Whilst Emperors dictated the building of the Great Wall, it was a handful of exceptional military leaders that made it happen. During the Ming Dynasty two names pop up again and again as the commanders in charge of the various constructions.
General Qi Jiguang – 16th century
Qi Jiguang was raised in a military family. He began his military career at 17 and was relieved of duty after 38 years of service. Spending most of his career fighting the Mongols in the north or the pirates in the east, Qi was instrumental in developing new combat tactics that helped defeat China's enemies. As such, he was put in charge of training the imperial guards and was promoted to the highest military rank of Commissioner-in-Chief.
During his time on the Wall, he undertook a massive expansion project, repairing and reinforcing the Wall’s defences, installing as many as 1,000 watchtowers over a 380mi (608km) stretch. These works helped fend off the northern enemies for more than a decade until the Ming Dynasty was replaced. Qi was also known for documenting his thoughts on military strategy into two books and wrote many poems and works of prose.
General Xu Da – 14th century
Young Xu Da grew up at the tail end of the Yuan Dynasty, led by the Mongol empire. Playing warlike games with Zhu Yuanzhang, he was unaware of the fate that awaited both of them in later years. Zhu became a prominent rebel leader with Xu serving as a general. In 1368, together, they led an attack on the capital city and forced the Yuan ruler out, becoming the founders of the newly formed Ming Dynasty, with Zhu as its first emperor and Xu as a general and later a politician. Xu’s first task in relation to the Great Wall was to build the Shanhai Pass near the sea, which he completed in less than two years. He went on to build many sections of the Wall that were reinforced two centuries later by Qi Jiguang. Xu remained in the emperor’s service for 32 years until his passing.
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Descending from the mountains, I came across a bridge spanning a river. Made of granite stone, the bridge, at about 330ft (100m) in length, had eight shuttle-shaped piers and nine arches. It was aptly named ‘Nine-Arch Great Wall Bridge’.
Flanked between two mountains, the river was an important pass and an original wall was built here in the 5th century. The Ming rebuilt it 900 years later, fortifying the valley and naming it Jiumenkou Pass. Nicknamed the ‘Great Wall over Water’, Jiumenkou was quite unusual as it was the only section of the entire Great Wall that crossed a river. Usually, rivers were seen as natural defence barriers and as such the Wall stopped at the river bank and then started again on the other side.
The bridge provided military control over all the river-crossings and river transportation. It was solidly built with a granite stone foundation of 7,000sqm embedded on the riverbed. Access was via the arches that served as gates, whilst the top was used for defending against enemies. At either end of the bridge were forts that during wartime held prisoners in flooded cells (water prisons).
Nearby was a secret tunnel carved beneath the Wall. At just over half a mile long (1km), the tunnel had one entry and two exits. It was used to station troops, store food and weapons and sneak up on the enemy from the rear. It is estimated that as many as 1,000 soldiers could stay in the tunnels.
Following archaeological excavations in the 1990s, many artifacts including cannons, blue and white porcelain bowls and big jars have been uncovered giving historians and military experts insight into life on the Wall.
Crossing the bridge, I head into the hillside for a bird’s eye view of the rocky mountains, the flowing river and the formidable bridge that ties it all together.
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About 4mi (6.4km) from Old Dragon’s Head, in the centre of a large town, was the old fortress Shanhaiguan (Shanhai Pass). Built by General Xu Da in 1381, it was fortified and expanded by General Qi Jiguang in 1583 to seal off passage from the Manchu tribes in the northeast. It was the most important pass on the Wall.
Shanhaiguan did a fine job safeguarding the country until years of drought and famine gave rise to numerous peasant rebellions. At the same time, the Ming armies were busy defending the northern borders from the Manchu tribes. It all came to a head in 1644 when the city of Beijing fell at the hands of the rebels. Hoping to oust the rebels and restore order, a powerful Ming general sought assistance from the Manchu leader. Forming an alliance, the general surrendered Shanhaiguan, essentially throwing the doors open for the Manchu to enter. However, the Manchu had their own agenda, and once through the Pass they set about conquering Beijing and replacing the Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was born and it ruled for nearly 300 years until it was abolished in 1912.
The fortress, in a near-square shape, had a barbican on its east side. Arrow towers used to be at each gate but only one remains today. The walls were made of rammed earth covered with bricks. Views of Jiaoshan Wall to the north and the sea to the south can be seen from the top of the east tower.
Jiaoshan Wall was outside the city and it was named after the highest peak north of Shanhai Pass. Its translation is ‘Horn Peak’. This is the Great Wall’s first mountain climb. Built during the reign of the first Ming emperor (c. 14thC), Jiaoshan sealed the access between Shanhai Pass and the mountainous region of the China-Manchuria border.
Jiaoshan was built of locally quarried materials. A small section, less than a mile, has been restored with wide paths leading up the mountain to the unrestored section, where the path began to narrow. Some of the battlements along the Wall were built on only one side, with steep cliffs providing natural defence on the other. A few of the watchtowers were so high that metal ladders were installed to provide access.
Proceeding up the mountain, Jiaoshan ended at the Big Flat Summit on Dapingding Peak. Here I was afforded views of Jiaoshan Wall and Shanhaiguan to the south, Changshou Mountain to the north and the substantial Shihe Reservoir to the west.
