National Geographic - The Great Wall of China - Documentary

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[Documentary] .The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe. [Documentary] .Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century bce; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built 220–206 bce by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty. [Documentary] .

[Documentary] .Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. [Documentary] . Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. [Documentary] .

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It's one of the world's
greatest engineering wonders

the Great Wall of China

They say it can even be seen
from space.

It is a military masterpiece

that has witnessed hundreds of battles,

Yet it still holds many mysteries.

British writer and historiam
William Lindsay

has lived in China for 20 years.

Exploring the Great Wall
has become his lifetime obsession.

Lindsay has spent thousands
of days on the Wall

has walked thousands of kilometers
along it.

How long is the Great Wall really?

How many years did it take to build?

And why was it built at all?

It is only a short trip from Beijing

to one of China's
most popular attractions.

Millions of tourists come here every year

to see the stone dragon.

The Great Wall of China.

Most of the people walking
on the Great Wall, here today

will go home and say,

"I have been to the Great Wall of China"

but the Great Wall is not a place

it ranges across the sub-continental
expanse of North China

and along its course.

many of the locations seldom visited

and some are virtually unknown.

In 1987, Lindsay fulfilled
his childhood dream.

He walked on the Chinese Wall
2,700 kilometers.

Only a few pictures remain
from this adventure

because his films
were repeatedly confiscated.

Foreigners were barred
from many parts of China.

Those times have long changed.

China has opened up to the world

and an adventurer
has turned into a schollar.

Lindsay now seeks out
traces of the Great Wall of China.

right across the country.

Twenty three years after his first trip
he sets off again.

Doing the same, exploring
23 years later

is really testament of the immensity

of what we call the Great Wall of China.

In the last two-and-a-half decades

I explored the Wall more 1,700 days,

I have discovered it is the world's
most famous building

but the least-known.

There is always something new to discover.

There is no single Great Wall.

There are lots of walls in northern China.

built by different dynasties
for more than 2,000 years.

William Lindsay is taking us
to one of the most remote places

a 2,300 kilometers drive west of Beijing
to the city of Dunhuang,

into the Gobi Desert.

I drove nearly there

some 75 miles northwest of Dunhuang

and that is a nice sunny day
in the Gobi Desert,

perfect conditions for exploring
the Great Wall.

In the shimmering heat
the dark ribbon along the horizon

at first looks like a mirage

but these really are
the remains of a wall.

literally in the middle of nowhere.

Well, one of the most precious parts
of the Great Wall of China

this is the Han wall
built 2,100 years ago.

I am not the first traffic to come here.

This is the Silk Road.

So, merchants would come
from the deserts in Central Asia

entering China at this point

and then proceed east
to the heartland of China.

So, let us take a close look.

Built over 2,000 years ago,

this wall looks completely different
to the familiar Great Wall near Beijing.

It is not built of stone

but this construction material
has kept it strong for milennia,

reed and gravel.

But who was this wall meant to protect
so far from civilization?

The Han dynasty rulers
wanted to open their empire

to trade with the west.

So they secured control
of the eastern end

of what became known as the Silk Road.

The Han Chinese occupied
the vital ashi??? corridor

that runs along the Silk Road

between the northern steppes
and the Hymalayan foothills.

It is a real border,
not just between peoples

but between lifestyle.

The nomads of the steppe
live in yurts,

the traditional round tent.

They live entirely from their livestock

wandering over the steppe.

They pitch their yurts
wherever they find grazing land

for their herds.

After enduring long hard winters
in the stepes

these nomadic warriors ransacked
China's northern provinces.

Year after year they killed and ???

stealing food and metals

everything their lifestyle
prevented them producing.

The Chinese regarded their Empire
as the cradle of civilization.

According to their Confucion philosophy

it was the cultural centerof the world.

Appeasing the barbarians
along the border by trading

was out of the question.

War was too expensive.

So, the Han Emperor decided
to build a wall.

