The Great Wall: More Than Just Military Defense

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When people talk about the Great Wall, they often think of the Great Wall built by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, or the section built during the Ming Dynasty from Shanhaiguan to Jiayuguan, especially the majestic sections near Beijing, like at Juyongguan and Badaling. In fact, the earliest walls were built long before the Qin Dynasty.

In human military history, people often used walls, passes, and moats to block enemy attacks and strengthen their defenses, taking advantage of geographic conditions. Such walls were built in various places, not only in China but also around the world. Early walls, like the Great Wall, were already constructed between the various states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. These walls often used natural terrain, such as ridgelines, riverbanks, or valleys, for their construction.

The State of Chu claimed, “The Fangcheng area serves as a city, with the Han River acting as a moat,” using the terrain of Fangcheng to build a wall. To defend against nomadic tribes from the north, several states near the northern border, like Yan, Zhao, and Qin, had already built walls along their borders. During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, the northern sections of these walls were connected, and the wall was extended further westward. In some areas, where the defensive line against the Xiongnu was pushed further north, new sections of the wall were constructed, and sometimes multiple walls were built in certain sections, forming the famous Great Wall stretching from Liaodong to Lintao (modern Min County, Gansu), over 10,000 miles.

This was initially an important military project to strengthen national defense and was highly beneficial in resisting the southern invasions of the Xiongnu. But why did the construction of the wall provoke such great opposition at the end of the Qin Dynasty? Historians often comment that the building of the Great Wall was one of the tyrannical acts of Qin Shi Huang and even consider it a major cause of the quick downfall of the Qin Dynasty.

The military function of the Great Wall was primarily to block enemy attacks. The Xiongnu and other northern nomadic tribes were mainly cavalry, and without any defensive structures, they could quickly breach regular defenses and infiltrate the interior. The Great Wall at least served as a barrier, as it was impossible for cavalry to quickly cross it, and even if the wall was damaged, it would take time to breach.

However, if there was only the wall without soldiers to defend it or a communication system like beacon fires, the wall could only stop enemies for a limited time. Making a hole in the wall was not difficult, as most of the wall in that period was made from earth and was not very high. So, the function of the Great Wall had to be combined with a beacon fire system for communication and needed troops stationed in appropriate places to quickly respond to information, fortify the borders, and resist invaders.

Stationing troops created a major problem. Many of the areas near the wall were barren and could not produce food locally. The areas close to the wall had either backward agricultural production or sparse populations, so it was impossible to supply food easily. The main food production areas were to the east of the Taihang Mountains, requiring a large amount of labor to transport food to the Great Wall to support the workers building it and the soldiers stationed there.

Since there was no water transport in the north, food had to be carried by humans or pack animals. Because there was no logistical support along the route, those transporting food and the animals carrying it had to bring their own supplies. The proportion of food actually delivered to the border was very low.

During the Western Han period, it was calculated that, during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, food had to be transported from Shandong to the Hetao region—an area newly developed for military garrisons and the Great Wall’s construction. The proportion of food that actually arrived was only one-sixtieth. For every 60 shi (a traditional unit of weight) of food transported from Shandong, only one shi made it to Hetao. Where did the other 59 shi go? Half was consumed along the way by soldiers and the pack animals, which also needed food. If an animal died or ran away, the food would not reach its destination. Therefore, most of the transport relied on human carriers. The remaining half of the food could not be completely left there because the return journey also needed provisions. For an army of 300,000 stationed along the Hetao section of the Great Wall, imagine the manpower and food needed to sustain them!

Moreover, some sections of the Great Wall needed more earth and stone than what was available locally, so these materials had to be transported from other places.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall was built with bricks, requiring the special production of bricks. This couldn’t be done locally, so bricks had to be custom-made elsewhere, fired, and then transported. At Badaling, we can still see bricks with inscriptions indicating they were made in certain counties, showing the large scale of the project.

The effectiveness of the Great Wall in blocking enemies depended on other supporting functions. To send timely signals, there had to be a beacon fire system. Along the wall, beacon towers or outposts were built at certain intervals, each requiring personnel to be stationed there. Fuel, such as firewood or animal dung, was needed to light the beacons, and signals or smoke would be used to pass information from station to station. The personnel at these towers, as well as their fuel, had to be constantly prepared, requiring food and material supplies. When a signal was received, troops had to be available, and weapons ready, for the Great Wall to be effective.

