. Peking and the overland route. s,finds its ai)otheosis in the Great ^Vall. the Wan Li ChangCheng. said to have been built by the brutal geniusChin Shih Huang, who united China under his rujc ixtii-tnries before the Christian era. Kesearch into Chineserecords has done much to rob Cirin Shih Huang of thecredit for original (;onee|)tion and execution of this giantschenu for keeping the Tartars in their place, l)ut it iscertain that he did build much of it and that he con-nected up se\ cral fragmentary barriers and made theminto one great barrier for the delensc of his realm. Forthree centuries
. Peking and the overland route. s,finds its ai)otheosis in the Great ^Vall. the Wan Li ChangCheng. said to have been built by the brutal geniusChin Shih Huang, who united China under his rujc ixtii-tnries before the Christian era. Kesearch into Chineserecords has done much to rob Cirin Shih Huang of thecredit for original (;onee|)tion and execution of this giantschenu for keeping the Tartars in their place, l)ut it iscertain that he did build much of it and that he con-nected up se\ cral fragmentary barriers and made theminto one great barrier for the delensc of his realm. Forthree centuries befori- and for three centuries aft-r ChinShih Huangs time, various ])rinecs and feudal lords builtgreat walls in the north to keep back their enemies, andwhile many of these are outer or inner barriers. man\others are now incorjiorated in the continuous einbjink-ment which runs from Shan Ilai Kuan on the last to( hiii \\i Kuun in tin north \V( si of Kansn. and whichonc<- ran on through the (i<serii_aiid salt wastes of \06. lot ti» [\iv imU of KtuHshar. 7 or S liuiulred milesbeyond the present terminus. Sonu> of it is stone. soiiu;_j>f_bri(k work, and most of it. (s])((i;ill\-~irrTlie far^ only an earth emliankmcnt. now reduced to a water-rounded UHjund. scarcely distin^Miishat)l( in places. Thewall at Nankow is the innermost of live yreat looi)s. ofwhich two are still wholly traceable, the other beiu thewall which passes through Kal;,ran. The three outerwalls, of which history says little, are now reduced tohummocks. Nowhere does the tra\ellcr have an op-portunity to see the fortification in such excellentpreservation as at Xankow. Accordinfj to the records, the whole structure was;1400 miles lon^r in China )ji-oi)er. 20 feet hi«rh and 20 feet/feet thick. At im])ortant ))laces the towers were about^100 yards apart. wJiilc hi remote districts, free from the/chronic raids of the nomads, they \\ere never more than apart. All the towers wer
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Keywords: ., bookauthorthomasco, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1917