How many people were involved
in rhe construction of the Han wall?

No one knows for sure.

but reliable sources quote the calculations
presented to the Emperor.

If one soldier can build three paces
of the wall in one month,

then 300 men can build three li
about one and a half kilometers.

That means a thousand li,
or about 530 kilometers,

would take 100,000 men one month
to complete.

So far so good.

and so many.

Most of the soldiers
were stationed at the towers.

The towers had a dual use

to make the most effective the defense.

The beacon tower behind me
was not only the perfect vantage point

for guards on this frontier
to watch for the enemy

coming from the north.

It was a signalling station.

So, when the enemy was sighted,
this beacon would have been ignited.

'This is how it worked.

As soon as a guard spotted
nomadic warriors

he transmitted smoke signals
by daylight

or beacon fires at night.

The alarm was communicated along the wall

to guarrisons located in the hinterland.

How long is the Han wall?

Only recently have Chinese experts
started to find out.

We will join the local
archaeological survey team

who are taking part
in a national survey.

to locate and ???
of the Han ???

A team is heading out
into the Gobi Desert.

They need a whole summer
just to measure this section of the wall.

At noon, the temperature can climb
to over 40 degrees Celsius.

Today the team is exploring
a fortification

that lies in the hinterland
of the hard wall.

This could have been a garrison
for support troops.

Today the remais are hardly visible.

This tower has a name,
it is called "Half Tower"

obviously because
half the tower is missing.

The team are here today
to locate the fortifications with GPS.

I 'm wondering how they are going
to measure the height,

because it is so crumbly,
I'll ask him.

(In Chinese)

So, they don't have to climb up
the tower to measure it.

They have a device here.

A laser rangefinder collects the data.

It will be a few years before
the results of the survey are summarized

and a figure can be given
for the length of the Han wall.

So, from here to the Jade Gate
is about 45-50 kilometers

and there are three sections of the wall
that are quite visible

and in between
there is virtually nothing

although the archaeologists
may find traces.

Mr. Young is very reluctant
to give a guess estimate

of how many kilometers
of the Han wall are standing.

GPS team leader, Mr. Young,
has given William directions

to a place in the desert

where the wall has a unique shape.

It is a 16 kilometer hike

so William is buying provisions
for the trip, at ??? market.

Well, raw meat would not be
very good in the desert.

A lot of what he sees doesn't seem
too useful for a desert track.

but he finally finds what he needs.

Successful shopping trip, for 1.99 or so,

a good supply of high-energy foods.

Hmmm... delicious.

Next morning, at 5 o'clock,
Lindsay sets off for the hike.

Lots of satellites...
It is 14.4

so, it is about 9 miles or more...

He is not walking alone.

In the desert it would be too dangerous

With him is his Chinese friend
Piao ???

Their GPS says they will reach
the unique strip of wall

in five hours.

It is cool now, but the sparse vegetation
is tender-dry.

There has not been any rainfall here
for months.

They are walking
in a featureless landscape.

Consider a solitary tree over there.

Back in 1987, I just had a big map
of the whole country.

Basically, my journey along the Wall

from the desert to the sea

was like that.

1,700 miles, not the ideal map
for hiking across desert grassland.

It is nearly noon
and the Sun is burning.

but finally they arrive at the place
they have been looking for.

There it is!

We made it.

Ah ah! At last!

Great!

Brilliant!

For William it is already worth the trip
even the five hours back .

Amazing!

Oh, look at that! Fantastic!

Of all the faces that
the Great Wall of China has

this is the rarest of them all.

This wall is made of wood.

It has six layers of branches there

and in between minimal use of the gravel

so, I am really glad I have come here today

a well worth a 10-mile track.

Leaving the Dunhuang region
and making his way east

and on the ancient Silk Road

William is aiming for a town
called ???

The historic site is five kilometers
out of town.

And the best view is from the sky.

