Qin Dynasty: The Great Wall Of China

The Qin Dynasty was China’s first dynasty. A Dynasty is a line of hereditary rulers of a country. Because it was the first unified, multi-national and power-centralized state in China, it is considered to be one of the most popular Dynasties. The first person to call himself an emperor of the Qin Dynasty was Qin Shi Huang. The word ‘’emperor’’ has now been used for many thousands of years. His Dynasty was short lived and brutal, but gained many accomplishments. His reign lasted from 221 B.C to 210 B.C. From the way he treated his people to the way he ruled his country, his reign had an everlasting effect on Chinese history.

Qin Shi Huang was born the son of King Zhuangxiang in a kingdom that used military force to build large construction

It is one of the Seven Wonders of the world and can be seen from outer space. Chinese laboring people built this wall over a 200-year period. At that time, there were no machines. All the work depended on manpower. Millions of people worked among the continuous mountains and steep cliffs under horrible working conditions. They worked facing dangers and many of them lost their lives. According to ancient records, the labor force was made up of three types of laborers: soldiers, common people and criminals. During the Qin Dynasty the construction of The Great Wall had been a very large project. The Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered millions of people to finish this project even after he died. If a peasant did not contribute to growing food or was a lazy individual, they were assigned hard labor on The Great Wall. For every foot of the wall that was built, it was estimated that someone died. The main reason for the wall being built so high was to keep out foreign

Before bricks were commonly used, a large portion of the wall was built from earth, stone and wood. Since there was such a large quantity of material needed, local sources of materials were always sought after first, then other material would be brought in. If the building of the wall was being done in the mountains, builders would use the stone around them. If they were building in the plains, soil would be pressed into blocks and used as building material. If they were in the desert, they would have to resort to any means necessary. Some areas of the wall were built using different grass and twigs mixed with mud as a building material. During the Qin Dynasty the wall only had to withstand weapons like swords and spears. Basically the wall was built by pressing earth between board frames. Some areas of the wall had to be constructed from just piles of small stones. Today The Great Wall of China is still considered an unbelievable accomplishment of