Without these conditions, or if the defending troops couldn’t hold back the enemy, the wall was useless. In the late Ming period, the Qing troops frequently breached the Great Wall at places like the Gubeikou, sometimes advancing as far as Xuzhou in Jiangsu. Other dynasties also faced similar situations, where parts of the Great Wall were old and in need of repair, but more importantly, the defense systems were incomplete. Some sections lacked troops, or the military strength was insufficient to stop the enemy.

Although the Great Wall was an effective military project crucial for the safety of the regime at the time, it also placed a heavy burden on the people, leading to dissatisfaction and resistance. Qin Shi Huang didn’t just build the Great Wall; he launched many other large projects that required enormous human and material resources, beyond what the common people could bear.

During the Western Han period, the empire expanded into the Hexi Corridor, making the construction of the Great Wall there more difficult. In some areas, there was not enough earth, so local materials like red willow and mud were used. Some sections of the wall used the natural terrain, building the walls lower where possible. In places like Juyuan (now in Inner Mongolia's Ejin Banner), where there were water sources and fertile land, troops were stationed to establish farming and produce food locally. This helped sustain the garrisons and their families, and surplus food could even be sent elsewhere. Once food supplies were secured, the function of the Great Wall was guaranteed.

To defend against the remnants of the Yuan dynasty and Mongol armies and to protect Beijing, the Ming Dynasty constructed the most robust and massive Great Wall, seen today at Juyongguan, Badaling, and Jinshanling. In these areas, the engineering was grand, with multiple layers of walls in some places, making them extremely fortified. The Ming Dynasty also set up military districts called the "Nine Border Regions" to station hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their families, requiring vast amounts of food and supplies, which became a heavy burden on the state. In the early Ming Dynasty, the government came up with a solution: the "Open Salt Policy," where those who transported food to the Nine Border Regions were rewarded with salt trade quotas. Merchants like those from Hui and Jin had keen business minds and transported food to the borders, gaining large salt trade quotas, and became major salt merchants. This system helped stabilize the food supply to the Nine Border Regions, allowing the Great Wall to function more effectively.

Thus, the Great Wall was not just a simple structure; it reflected the overall national power of the time and depended on the resources of the entire country. Because of this, once the Great Wall no longer served its defensive purpose and the entire nation was unified, there was no longer a need to maintain the Great Wall. We see that when the borders were unified under one regime, there was no need to build or even maintain the Great Wall, as rulers of that time saw it as unnecessary.

During the Tang Dynasty, when China was powerful, its northern borders extended to the north of the Mongolian Plateau, and it defeated both the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates. Its western borders expanded to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, so there was no need to build a Great Wall inside its territory. Under the Yuan Dynasty, when the Mongolian Plateau, Northeast China, North China, and the Hexi Corridor were all unified, the Great Wall was also unnecessary.

In the reign of the Kangxi Emperor during the Qing Dynasty, officials reported that some sections of the Great Wall were in disrepair and that some passes needed reinforcement. Kangxi responded that there was no need, reprimanding them for being foolish, saying, "Why do I need the Great Wall? Isn't Mongolia already my Great Wall? Now the whole world is one, and I rely on Mongolia to guard our borders. Why build the Great Wall?"

From the perspective of national unification, the abandonment of the Great Wall's military function was a great historical advancement.

Today, when we talk about the Great Wall, we should not only view its historical military function but also regard it as a precious heritage and an important cultural relic. From a historical perspective, the Great

Wall once symbolized the strong spirit of the Chinese people, embodying their determination to defend their territory and their right to exist. Especially in times of national peril and disaster, the Great Wall was a symbol of resilience, inspiring the Chinese people to resist foreign invaders and persevere through hardships.

On the other hand, the many old and diverse sections of the Great Wall, along with their ancillary structures, relics, and artifacts, reflect the great creativity of our ancestors. They are worth cherishing as heritage in terms of architecture, planning, engineering, cultural relics, literature, art, military, economy, management, society, and ethnicity.