A giant castle guarding the Wall

built in 1539 by Jiajing,
emperor of the Ming dynasty.

The Ming emperor's contempt
for the nomads

reached grotesque proportions

with the demand that the character G
standing for barbarians

should be written as small as possible.

After the Han dynasty,
other dynasties rose and fell.

Many of them build walls

but none of any significant length.

Ming emperor Jiajing ascended
the Dragon throne in 1521.

He renewed the Han tradition

established in ancient times

constructing a long wall
at the northern border

with its westernmost point
at the Jaiughuang Pass

Jaiughuang translates as
Barrier to the Pleasant Valley.

and Pleasant Valley means China.

This gigantic fort is build
in the foothills of the Hymalayas.

In the courtyard the mighty walls
form a kind of maze

to stop invaders in their tracks.

And there is a wonderful legend
about its construction.

To avoid wastage of materials
prior to construction of the fortress,

the architect was asked
to calculate exactly

how many bricks were required.

He computed 999,999.

The bricks were delivered
the fortress built

and at the end, the chief of works
confronted the architect with a brick

and said, "This is wasted".

Bur the architect was too smart.

He said, "No, I factored that
into the equation.

"That brick should be placed
over the portal

"and it will bring all the guards
in the fortress

"and all of those travelers passing
under these portals good fortune".

Six hundred years later
the leftover brick still remains.

Next to the fort is the starting point
of the wall constructed by the Ming.

This wall has nothing in common
with the brick and stone wall

north of Beijing.

It is made of rammed earth

and although is more than 400 years old

it is still in good shape

and it is still wide enough
to walk on.

On his walks along the walls

William Lindsay soon learned
he could count on receiving

warm hospitality from the farmers
along the ???.

Before coming to China
my family and friends

were very concerned in 1987
going to China,

the big communist country
on the other side of the world

all the people going to be friendly

and I didn't have a support crew with me.

I depended on farmers.

I discovered very early on
the farmers were my great allies

even with very little Chinese
but a lot of sign language and smiling

I got what I needed, food, water, shelter.

Without them I could not
have been successful.

Even if many of them can't understand

why a foreigner shoud be
so interested in the Wall.

For them, this is no monument
but simply a part of their village

and one with a perfectly practical use.

I was asking him why these holes
in the Wall.

I thought they were nests
but in fact, previously,

the farmers were right up against the Wall

so, there were wooden beams
going into the Wall

but the Great Wall experts,

the Cultural Heritage Protection
authorities

requested the farmers to destroy
these buildings and move back

in order to protect the national heritage

If you want to know
how Ming dynasty masons

constructed their wall
more than 400 years ago,

all you have to do
is keep your eyes open.

Even today Chinese farmers build walls
in the same way their ancestors did.

They tamp the earth in a wooden casing

tamp put layer on layer.

They even sing the traditional folk songs
passed down from their forefathers.

A house is not complete
without a wall around it.

says an old Chinese proverbe.

My friend Chan is building his wall
to enclose this compound

so, this is the final piece of work

and this is embedded in Chinese
architectural tradition

whether it is a compound
or a village or a kingdom.

It must be enclosed,
completely safe.

They build most on the main wall
just like this,

it is a rammed earth wall.

Imagine how many billion thuds
it took

The singing is an important part of the work.

It keeps all the rammers in step of the beat

so, they are all in step
going along the wall

they get into a rhytm.

The actual content...

Oh, I have been in China 23 years

and this guy has a really heavy accent.

It is a bit difficult.

But it is definitely a kind of rap.

It changes the words

and occasionally you hear them chuckle,

so, I think he gets a little digging
about those

who are kind of falling
behind in distance

or maybe he can tell by the thirds
if someone is answered cheer.

This group of about 20 farmers,
mostly women,

took a day to erect about 27 meters of wall.

We don't know if their ancestors
could have worked better or faster

but we do know they would have used
the same materials and tools

except for the tractors carrying the clay

and the cell phones.

