Structural and Architectural Design of a Particular Building Outside of Western Europe, the Chinese Fortification - The Great Wall

The Great Wall which is the one of the greatest wonders in the world, it located the northern China to eastern Shanhaiguan and West to Jiayuguan (Schwartz Daniel 15). In Maas’s Criticisms, the “Racial Bias” states “architectural historians usually ignore non-Western civilizations” (4). The Chinese Great Wall was the most famous historical sites in the world, according to the web pages of the World Heritage List, the Great Wall was selected to be the world culture heritage in 1987. This shows the Great Wall has profound cultural influences in the world. Simaqian who was the most famous historian and litterateur, he stated in his Shih Chi, “If connect all of the Great Wall which is in different dynasties, the length is over 50,000 kilometers” (48), so Chinese usually called the Great Wall as “the Million Meters Wall”, also “one who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero” was the famous remark in China. Now, standing on the Great Wall have a panoramic view for all of the beautiful scenery, and feel the strong Chinese cultural atmosphere become a dream for so many tourists. As this reason, it takes about 1,934 million visitors come to the Great Wall every year (T.L. Chancellor 1). However, the Great Wall was built for military defense, but the question is how does Chinese built these huge fortifications in 2,000 years ago, and what is the structure built that help Chinese won the defensive warfare in the ancient times over and over. As a matter of fact, the Great Wall was the work achievement of million labors, and the Great Wall was effective defense invade from foreigner as it creates “a boundary between China and other countries at vulnerable locations” (William Lindesay 7). Overall, not only the Great Wall become to be the most symbolic building in China, but also the structure and architectural design embodies the Chinese wisdom. In 6,000 years ago, “Chinese