Show It THE TOE GREAT CHINESE GREAT GREA CHINESE WALL I 1 China Mar 16 1917 The The My ton Free Freo Press re Dear Editor I II 1 I. I am sending you ou a 0 few pages' pages of the tho history of or the tho Great w Wall u as aa as I promised a few tew months ago The Thel nu Hsiung-nu u about B. B C. C In the north a a. formidable foe Coc had arisen risen whom the Chinese called Hsiung One Ono Chinese authorIty authority seems to think that these barbarians descended directly from Hsiung Yu Yd Bon aon on of Chieh the last lat ruler r of or the hou house of Hsia Ho Ile is said to have taken a wife and migrated Into the jp steppes north north of the Mongolian deaf des dea- F f ort ert This Thie might account for their earlier name of Hsiung Yun Tun If w We J may accept this suggestion the nu Hsiung-nu began to terrify the Chinese ese as early as 3 the the middle of the Chau Dynasty Dynast for in the Doo BooX of Odes we read of many expeditions ag against a tribe of barbarians known as aa Hsiung Yun The nu were a nomadic people people movi moving from place td to place with their flocks and herds and always al alin always al- al I IThe ways in search of or fresh Cresh pastures The They had no written language They were very vory skillful archers as they lived chiefly by hunting and used the skins of or animals for clothes To marry arry ones one's step mother or a brothers brother's widow was was nothing Improper improper Im Im- proper roper with the Hsiung Their chief chier was called yu Shien and it was their custom to meet with hIm hm several times a year ear for pur pun pos poses posea of or worship one of their Gods Goda being Lung Jung Chen or the Dragon God When a chief chic died a number of his wives and slav slaves was always fined They always fought on horseback horse back and prisoners of war became the sl slaves and property of the captor It was w was s Because e of this barbarous people that the Great Wall was built hullt by Chih Huang Ti It mus pot be be supposed sod that this gigantic w work rk was done doneall all at once As a matter of of fact separate walls had been erected r by the states which bordered upon tho the territory o of the Hsiung What was aas actually dono done b by Chih Huang Ti was t the tho o uniting strengthening strengthening- and improving of the existing tures and this work was executed under the supervision of General General M ng It Is stated that the immediate cause of the c completion of this wall wan was as an oracle which which Chih Huang Ti consulted This oracle could be bo read in two ways ways' like Uke the Delphic Delphi oracle It told him him that It was wag Hu that was destined to ov overthrow over r- r throw the ChIn empire No Now Hu is a Chinese charac character er denoting the Hsiung nu Hun aa sa 8 well as forming a part of the name of Shih Huang Ti's Tia second son Hu flu Hal In In view of the the past history of the tho nu Hsiung-nu it w was s natural that the tho o oracle cle was interpreted to to mean mean the northern barbarians Chili Chih Huang Ti died Med B. B C C. C while making a trip to tp or what is now Now as you have the c causo u and n x reasons for the tho building of this great work I will try to tell ten you of it as asit as asit i it is at the present day Cr Tho The Great Wall all r The Tho Pekin-Kalgan Pekin railroad railroad ma makes too toor r it rt m much ch easier sier to visit Wall i ul than than n waat e case a a few years years ago when it was was necessary necessary to or organize a party party of or cO coolies coolies' ea and a 3 cam camel i t train and t d spend a week or so on the tho trip This railroad at d follo follows s for miles an anold old tra trade route which runs northwest northwest north- north west wear from Pekin Pekin- through through- through Mongolia Mongolia to Europe and which has been n u used d dby by caravans for thousands of years Years Trains of camels donkeys donkey's and v woolen Siberian ponies are still to b be seen seen moving in both directions S and at short intervals along this this' old trail hIl which is totally unimproved and could not be used by y I wagons gons any any- aw where About 30 miles g the railroad and the old trail leave the tho great plain of north China a anc and d enter a p pass pass in inthe J the mountains ca called calle led pass At tho the entrance of tho the pass a a largo bride brick wall is seen condition condition condition condi condi- in a somewhat down tumbled tion and two other walls but m little o inferior In construction to the Gr Great Grea t Wall are seen crossing the pass bv bOo fore the Great Wall Wan Is 18 reached B D Bet the three walls first seen are comparatively com short The Tho first branch branci o otho of ot the tho Great Wall is reached at Chins Ching lung a railroad station bullon 36 miles from Pekin This branch follows follows fol tol- fol- fol lows the watershed of or the tho