This amazing construction of civilization has an age equal to more than one thousand years. Some secrets of this mysterious wall still remain unsolved.
The Great Wall of China is fraught with many surprises and interesting facts. The article provides some well-known information about this world-class attraction, as well as information about another famous Chinese tower.
general information
The Chinese wall is one of the monuments of antiquity. This unique creation of human hands, preserved to this day, attracts millions of tourists every year.
It was built for almost 2,000 years. Many have a rather vague idea of the reasons for the construction of such a grandiose structure, the total length of which is about 9,000 kilometers. The thickness of the walls of the fortification is 5–8 m, and the average height is 6–7 meters. Below are information about the towers of the Chinese wall.
Reasons for building a grand obstacle
China is protected by natural barriers on three sides. On the south side it borders with the Himalayas, in the east - with the Pacific Ocean, and in the west is the Tibetan plateau. The border from the north remained open, which allowed nomads to raid Chinese territory, seize livestock and crops, as well as take local peasants with them to further turn them into slaves.
Nomads, being excellent riders, appeared suddenly and disappeared just as quickly. The Chinese army, located along the northern borders of the state, consisted only of foot soldiers who were not able to withstand such lightning attacks by nomads. The Chinese eventually decided to build a barrier to solve this problem. Powerful guarded walls were supposed to help prevent the invasion of nomads. The watchtowers of the Wall of China served to observe the enemy. It was a rather desperate attempt to build a defensive structure in order to defend the northern borders of the empire. The Great Wall of China became truly unique and incomparable in scale of construction with any of the similar structures in the world.
In the minds of most people, it is one, but in reality it consists of many walls that were built by the rulers of various dynasties for more than 1800 years.
Great Wall Towers
An integral part of the wall is its towers, some of which were erected before the construction of the wall itself, and were built into it during the construction process. These are towers that have a width much smaller than the width of the wall, and they are located in random places. Those towers that were erected simultaneously with the wall from each other were at a distance of about 200 meters, which is equal to the range of the boom.
There are several types of towers of the Chinese wall. They vary in architectural style. The most common type of structure was built on two floors and had a rectangular shape. On such towers there was an upper platform with loopholes. In addition, towers were located on the wall within the limits of visibility of the fire (about 10 km), from where signals were transmitted in the process of monitoring the approaches of the enemy. 12 gates for passage were installed in the wall, which over time were strengthened and turned into powerful outposts.
Legends of the China Wall
According to legend, the place and direction of the wall construction was indicated to the workers by the dragon, which passed along the borders of the state. In his wake, the workers erected this fortification. According to some statements, the shape itself formed by the wall is similar to a soaring dragon.
The most famous legend is the story of Meng Jiang Well, the wife of a farmer who was forced to work on the construction of the wall during the reign of the Qin Dynasty. His wife, having learned that after the death of her husband during construction work, was buried right in the wall, she wept so bitterly that the part of the wall where her husband’s remains were collapsed from her crying. This gave her the opportunity to bury him normally. A monument was erected on the wall in memory of this sad story.
The great tower of china
Here we will talk about another famous object in China. This is the tower, which is the tallest in China, and the second tallest in the world (the first Tokyo). It is called Canton Tower - the tower of Guangzhou. It was built in 2005-2009 at the beginning of the Asian Games 2010. Its height is 600 meters, and up to 450-meter height the building was erected in the form of a combination of a central core and a mesh supporting hyperboloid shell. There are two observation platforms on the tower: the upper one, open at an altitude of 488 meters, and the lower one (450 meters).
The ground floor of the Chinese tower is occupied by an exhibition with mock-ups devoted to the development of the city of Guangzhou, as well as a video hall telling about the construction process of this building. There is also a souvenir shop and various shops of the shopping gallery.
The television tower also houses the highest post office in the world. There are also various rides that are breathtaking. From the outside of the tower you can take a walk along the stairs (from 32 to 64 levels). This spiral walk is the longest in the world.
There are restaurants and cafes located on the very first level of the Chinese Tower, as well as high-altitude food establishments with beautiful panoramic views.