On his journey along the walls of China

William Lindsay is walking eastwards

out of the Hershey corridor
and turning north

along the Great Wall of the Ming dynasty

into the great loop of the Yellow River,

the cradle of China's civilization.

This is always been the gateway
for the nomads to enter China.

Here though wind and weather
have done their worst

the wall and its towers can still
be made up

on the crags above the river.

The ??? and forts were the outposts
of this defensive outer wall.

Today, their use is strictly non-military.

I love staying in the countryside.

This building is made
of thick blocks of limestone

and on the roof there is turf.

Then you come here in winter,

we have a good method
for keeping you warm.

You see this?

It is not a bed, it is called the kang,
k-a-n-g.

And they put the fuel here, light it

— you can do the cooking here —

you have got a nice bed for the night.

So, I have got full board and lodging

breakfast on morning
and dinner this evening

and lunch coming up soon

for less than 10 dollars.

I should apologize for the slurping.

It is part and parcel of eating in China

considered the sound of an appreciation.

The ingredients of the lunch
William is appreciating today

are also the reason the nomads
raided the land of the Yellow River

throughout the 16th century.

In the year 1549, the barbarians
come to plunder.

But the nomadic cavalry ???
to a virtual standstill

at the new border wall at Chuan Fu.

The wall stands fast

and the nomadic troops are unable
to capture the Chinese granary.

Does this mean defeat?

The barbarians do not give up.

They have a message for the Chinese.

They will attack Beijing, the capital.

By marching east, the nomad army
finds its way around the wall,

thus avoiding the Ming emperor's
elaborate border fortifications.

No one had suspected the nomads
could cross the natural barrier,

the mountain range north of Beijing.

Back in 1550, the nomads did not meet
with any serious opposition

on their way south.

They terrorized Beijing suburbs
for three days.

They demanded trading rights

leaving the Forbidden City untouched
before drawing back to the steppes.

After a short period of trading,

the Ming emperor started building
a wall of stone north of Beijing.

Between the 1550s and 1644,

it reached a length of at least
1,200 kilometers.

The Stone Dragon,

the Chinese Great Wall,
as the world knows it today.

How many people were needed
to build it?

Official figures are rare

but in some inaccessible sections
of the wall

there are still stone tablets
engraved with texts

that could give us that information.

I am hoping this stone is going
to tell me something about

when this wall was built,

how many people were involved

and mention some place names.

From here, the inscription
looks very faint

but we have a ladder,
master artisan, Mr. Hou

and with his simple tools
we are going to copy the stone

and produce a rubbing

which hopefully will reveal
the full content of the tablet.

This ancient Chinese copying technique

starts with gluing a sheet of paper
onto the tablet, simply with water.

This is step number one.

Step number two, ???

translates literally as typing characters.

So, he is using a brush

and he is hammering the paper
into the carvings.

The higher parts of the paper
will be blackened

and the lower parts that have gone
into the characters

and any design along the edges

they will remain white.

After three hours of spounging
and drying,

Mr. Ho presents his piece of art.

It looks like a blueprint
or an old archived document.

And he helps William translate
the ancient Chinese characters.

which today hardly anybody can read.

This stone is telling us
that two military officials

in charge of 1,100 families,

put in the effort to build 250 yards of wall

in the autumn of 1579.

So, in terms of very simple
arithmetic productivity,

we are talking about
four persons per family

4,500 people working for 8 to 10 weeks
in the autumn of 1579

to build that.

Whereas the tamped earth walls

were built by untrained serfs or peasants

this project required special knowledge.

Hundreds of master builders
and skilled engineers,

thousands of stone cutters
and tens of thousands of masons

were recruited to build the wall.

And another factor led to the costs
rising exponentially.

Tamped earth walls were built
using materials available on site.

The material for the new wall
had to be manufactured before use.

The Chinese had devised
a network of brick kilns

set up near the construction sites.