mountains mountains mountains moun moun- which bou bound d the Great Plain of China on the north In some com places it ascends steep slopes In lung it others as at lung chino crosses mountain gorges but for Cor th the most part it stands on steep rock rocky and almost inaccessible ridges Its elevation at pass I Is 1600 feet feel but parts of it are t foot feet t above sea level levei It L i Crom 2 26 25 to 30 feet teet in height height-h about 25 feet fee thick at the base and about 15 f fee foot t I thick at the tho the top op The Tho top terre terre- plein is paved with brick hrick and and Js Js 15 abundantly wide ido enough to drive a team on but it would not be easy so-easy ea eato to do this in all places for tho the wall sometimes as ascend end slopes so steep that a man cannot make his way ay along it without using his hands At both north and south sides of or the tho i are aro walls about three throe feet foot high built of granite blocks the north norOl wall the tho south wall wan continuous The foundation and about ten feet of the superstructure of the retaining walls which form the north and south faces are built of dressed granite blocks each estimated ed od to weigh about pounds The remainder of or the retaining walls is built of or burnt bri brick k each ooch brick about twice as long Ions twice as wide and ana twice as thick as the brick now uses in house building The The space pace t t h veen t veen en the tho retaining walls is filled in with cobble stones There ire are rc- rc large h square towers at intervals of GOO COO yards Near each tower an arched doorway is found lound in the south side sido of or the wall leading to stone steps which bring you out on top of the wall The bricks are of a gray color and of f flint hardness Tho brick aril anil anI the granito blocks are cemented together together with a white cement too hard to be bo cut with a kJ knife fe The Thc brick must havo been made down in tb the plain twelve or fifteen miles away There are brick kilns there thero now turning out brick orick of the same color as those in the Great Wall The cobblestones and the granite blocks must must also have come coma from a di distance tance and the ta task k of or getting them to the site of the wall wan seems in some places almost superhuman The Great GI eat Wall Wan Is not so 60 high nor as ns thick as s the wall surrounding surrounding sur sur- rounding Peking Pekin but the Great Wall Wan Wallis Wanis is stated to be 1500 miles long long- while hile lh wall about th the T Tarter city is only 13 miles long The Chinese call the Great Wall The Wall Wan of ofTen ofTen Ten Ten Thousand Thousand Li Li Figuring three Ii to one mile this would make the theall wan wall all over miles mUes long but I presume presume pre- pre sume ume the he Chinese name is figuratively figurative- figurative ly y l rather ther than literal The length length or of the Great Wall isle is it the le factor which gains it the credIt of f being the greatest piece of or constructive work pork ever accomplished by y the h Dian DianI I 1 race ace Desi Beside e it the pyramids of Egypt and the Panama canal seem seem small and cheap The oldest bra branch ch of the e G Great eat Wall Vail is found round at Kalgan miles from rom Pekin This branch was built entirely of brick and much of it has fa fallen alien en or been boon torn down for buildIng building build- build Ing ng material It was waa begun by the Emperor hwang ti in 21 I B. B C. C fj but lit t. t it is difficult to believe that even ono one no branch of of this wall was completed I I ed during the lifetime of of one one n man I Almost every third man was drafted U through r ugh the empire for the t nt of r this r undertaking an and being eing poorly su supplied with provis Ions ons many of them died in the works work he The Chinese es also call ll the wa waft The ruin uin of on one generation and the thesal- thesal sal ya ion of thU thousands 8 H However v. v v r true e he the fir first t pa part of th this sentence may maybe maybe b be the latter is Is' not eo so ex exactly ct y as the tom Tar have havo several times Umes invaded China notwithstanding ta ing ng their wall and are re now now now-in in poss pos posy s on of or the emp empire re or was was' up to o 1912 Still it is a stupendous work st stretching over 1600 1500 mn miles of coun- coun ry crossing hills bills and rivers rivers' and pr provided with gates and towers at certain l intervals t so o iha that If wet welt I manned and guarded in a cou country iry I whore artillery is la seldom employed employ employ- ed it might still be bo serviceable ble in k keeping o out t anT 7 enemy were not ot of the dreaded Tar Tartar hordes not of op of both oth sides sides sides' of the wall I IThe The name of ot the first ruler ruler lot of the Tsin dynasty ty Is s however held beld in detestation lon by br the Chinese I T LAWRENCE W ENCE |