The GREAT WALL of CHINA an Architectural Foray (original) (raw)
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Journal of the American Oriental Society
This article explores textual, paleographic, and archeological evidence about the “Long Wall” of Qi, arguably one of the earliest long walls erected on Chinese soil. It analyzes the possible dates of the Wall’s constructions, its route, its defensive role, and its relation to military, political, economic, and administrative developments of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE). I argue that the Long Wall played a significant role in Qi’s military strategy in the fifth-fourth centuries BCE bolstering its defensive capabilities. In the long term, however, the Wall might have inadvertently hindered Qi’s southward expansion, placing it in a disadvantageous position versus its rivals.
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The Great Wall as Perilous Frontier for the Mongols in 16th Century
International Journal of Korean History, 2016
The existing scholarship in nomadic-sedentary relations has focused on the raids and invasions by nomads against agricultural society, and has attempted to seek internal reasons for this within the nomadic society. Interactive Ming-Mongol history along the Great Wall in the sixteenth century indicates that the agricultural society was also capable of offense. Many raids conducted by nomads were actually revenge for the provocation and raids by the agricultural society, hence they were retaliatory raids. Nomadic-sedentary groups interacted along the Great Wall area; therefore, scholars should turn their attention to this area rather than exclusively search for reasons from internal factors of nomadic society. The razzias upon the Mongols beyond the Great Wall by Ming generals and their retainers have shown that sedentary society were in need of horses, cattle, meat, wool, hides, etc. Ming China’s big market for the nomadic goods drove Ming generals and their retainers to do the profi...
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Antiquity, 2020
The long walls of China and the Eurasian Steppe are considered to have functioned as either defensive structures against aggressive nomadic tribes, or as elements to control the movement of local nomadic groups following imperialist expansion. This article focuses on a hitherto understudied 737km-long medieval wall running from northern China into north-eastern Mongolia. Built by either the Liao or Jin Dynasties, the wall features numerous auxiliary structures that hint at its function. In research relevant to interpreting other Eurasian and global wall-building episodes, the authors employ extensive archaeological survey and GIS analysis to understand better the reasons behind the wall's construction, as well as its various possible functions.
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Mapping the Medieval Wall System of China and Mongolia: A Multi-Method Approach
Land, 2021
The Medieval Wall System of China and Mongolia is one of the longest wall systems in the world, but its specific chronology, function, and purpose remain ambiguous. Constructed at various points throughout the 10th to 13th centuries CE, this network of walls, forts, and enclosures covers an estimated 4000 km and spans a wide range of ecozones, from the deserts of western China to the steppes of northern Mongolia and the Khingan mountain range. In this article we used historical atlases, topographic maps, and an array of different kinds of data derived from satellite remote sensing, to produce one of the first accurate maps of the Medieval Wall System. Through this large-scale mapping program, we are now able to evaluate previous work that estimates the length of the wall system and different areas of construction. By measuring the structures associated with the wall and the length of the wall itself, we identified at least three different areas of construction along the Medieval Wall System. Future studies may be able to use similar tools to develop more accurate maps of other wall systems throughout Eurasia to further advance the comparative study of ancient wall systems. Keywords: Great Wall of China and Mongolia; remote sensing; Liao dynasty; Jin dynasty; ancient wall systems
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Barbarians at the Gate: A History of Walls
Walling In and Walling Out Why Are We Building New Barriers to Divide Us?, 2020
People have built walls for thousands of years to protect cities, to divide cities and along the borders of polities. This paper examines this process to place modern walls in a historical context and to ask in what ways is modern wall building similar and different from earlier walls. For most of human history, people primarily built walls as military technology. The European invention of cannon in the 16th century radically changed global wall construction. The further development of artillery in the late 19th century as well as tanks and aircraft in the 20th essentially made walls obsolete as military technology. Within cities, walls defined and elaborated ethnic and religious differences but this custom also declined in the 19th century to be revived in the second half of the 20th century. Many walled cites such as Carcassonne in France and long walls such as the Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall in England are important parts of global heritage. Modern walls largely lack the military emphasis of earlier walls but retain the power to define, assert, protect, and ultimately polarize radical, ethnic, religious and national identities.
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