张慈贇，Born in Shanghai in 1949, ZHANG Ciyun (Peter) graduated from Jilin Normal University, PRC with a major in English and later from Stanford University in the United States with a Master's Degree in Journalism. Since 1980, he has worked for several newspapers and magazines in both Beijing and Shanghai. Also, he once served in the General Office of the Ministry of Communications as an interpreter and the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality as its Deputy General Director.
An acclaimed translator, reporter and editor, Mr.Zhang has helped bring into existence four English-language newspapers on the Chinese mainland,namely, China Daily, Beijing Weekend, Shanghai Star and Shanghai Daily. He is now the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Shanghai Daily and an executive council member of Translation Association of China.He has translated and co-translated more than a dozen books and a large amount of documents, includingStrange Stories of Liao Zhai Studio and the English version of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He has also published many English and Chinese articles and theses in newspapers and magazines both in China and overseas.
长城 (chang cheng)
The Great Wall
One of the Eight Wonders of the World
The Great Wall is believed by many to be one of the greatest architectural masterpieces of mankind - as such, it is often called one of the Eight Wonders of the World.
People often credit Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), the First Emperor of a unified China, as the builder of the Great Wall. But con- struction of the wall actually started during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476-221 BC), long before Qin Shi Huang's time, and it was rebuilt for several times in later dynasties.
However, the First Emperor did order additional construction and connection of various sections of defensive walls to form the Great Wall in northern China to fend off nomadic invaders. Unfortunately, most of the ancient walls built during the Qin time have disappeared and the existing wall we see today was mostly constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Built with bricks, rammed earth, stone and wood, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty stretches more than 8,850 kilometers from Hushan in northeast China's Liaoning Province to Jiayuguan in northwest China's Gansu Province. Most Chinese people call it Wanli Changcheng, meaning literally "Ten Thousand Li Long Wall." Li is a traditional Chinese measure of distance, equaling 500 meters or half a kilometer.
The average height of the wall stands at 7.8 meters, but in some sections, it reaches 14 meters. Since most segments of the wall were built along mountains, the height of the wall rises in relatively level places and drops on steep ridges.
To ensure that two heavy, horse-drawn carts could rumble along side-by-side along the top of the wall, most portions of the Great Wall are quite wide, measuring an average of 6.5 meters at the bottom and 5.8 meters across the top of the wall.
While planning the route of the wall, the builders made the best use of advantageous topographic features, such as high mountains, steep cliffs and sharp river bends, to amplify the wall's function of defense and also to save labor and resources.
In earlier days, the walls were mainly built by filling wooden frames with earth and small stones. After the earth and stones were tamped solid, the wooden frames were removed.
During the Ming Dynasty, mass production of bricks and tiles became popular. As a result, the Ming Great Wall was mostly built with bricks of different sizes and shapes, depending on whether they were used for the wall body, stairs, battlements or gates.
The bricks made the wall stronger and last longer both in battles and in the fight against the elements.
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Ancient Chinese architecture is a beautiful gem as well as an integral part of Chinese culture. It is also one of the three greatest architectural systems in the world, the other two being European and Arabic architecture.
As Liang Sicheng (1901-1972), a renowned Chinese architect and “father of modern Chinese architecture,” once pointed out that the architecture of China is as old as Chinese civilization. Some archaeological discoveries indicate that Chinese people began to develop a unique construction style as early as more than 7,000 years ago.
During the following centuries, Chinese artisans, builders and architects had invented a great number of ingenious tools, construction parts, structures as well as architectural designs, techniques and styles. They had also married the art and science of designing and erecting buildings with Chinese philosophy, religion, local customs and the traditional system of social hierarchy.
As time went by, many beautiful and grandiose buildings, such as palaces, temples, mausoleums, bridges and distinctive dwellings were built all around the country and some of them, such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the First Emperor’s Mausoleum featuring life-sized terracotta warriors are still in existence today.
Of course, there are so much more.
Traveling around China today, you may cross a bridge that was built several hundred years ago； or you may stay for a night in a courtyard or a cave-house that have been the traditional dwellings for the local people for centuries.
It is a feast for your eyes to visit famous temples, palaces and old gardens featuring exquisite designs and decorations in different part of the country. However, what’s more interesting or even enlightening are the historical stories behind the walls of these buildings.
In this book, the authors will tell you many of such stories and will guide you as you knock on the gate of this ancient kingdom.
