This amazing building of civilization has an age equal to more than one thousand years. Until now, some secrets of this mysterious wall remain unsolved.
The Great Wall of China is full of surprises and interesting facts. The article provides some known information about this world-class landmark, as well as information about another famous Chinese tower.
General information
The Chinese wall is one of the ancient monuments. This unique creation of human hands that has survived to this day attracts millions of tourists every year.
It was built over 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 fortification walls is 5–8 m, and the average height is 6–7 m. Below is information about the towers of the Chinese Wall.
Reasons for building a grand obstacle
China is protected from three sides by natural barriers. From the southIt borders the Himalayas on its sides, the Pacific Ocean to the east, and the Tibetan Plateau to the west. The border to the north remained open, allowing nomads to raid Chinese territory, seize livestock and crops, and take local peasants with them to further turn them into slaves.
Nomads, who are excellent riders, both appeared suddenly and disappeared just as quickly. The Chinese army, located along the northern borders of the state, consisted only of infantrymen who were not able to withstand such lightning attacks by the nomads. The Chinese eventually decided to build a barrier to solve this problem. Powerful walls with guards were supposed to help prevent the invasion of nomads. The watchtowers of the Chinese Wall 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 has become truly unique and incomparable in terms of the scale of construction with any of the similar structures in the world.
In the minds of most people, it is one whole, but in reality it consists of numerous walls that were built by the rulers of different dynasties over the course of more than 1800 years.
Towers of the Great Wall of China
An integral part of the wall is its towers, some of which were built before the construction of the wall itself, and were built into it during construction. These are towers that are considerably widesmaller than the width of the wall, and they are located in random places. Those towers that were erected simultaneously with the wall were at a distance of about 200 meters from each other, which is equal to the range of the arrow.
There are several types of Chinese wall towers. They differ in architectural style. The most common type of building was built in 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 sight of the fire (about 10 km), from where signals were transmitted in the process of monitoring the approaches of the enemy. 12 gates were installed in the wall for passage, which over time were strengthened and turned into powerful outposts.
Legends of the Chinese Wall
According to legend, the place and direction of the construction of the wall was indicated to the workers by a dragon who passed along the borders of the state. In his footsteps, the workers erected this fortification. According to some statements, the very shape formed by the wall is similar to a soaring dragon.
The most famous legend is that of Meng Jiang Nu, the wife of a farmer who was forced to work building a wall during the Qin Dynasty. His wife, having learned that after the death of her husband during construction work, he was buried right in the wall, wept so bitterly that from her crying that part of the wall where the remains of her husband were located collapsed. This gave her the opportunity to properly bury him. A monument was erected on the wall to commemorate this sad story.
Great Chinese Tower
Here we will talk about another famous object in China. It is the tallest tower in China and the second tallest in the world (Tokyo's first). It is called Canton Tower - Guangzhou TV Tower. It was built in 2005-2009 for the beginning of the Asian Games 2010. Its height is 600 meters, and up to 450 meters the building was erected in the form of a combination of a central core and a mesh bearing hyperboloid shell. The tower has two viewing platforms: the upper one, open at a height of 488 meters, and the lower one (450 meters).
The first floor of the China Tower is occupied by an exhibition with mock-ups dedicated 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 shopping arcade shops.
The building of the TV tower also houses the post office, which is the highest in the world. There are also various attractions that are breathtaking. From the outside of the tower, you can walk up the stairs (from levels 32 to 64). 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 dining establishments with beautiful panoramic views.
