The Great Wall Of China Research Paper

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Seth Henry
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China is well known for its Great Wall, but it has a history surrounded by the deaths of many Chinese people. The Great Wall of China started being built in 221 to 206 BCE by Emperor Qin, but the Qin were overthrown by the Han Dynasty: 206 to 220 CE. The Qin had built around 1,500 - 2,500 miles of the Great Wall and the Han Dynasty built around 4,000 miles of wall. The Great Wall of China that people know today was later built by the Ming Dynasty 1,500 years later (Doc A). The Great Wall of China required the use of many resources and the deaths of many built up as the project went on, but do the benefits it created outweigh the costs of its construction and then maintaining it? The Great Wall of ancient China’s benefits outweigh the costs: it was a part of a grand plan to achieve peace with the Xiongnu and to let trade prosper with China and the western world so China’s influence would spread and new ideas could enter China.
The Great Wall of ancient China aided trade of ideas and protected traders along the Silk Road. The Great Wall was extended further along the Silk Road (Doc D). This extension of the wall made the section of the Silk Road unprotected by natural elements safe from the Xiongnu and other threats. The rest of the Silk Road was within the Taklamakan Desert (Doc A), a miserable place to travel within if you’re not on a commonly taken pathway. Imports from the western world included important ideas such as the religion Buddhism and the idea of a irrigation system (Doc D). Religion is often a rallying point for people, especially if they’re in threat. If China had stood divided, they would have fallen to the Xiongnu, united they were able to save themselves, with the help of the Great Wall. Chin...

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...l was being built to aid in the protection of the Chinese as war was happening between the Xiongnu and the Han. The wall was an intimidation factor that the Han exploited as they could to shunt aside the Xiongnu. Also the Gobi Desert is a far more forgiving landscape than the Taklamakan Desert is. The Gobi Desert has a far colder climate and plants are more common than in the Taklamakan Desert. It is also hazardous to travel in the Taklamakan Desert and merchants traveling on the Silk Road made it because of the many oasis towns along the way (Wikipedia Foundation). It is unrealistic for an army of Xiongnu to travel through the Taklamakan Desert and then be in the conditions to be ready to fight the soldiers of the Han Dynasty. The Great Wall of ancient China saved the lives of many within China and was worth the cost of resources, including human lives to build it.

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