Zijingshan Sub-district, Xingang Sub-district, Penglaiguo Sub-district, Nanwang Sub-district, Nanchangshan Sub-district, Liujiagou Town, Chaoshui Town, Daliuxing Town, Xiaomenjia Town, Daxindian Town, Muriji Town, Beigou Town, Emery Town, North Changshan Township, Daqindao Township, Heihe Township, Xiaoqindao Township, Nanhuangcheng Township, Beihuangcheng Township,
2079-437: The brick work. Andrade goes on to question whether or not Europeans would have developed large artillery pieces in the first place had they faced the more formidable Chinese style walls, coming to the conclusion that such exorbitant investments in weapons unable to serve their primary purpose would not have been ideal. The city walls of Beijing , the last imperial capital of China, survived in substantially complete form into
2142-458: The character chéng (城) denoted the defensive wall of the "inner city" which housed government buildings. The character guō (郭) denoted the defensive wall of the "outer city", housing mainly residences. The phrase chángchéng (長城), literally "the long wall", refers to the Great Wall. Colloquially chéng referred to both the walls and city so that both were synonymous with each other. A city
2205-598: The city wall is attributed to the semi-historical sage Gun (鯀) of the Xia dynasty , father of Yu the Great . The traditional narrative tells that Gun built the inner wall to defend the prince and the outer wall to settle the people. An alternative narrative attributes the first city wall to the Yellow Emperor . A number of neolithic walls surrounding substantial settlements have been excavated in recent years. These include
2268-566: The city walls protecting the Confucian compound in Qufu are authentic, the rest having been demolished in 1978 and rebuilt in recent years. Some isolated gates of Hangzhou and Suzhou (especially Panmen Gate) have either survived or been rebuilt. Substantial remains of the gates of Zhengding in Hebei have survived but the walls have largely been stripped to their earthen core. One small section of
2331-524: The district people's government is located in Penglai Economic Development Zone, No. 169 Jinchuang Road. Penglai has been ranked by the Chinese government as a top domestic tourist destination. Its Water Fortress ( 水城 , Shuǐchéng ), a fortified harbor, is one of China's oldest military ports. It was built under the Ming in 1376 and housed a fleet of warjunks . It is now a protected historical monument being renovated at
2394-456: The empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined, they would have only reached roughly
2457-410: The gatehouse, with several metal gates and wooden doors. Camouflaged defensive positions are placed along the tunnel (in an effect similar to murder holes ). Gatehouses were accessed by ramps, called horse ramps or bridle paths, ( Chinese : 马道 ; pinyin : mǎdào ), which sat against the wall adjacent to the gate. An "archery tower" was often placed in front of the main gatehouse, forming
2520-593: The golden stage for these grapes. Most of them maintain an average sugar content of above 20%. The Cabernet is especially typical, with good color and a dense fragrance . Chinese city walls Chinese city walls ( traditional Chinese : 城牆 ; simplified Chinese : 城墙 ; pinyin : chéngqiáng ; lit. 'city wall') refer to defensive walls built to protect important towns and cities in pre-modern China . In addition to walls, Chinese city defenses also included fortified towers and gates , as well as moats and ramparts around
2583-464: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tengchow&oldid=933203622 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Penglai, Shandong Penglai District is entirely surrounded by other divisions of Yantai: Fushan District
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2646-476: The main wall, connect the archery tower with the main gatehouse, enclosing a rectangular area. This area serves as a buffer zone, should the first gate be breached. Its Chinese name, "jar walls", refers to the intended strategy whereby attackers coming through the archery tower would be trapped in the barbican, open to attack from all sides. In large gates there may be multiple barbicans – the main gate of Nanjing ( Gate of China, Nanjing ) had three barbicans, forming
2709-443: The mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China … the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." Chinese walls were thick. Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at
2772-414: The most elaborate system still in existence in China. Towers that protruded from the wall were located at regular intervals along the wall. Large and elaborate towers, called corner towers (角楼, Jiǎolóu ), were placed where two walls joined (i.e. at corners). These were significantly higher than the wall itself, and gave defenders a bird's eye view over both the city and its surroundings. In larger cities,
2835-435: The rank of the city in the administrative hierarchy. The size of the enclosed area of the typical walled city decreases southward, indicative of the magnitude of regional urbanization in Ming times or earlier. At later dates, an outer wall was often erected to enclose settlement that had spread outside the city, and in many cases "multiple cities" were developed at the same locality. Long-term strategic considerations meant that
2898-579: The same plan created by Wu Zixu in the 5th century BC. and lasted until their demolition in the 1960s and 1970s. Sieges of city walls (along with naval battles) were portrayed on bronze 'hu' vessels dated to the Warring States (5th century BC to 3rd century BC), like those found in Chengdu , Sichuan , China in 1965. An example of walls built the Spring and Autumn to Warring States can include
2961-518: The sewer network below the Beijing city wall in the 16th century. In addition to tamped earth, Chinese walls were sometimes reinforced with wood. A study of Han forts in Xinjiang found that they had brushwood and poplar interspersed between the layers of tamped earth. Remains of city walls have been found as early as 15th century BC during the Shang dynasty , which constructed large walls around