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The Great Wall of China (‘’the Wall”) is one of the most remarkable man-made structures in the world, with the longest building timeline. Beginning in the 7th century BC it continued on and off over several centuries until it peaked in the mid-17th century AD.
The Chinese were masters at building walls. First, they built them around their homes and cities as protection from their ferocious nomadic neighbours. Then, they built them to protect their borders from the wars that raged within their own nation. Most walls were of varying lengths and scattered throughout the land.
The Qin Dynasty squashed the various internal wars, unifying China in 221BC and established the First Empire. Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor and a ruthless ruler, used hundreds of thousands of people to connect and extend the existing walls for defence. By the end of this dynasty 3,000mi (4,800km) of wall ran along the northern border.
The Han Dynasty came next and building on the Wall ceased for a short period. Focus turned to peacetime and opening trade with the West. However, the nomads began raiding again, reprising the need for the Wall to be repaired and extended further. Safeguarding travelling traders became just as important as keeping the nomads out.
After the Han, the Wall was left neglected and crumbling. Vulnerable to attack, it was the sheer size of the Chinese army that kept most intruders at bay until Kublai Khan, a fierce Mongol warrior, forced his way into the capital and took the throne. With both sides of the Wall now Mongol territory, the Wall was no longer needed. Abandoned, much of the early construction disintegrated over time and very little now remains.
The Mongol rule was never accepted. A few decades after Kublai’s death, an uprising forced all the Mongols out and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD) came into power. With the capital city in Beijing, it was much too close to the enemy border. A new wall was rebuilt from scratch. At time of completion, the Wall was 5,500mi (8,850km) long, built by millions of soldiers and forced labourers over a period of 200 years. It is the remnants of this Wall that continues to exist today.
This journey of 2,183mi (3,513km) will begin at its most eastern end where the Wall meets the sea. Regarded as the start of the Great Wall, it is known as Laolongtou (Old Dragon’s Head) because the structure, consisting of a beacon tower and battlement walls, resembles a dragon drinking water from the sea.
The Wall twists and turns its way through the landscape, just like the legendary Chinese Dragon. It crosses mountains tightly straddling narrow cliffs, over lakes and sometimes under, into valleys and through deserts until it reaches the westernmost point ending in a remote outpost in Yangguan.
From the sea breeze on the wall of Laolongtou to the searing sun of the Gobi Desert, I hope to piece together the lengthy story of the Great Wall and the Emperors, Dynasties and Generals that left their mark on it.
Fast facts to give some sense of timeline and the main dynasties during the Wall’s construction:
5th to 3rd century BC – Warring States (Chinese states fighting amongst each other)
221 to 206 BC – Qin Dynasty (First Empire)
206 BC to 220 AD – Han Dynasty
386 to 577 AD – Northern and Southern Dynasties
1125 to 1234 AD – Jin Dynasty (conquered by Mongols)
1368 to 1644 AD – Ming Dynasty (Builders of currently existing wall)
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Well done, you're here at Santa Monica Pier and officially at the end of Route 66.
The pier is actually two piers, over a hundred years old, originally with separate owners. The narrower Municipal Pier had a less appealing function - carrying sewage beyond the breakers. The Pleasure Pier, built seven years later in 1916, originally housed a theatre and is now the site of the carousel. Built in 1922, the carousel was restored in 1990 and placed inside the former theatre building.
The first heyday of the pier was during the 1920s, but like much else during the Great Depression, spending on non-essentials suffered greatly. The pier was mainly used as a ferry port, with many amusements sold off. The 1940s brought country music star Spade Cooley's television show, broadcast from the pier ballroom, and during the 1950s, the ballroom served as a roller skating rink.
Storms, recessions, strange redevelopment ideas, and other peaks and troughs of the popularity of pier-style entertainment have all beset Santa Monica Pier since it was built, but still, it stands - a feature of television and film and the official end of Route 66; it's a long way back to Sears Tower!
Congratulations, you've done it!
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Your last stop before your last stop - you've made it almost all the way across Route 66!
Los Angeles, California, is the second largest urban area in the U.S. It extends more than 40mi from the mountains to the sea.
The Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá visited the site in 1769. On Sept. 4, 1781, the Mexican provincial governor, Filipe de Neve, founded "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles," meaning "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels." The pueblo became the capital of the Mexican province, Alta California, and it was the last place to surrender to the United States at the time of the American occupation in 1847. By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico ceded California to the United States, and Los Angeles was incorporated as a city in 1850.
Los Angeles is a major hub of shipping, manufacturing, industry, and finance. It is world-renowned in the entertainment and communications fields.
In the Santa Monica mountains is perhaps the most famous American monument on this side of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty - the Hollywood Sign. Erected in 1923 as a real estate advertisement - then left behind - it eventually became synonymous with the blossoming film industry and a symbol of aspiration to budding hopefuls. It was also connected with tragedy - Peg Entwistle was a Welsh-born actress whose stage career in her adopted America drew considerable acclaim; she even drew a 17-year-old Bette Davis to tell her mother, "I want to be exactly like Peg Entwistle". Nobody knows what caused Peg to jump to her death from the H of the sign - her career was going well, and her final jobs were a film with Myrna Loy and Irene Dunn and a play opposite Humphrey Bogart - but on 18 September 1932, her body was found in a ravine below the sign. She was only 24 years old.
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