舌尖上的中国柳林碗团:帮我一个忙，写一篇英文的介绍长城的文章300个字左右

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Mystery of the Great Wall
Surrounded by a sweet breeze, spectacular mountains, deep cultural atmosphere, I stood at top of the Great Wall – one of the seven wonders in the world.
Construction of the Great Wall started in the 7th century B.C. It was originally for defense purposes. However today, as a cultural heritage. It is especially famous for its wonderful view.
Thousands of visitors had come and gone beside m, but I didn’t feel a thing. I had already immersed myself in the delight of being together with the Great Wall. With my heart beating fast, I got close to it. The strange thing was that when I just touched the cool crimson wall bricks, a feeling of calm came straight into my heart. I suddenly had the sensation that I was touching the skin of the Great Wall – what was beneath, with the boiling blood following through, was the vein of history. All my wonders of the Great Wall arised simultaneously.
As I stood on the Great Wall, I was extremely proud of our ancestors, with their effort, their labour, their wit. How they constructed the elaborate structure left an unanswered question to me. As I felt the Great Wall, a soft, distant voice came through the long wall to speak to my soul, as if an old were passing all his tradition, culture, spirit, fortune to a next generation. I simply could not tear myself away from the breathtaking mystery of the brilliant Great Wall.
This is the Great Wall, a huge, serrated wall zigzagging its way to the east and west along the undulating mountains. This is the Great Wall, which is said to be visible from the moon. This is the Great Wall, that has enhanced my understanding of the nation’s traditional spirit, that I find myself a daughter of his, that I am most tempted to discover.

The Great Wall

The Great Wall, like the Pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal(1) in India and the Hanging Garden of Babylon(2), is one of the great wonders of the world.

Starting out in the east on the banks of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province, the Wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to Jiayuguan in the Gobi desert, thus known as the Ten Thousand Li Wall in China. The Wall climbs up and down, twists and turns along the ridges of the Yanshan and Yinshan Mountain Chains through five provinces--Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu--and two autonomous regions--Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, binding the northern China together.

Historical records trace the construction of the origin of the Wall to defensive fortification back to the year 656 B.C. during the reign of King Cheng of the States of Chu. Its construction continued throughout the Warring States period in the fifth Century B.C. when ducal states Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Qin were frequently plundered by the nomadic peoples living north of the Yinshan and Yanshan mountain ranges. Walls, then, were built separately by these ducal states to ward off such harassments. Later in 221 B.C., when Qin conquered the other states and unified China, Emperor Qinshihuang ordered the connection of these individual walls and further extensions to form the basis of the present great wall. As a matter of fact, a separate outer wall was constructed north of the Yinshan range in the Han Dynasty(206 BC--1644 BC.), which went to ruin through years of neglect. In the many intervening centuries, succeeding dynasties rebuilt parts of the Wall. The most extensive reinforcements and renovations were carried out in the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644) when altogether 18 lengthy stretches were reinforced with bricks and rocks. it is mostly the Ming Dynasty Wall that visitors see today.

The Great Wall is divided into two sections, the east and west, with Shanxi Province as the dividing line. The west part is a rammed earth construction, about 5.3 meters high on average. In the eastern part, the core of the Wall is rammed earth as well, but the outer shell is reinforced with bricks and rocks. The most imposing and best preserved sections of the Great Wall are at Badaling and Mutianyu, not far from Beijing and both are open to visitors.

The Wall of those sections is 7.8 meters high and 6.5 meters wide at its base, narrowing to 5.8 meters on the ramparts, wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast. There are ramparts, embrasures, peep-holes and apertures for archers on the top, besides gutters with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet walk. Two-storied watch-towers are built at approximately 400-meters internals. The top stories of the watch-tower were designed for observing enemy movements, while the first was used for storing grain, fodder, military equipment and gunpowder as well as for quartering garrison soldiers. The highest watch-tower at Badaling standing on a hill-top, is reached only after a steep climb, like "climbing a ladder to heaven". The view from the top is rewarding, hoverer. The Wall follows the contour of mountains that rise one behind the other until they finally fade and merge with distant haze.

A signal system formerly existed that served to communicate military information to the dynastic capital. This consisted of beacon towers on the Wall itself and on mountain tops within sight of the Wall. At the approach of enemy troops, smoke signals gave the alarm from the beacon towers in the daytime and bonfire did this at night. Emergency signals could be relayed to the capital from distant places within a few hour long before the invention of anything like modern communications.

There stand 14 major passes (Guan, in Chinese) at places of strategic importance along the Great Wall, the most important being Shanghaiguan and Jiayuguan. Yet the most impressive one is Juyongguan, about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing.

Known as "Tian Xia Di YI Guan" (The First Pass Under Heaven), Shanghaiguan Pass is situated between two sheer cliffs forming a neck connecting north China with the northeast. It had been, therefore, a key junction contested by all strategists and many famous battles were fought here. It was the gate of Shanghaiguan that the Ming general Wu Sangui opened to the Manchu army to suppress the peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng and so surrendered the whole Ming empire to the Manchus, leading to the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. (1644-1911)

Jiayuguan Pass was not so much as the "Strategic pass Under the Heaven" as an important communication center in Chinese history. Cleft between the snow-capped Qilian Mountains and the rolling Mazong Mountains, it was o

Brief introduction of Great Wall

Great wall of China was an ancient gigantic defensive project. It is one of the largest construction projects ever completed.
Great Wall of China is one of the greatest wonders of the world. It winds its way westward over the vast territory of China from the bank of the Yalu River and ends at the foot of snow-covered Qilianshan and Tianshan mountains. It is seldom that we see such a gigantic project in China or elsewhere in the world. The Chinese call it the Wall of 10,000 li. Its size is better seen on a map or from an aerial photograph. According to astronauts who looked back from the moon, of all projects built by man, the Great Wall of China is the most conspicuous seen in space.

Today, the Great wall has lost its strategic importance and has become a world-renowned tourist attraction. The laboring people of different dynasties demonstrated their intelligence and wisdom while building this great project. They left behind a precious heritage deserving our everlasting care. Badaling section, Juyong pass and Cloud Terrace were listed as important historical monuments under special preservation by the Chinese government in 1961. The Great Wall was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world heritages.