Should I smile, Cuz ur my friend, Or cry..Cuz that's all we'll ever be? Your position:Home->great wall-> History of the Great Wall(4)
Liu Bang (256BC-195BC) took the title of Han Gaozu, the first emperor of Han Dynasty (202BC-220AD), when he ascended the throne after defeating Xiang Yu in 202BC. That was right after the brief Qin Dynasty, which had imposed a centralized government on China. But the new nation was no match for the fierce Huns, who had constantly invaded its northern borders. Early Han administrators had no choice but sued for peace, and sent Chinese princesses north as Hun nobles' brides. By 140 BC, under Liu Che (156BC-87BC), the emperor Han Wudi brought war home to the Huns. He also had several parts of the Great Wall built. Han Wudi ordered a construction project of the Great Wall in 127 BC. This resulted in rebuilding an older part of the Wall and an extension of territories to present day Mount Yinshan of Inner Mongolia. Huo Qubing, Emperor Han Wudi's general pushed the Huns back and in 121 BC he secured the Hexi Corridor, the passage to the Western Region. A subsequent Hexi wall construction from present day Yongdeng County to Jiuquan City in Gansu Province had severed contacts between Huns and their allies the Qiang People. The newer wall had joined the eastern terminus of an older network of walls. Forts dotted the distance between Jiuquan City and Yumenguan Pass of Gansu Province that were also the form of the Great Wall. These were measures against Hun warlords around 110 BC. Around 101 BC Chinese workers built the section from Yumenguan Pass to Luobu Po of Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region. Altogether Han Wudi had built a thousand kilometers (621 miles) of defense wall over twenty years to secure the passage to the Western Region. The Huns power later was in decline and consequently less wall-building activity came about this side of the border. During the period of Eastern Han, after years of civil wars, Liu Xiu (6BC-57AD), the emperor Guang Wudi could put up only weak resistance to northern invaders. In around 39 AD he gave order to his general Ma Cheng to build four boundary walls to contain the damage. The boundary walls ran 1) from Lishi County of Shanxi Province to southeast of Xianyang City of Shaanxi Province; 2) between Gaoling County of Shaanxi and Anyi County of Shanxi; 3) from Taiyuan City of Shanxi to Jingxing County of Hebei Province; and 4) from Dingxian County of Hebei to Linhang County of Henan Province. The walls offered some protection to Luoyang, the capital of Eastern Han. Afterwards in-fighting divided the Huns into the North and South. The North Huns were driven off by Han. The more friendly South Huns co-existed with the Han Dynasty and there was no need to build more walls. Wall Construction Prior to the Jin Dynasty After the short-lived Sui Dynasty came the glorious Tang Dynasty (618-907). The whole period of the Tang Dynasty was a time of economic and cultural prosperity. During this period there was little or no threat from beyond the national borders, so no additional fortifications were deemed necessary. With the collapse of the Tang Dynasty and the subsequent fragmentation of the country the succeeding dynasties continued to focus on cultural development. The Song Dynasty (960-1279), although obliged to adopt a defensive stance against the dynasties of Liao (907-1125), Western Xia (1032-1227), and Jin (1115-1234), did not build fortification walls. According to historical records, in 908 a section of the Great Wall on the Nanguanling Town of Liaoning Province at the confluence of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea (Huanghai Sea) was built during the Liao Dynasty (907-1125). In 1026, the nomadic Nuzhen who occupied territory to the northeast of China built several fortresses and beacon towers to prevent invasion. The fortresses and beacon towers formed part of the defense system of the Great Wall. At this time the Wall stretched from White City (Bai Cheng) Village of Acheng City of Heilongjiang Province in the north to Nongan County of Jilin Province in the south. The Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty In 1115, the Nuzhen nomadic established the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). In order to prevent incursion from their neighbors, the Mongols, a large construction program was launched. The records show that two important sections of the Great wall were completed. The Wall as constructed by the Jin differed from the previous sections. Known as the Border Fortress or the Boundary Ditch of the Jin, it was formed by digging ditches within which lengths of wall were built. In some places subsidiary walls and ditches were added for extra strength. The construction of the Great Wall by the Jin Dynasty was started in about 1123 and completed by about 1198. The two sections attributable to the Jin Dynasty are known as the Mingchang Old Wall and the Mingchang New Wall. The Mingchang Old Wall: Also called the Border Fortress of the Jin, this section is located to the north of the Mingchang New Wall. It is near today's Heilongjiang River northwest of the Xing'an Mountains in Heilongjiang Province. It stretched about 500 kilometers (311 miles). The Mingchang New Wall: Also called the Inner Wall of Jin, it was also built to prevent attack from the Mongols, the whole wall stretched about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), starting from Hetao area of Inner Mongolia at the west, passing provinces and autonomous regions such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning and Heilongjiang and ending at the Songhua River of Heilongjiang Province. Today, the site of the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty can be found in Xilinhaute City of Xilin Gol League of Inner Mongolia. With the advent of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), there was no further need to extend the border defenses, as their territory spanned parts of both Europe and Asia. The next era of construction was to follow when the rule of the Ming was established. 
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