Winner
The Mysteries of the Enormous Creation
Cyrus Ch
n the midst of the wondrous story of China there stretches almost 9,000km in length. This monumental
fortification has been a symbol of power and greatness in China for many centuries. The unparalleled wall
is immensely so large no other masterpiece built by human hands could be seen from the space and the
moon. The creation of the Great Wall made a significant difference in the perspectives of the opposed
country, Mongolia. The Great Wall, therefore, showed superiority, security and high financial resources. The
Wall was seen to be an impossible task even today. Many researchers were astonished by this magnificent
structure especially without effective machinery tools. Therefore, immense effort was put forth by hundreds of
thousands of civilians to make the impossible possible. In the text, you will learn some of the most mysterious
things that the Great Wall of China has to offer.
an, Group 2: Non-Fiction, Sha Tin Junior School
I
The Creation of the Great Wall
The idea of the great wall was first invented by Qin Shi Huang and after that many other dynasties did so as
well to work as a defensive mechanism to block off the raiding Mongols from taking China for themselves.
However, only attacking Beijing, the powerful empire of China was a great fear since it has been the core of
China. At the start, most people thought the idea was unreasonable to waste so much man-power and intensive
labour to create the wall to stop the Mongols from attacking the Chinese again. The materials used were the
resources that could be found in nearly every part of China. The resources were mainly rammed earth, rocks,
soil and many other local resources they could find in the mountains. All tools were non-machinery such as
shovels, boards to hold materials and pulleys to bring the materials up to the top of the wall. Qin hoped that the
Mongols would not penetrate the walls defence. Even though it looked impossible, the people of China still
risked their lives in the hope that the impossible becomes possible. Therefore, in the making of the great wall,
many were forced to construct the wall as soon as possible to avoid any unsuccessful outcomes like Mongols
entering into their territories.
The purpose of building it
After the wall was built, the defensive strategies were commanded by the generals from each of the wall.
The Great Wall had pathways for horses to commence into battle; there were some watch holes to see if the
enemies were attacking. The smoke signals were to spread dangerous warnings coming before them and a
shooting hole to hit the enemy with cannons to stop the attack. When the ground was lower, the walls were
higher, and when the ground was higher, the walls were lower to save human and financial costs. The Wall
raised security and helped protect their riches such as silk, gold and silver. It also stopped the Mongols from
expanding their empire. Even though there were many different reasons why the wall was built, the main reason
was because it was to block the Mongols from raiding China. Lead by Genghis Khan, the Mongols raided China
continuously and threatened the Chinese to give them their riches to prove that they were powerful. If the
Chinese refused to give what the Mongols asked for, they would kill the hostages they kept. It happened again
and again until the Great Wall was built. China also had used the wall to protect their food supply or there
wouldn’t be any living people in China. Most Chinese farmers were scared to grow their crops before the wall
was made, because the Mongols would just take the food away. But after the wall was built, they were happily
growing their crops to survive. Therefore, the food supply was increasing and more benefits and advantages had
been offered since the creation of the Great Wall.
The Difficulties faced by China
The Great Wall was a massive project that caused the sufferings and death of many ordinary people. Even
though there were millions of people building the wall, they still took nine years to build the wall in the North
Qi’s area. The wall caused many into forced labour, working intensively each day and it was nothing different to
slavery. The three main groups who built the wall were soldiers, common people and criminals. Most of the
criminals built the wall for four years as their punishment by the law but it was not enough. Therefore,
thousands and thousands of people including the farmers had to sacrifice their agricultural practices and risked
their lives to help complete the giant fortification. Furthermore, during that time, many families feared to have
boys as they would have to join the build of the Wall which gave them no future and hope. Because of the
