The Great Wall of China
Text 2
The Great Wall of China, known as the ‘Long Wall’ in Chinese, is the longest man-made structure in the world, stretching across northern China, from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west. It is said that the work and materials required to build the Great Wall was equal to 30 great pyramids in
Egypt, and that about 2 to 3 million people died while building it.
The wall’s history began about 2,200 years ago, when a Chinese leader, Emperor Qin, formed seven groups of Chinese to work independently on constructing walls to protect their country from
Mongolian invaders, people from the north who wanted to enter China and take control of it. He then connected their shorter seven walls into a single wall about 4,830 kilometers long.
Emperor Qin used 300,000 men to build the wall and it took about 10 years. The men built across deserts and mountains, some as high as 2,700 meters! One part of the wall, about 7 meters high, goes across 96 kilometers of mountains. The men built about 40 kilometers each month, or about 1.3 kilometers per day. Later, during the Ming Dynasty, from 1368-1644, the Great Wall was repaired and made longer. The wall was built with stone, and rice flour was used as mortar to hold the stones together. The wall was 5 to 10 meters thick, and over 8 meters high.
Today the Great Wall of China is about 6,400 kilometers long, but many parts are in bad condition.
Wind and water erode the wall, destroying it slowly each year. Farmers take stones from it to build fences, and others take them to build houses and roads. From 1870 to 1974 the Chinese Army destroyed about 3,300 meters of the wall and used the stones to build barracks for the soldiers to live in, but in 1979 the Chinese government ordered the Army to destroy the barracks and rebuild the wall.
93. In Chinese, the name for the Great Wall is __________.
A) Stone Wall
B) Lop Nur
C) Long Wall
D) Great Divide
94. Where is the Great Wall
The Great Wall of China, known as the ‘Long Wall’ in Chinese, is the longest man-made structure in the world, stretching across northern China, from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west. It is said that the work and materials required to build the Great Wall was equal to 30 great pyramids in
Egypt, and that about 2 to 3 million people died while building it.
The wall’s history began about 2,200 years ago, when a Chinese leader, Emperor Qin, formed seven groups of Chinese to work independently on constructing walls to protect their country from
Mongolian invaders, people from the north who wanted to enter China and take control of it. He then connected their shorter seven walls into a single wall about 4,830 kilometers long.
Emperor Qin used 300,000 men to build the wall and it took about 10 years. The men built across deserts and mountains, some as high as 2,700 meters! One part of the wall, about 7 meters high, goes across 96 kilometers of mountains. The men built about 40 kilometers each month, or about 1.3 kilometers per day. Later, during the Ming Dynasty, from 1368-1644, the Great Wall was repaired and made longer. The wall was built with stone, and rice flour was used as mortar to hold the stones together. The wall was 5 to 10 meters thick, and over 8 meters high.
Today the Great Wall of China is about 6,400 kilometers long, but many parts are in bad condition.
Wind and water erode the wall, destroying it slowly each year. Farmers take stones from it to build fences, and others take them to build houses and roads. From 1870 to 1974 the Chinese Army destroyed about 3,300 meters of the wall and used the stones to build barracks for the soldiers to live in, but in 1979 the Chinese government ordered the Army to destroy the barracks and rebuild the wall.
93. In Chinese, the name for the Great Wall is __________.
A) Stone Wall
B) Lop Nur
C) Long Wall
D) Great Divide
94. Where is the Great Wall