3024-430: The site of Ao with dimensions of 20 metres (66 ft) in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards (1,900 m) squared. Walls of similar dimensions are also found at the ancient capital of the state of Zhao , Handan (founded in 386 BC), with a width of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base, a height of 15 metres (49 ft), and a length of 1,530 yards (1,400 m) along its two rectangular sides. At
3087-540: The state of Zhao , Handan (founded in 386 BC), also with a width of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base, a height of 15 metres (49 ft), and a length of 1,530 yards (1,400 m) along its two rectangular sides. Most settlements of significant size possessed a city wall from the Zhou dynasty onwards. The city wall of Pingyao was first constructed between 827 BC and 782 BC during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou . The city walls of Suzhou followed afterward under largely
3150-522: The top. In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire , whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across
3213-448: The wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. Why
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#17327904206113276-415: The walls had all been destroyed and the enemy thus able to penetrate, their exhausted forces could hardly meet the fresh strength of the defenders. Even in modern warfare city walls continued to play a vital role in the Chinese concept of effective defense. While China was the birthplace of gunpowder the guns there remained relatively small and light, weighing 80 kilograms or less for the large ones, and only
3339-1389: The walls of Pingyao in Shanxi , Dali in Yunnan , Jingzhou in Hubei , and Xingcheng in Liaoning . Smaller garrison towns or fortifications include Diaoyu near Chongqing, Wanping county fortifications near Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing, the garrison town of Shanhai Pass , Jinyuan District in Taiyuan, Wanquan District in Zhangjiakou, Yongtai turtle town, Guangfu Ancient City in Hebei, Zhaoqing in Guangdong, and Qiansuo in Huludao , Liaoning. Isolated remnants and some modern recreations can be seen today in many other cities. The walls of Luoyang in Henan survive as heavily eroded remains. The surviving walls of Shangqiu in Henan , while extensive, have heavily deteriorated over time. Only small parts of
3402-540: The walls of important cities often enclosed an area much larger than existing urban areas in order to ensure excess capacity for growth, and to secure resources such as timber and farmland in times of war. The city wall of Quanzhou in Fujian still contained one quarter vacant land by 1945. The city wall of Suzhou by the Republic of China era still enclosed large tracts of farmland. The City Wall of Nanjing , built during
3465-428: The walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Medieval European walls for castles were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar. Chinese walls used a variety of different materials depending on
3528-437: The walls. The most specific Chinese word for a city wall is chéngqiáng (城墙), which can be used in two senses in the modern Chinese language. It broadly refers to all defensive walls , including the Great Wall of China , as well as similar defensive structures in areas outside of China such as Hadrian's Wall . More specifically Chengqiang refers to defensive walls built around a city or town. However, in classical Chinese ,
3591-654: Was besieged by a mutinous army under Kong Youde in February 1632. Captain Gonçalo Teixeiro was killed during its sack, but the 70-year-old Jesuit linguist João Rodrigues escaped by jumping from the city walls into the sea. Kong's forces then seized the Portuguese cannon and used them to pillage the countryside before joining the Manchu invaders who eventually established China's Qing dynasty . Following
3654-564: Was it the lack of warfare, which other historians have suggested to be the case, but does not stand up to scrutiny as walls were a constant factor of war which stood in the way of many Chinese armies since time immemorial into the twentieth century. The answer Andrade provides is simply that Chinese walls were much less vulnerable to bombardment. Andrade argues that traditional Chinese walls were built differently from medieval European walls in ways which made them more resistant to cannon fire. Chinese walls were bigger than medieval European walls. In
3717-476: Was not a city without walls, however large it may be. There is no real city in Northern China without a surrounding wall, a condition which, indeed, is expressed by the fact that the Chinese use the same word Ch'eng for a city and a city wall: for there is no such thing as a city without a wall. It is just as inconceivable as a house without a roof. It matters little how large, important, and well ordered
3780-545: Was of rammed earth . Stone rubble was used for the foundation. Bricks were also used but were less common. From the Zhou dynasty , bricks were made of adobe, until the Han dynasty , when baked bricks became common. It is not certain how common brick faced walls were during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In the state of Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms) , the Xiongnu engineer Chigan Ali had the workers bake bricks for wall construction, and if
3843-450: Was rebuilt in 2005. Of the walls of other major historical cities, those of Nanjing , Xi'an and Kaifeng are notable for their state of preservation. The walls of Nanjing and Xi'an are Ming dynasty originals with extensive Qing dynasty and modern restorations, while the wall of Kaifeng visible today is largely the result of Qing dynasty restoration. The walls of some smaller cities and towns have survived more or less intact. These include
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#17327904206113906-434: Was the most common, and in the south, 15 cm x 13 cm x 3 cm. Most imperial capitals and many important cities in the north had the walls of rectangular shape. In areas of rugged relief, however, a square form was usually replaced by one of irregular shape, determined in many cases by topographic conditions. The size of the walled area and the elaboration of wall construction were normally directly proportional to
3969-438: Was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on
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