One of these sites was found
by local farmers

and inspected by Professor ???

curator of the Great Wall Museum
in Jiayuguan.

So, at this location they discovered
around 60 brick kilns

and its ranks as the best
production centre of bricks

preserved along the whole length
of the Great Wall.

It is estimated that each kiln

could fire 5,000 bricks.

Now, given that there are 60 kilns
in this valley

the production of this center alone

would be equal to 300,000
bricks per month,

industrial scale production.

Mass production is one thing

but it is a different matter
to transport the product

to where it is needed.

Logistics.

Now, key question,
very interesting question is

how did they move all the bricks up there?

Again, there is almost no historical record
to answer this question.

But Professor Huang has his theories.

People may have carried a few bricks
on their backs, like this.

And also it has been suggested
a herd of goats could have carried

a lot of bricks up there
quite effectively.

Two bricks on the back of the goats

and the bricks were joined together
with rope,

so, the goat is quite balanced
as it is moving up the mountain.

Even without bricks on your back
it is a hard slog up to the wall.

But it is worth it.

Hardly any tourists makeit
to this isolated section.

Every time I come up here
on these trails

??? the builders,

who had so ???
all of these building materials up here,

all of these blocks,
all of these bricks.

The sometimes bizarre roots
taken by this wall

has led many experts to believe

that more than
just defensive considerations

were in play here.

For generations, the Chinese
had followed the practice

of the Feng Shui, the teachings
of wind and water.

Feng Shui experts were
^probably consulted and obeyed

before the building of the wall

to make sure that the forces of nature
would work in its favor.

Spending his days alone on the wall

Lindsay imagines how the soldiers
must have suffered here,

cut off from the world,

enduring winds and foul weather,

squeezed into bare and cramped quarters

for months on end.

Finally, this wall is a monument

to the close world view
of the Ming Empire.

It circumscribed their universe

and excluded everything ???

Often scratching around in this rubble

you can find bits of pottery.

I'm not sure if this stone is...

Interesting, maybe a griff on it.

It might be...

Ah!

That is a stone bomb

that would have been packed
with gunpowder

a mud seal

a fuse,

and the trowels were packed with these

maybe 50 or 100

to be lobbed off the wall

when the tower was attacked.

That is a really good find.

320 km further east, we find
another example of living history

This is John Ho Chan.

His ancestors built a wall here
440 years ago.

Close by, towers have other family names

like the Chang Tower
or the Wang Tower

or the Lo Tower.

Here we have the family history
of the Great Wall.

still living on 440 years
after it was built.

Even today, they still worship
their ancestors

by celebrating ancient festivals.

Other '??? was ???

she should be quite nice,
fresh pork.

It would have been a rare moment
of relaxation and abundance in a hard life.

As the oldest member of his family,

Mr. Jam makes the sacrifice
to his ancestors

and burns incense sticks.

Then the living generations
of the Jang family bow to the dead

and to their own great history

The village families had to look after
and feed the soldiers in the towers.

Their takeaway food service
survives to this day.

Jang the farmer, down in the village
prepared some delicacies for me.

So, munch on up here
after my hike.

It is amazing to think
that 400 years ago

guards garrisoned up on the wall
would be sent this

by the families.

It is a loaf, it is a kind of pastry

kept fresh in one
of these large oak leaves.

You can see the leaf prints
on the pastry.

Let's have a taste.

Hmm... Full of trives.

Kind a Chinese hamburger,

maybe the original Chinese takeaway

for those up on the wall.

By 1644, just short of a hundred years
of construction

the most impressive defense wall
ever made by men, was finished.

However, it was not
one single Great Wall.

It comprised a system of several
defense lines

from the mountains to the sea.

In 2009, after a national survey
of the Ming Wall

Chinese officials announced
that the total length is 8,850 kilometers.

This is the end at ???

meaning Mountain Sea ???

The Chinese liken the Great Ming Wall
to a dragon sneaking across their land

and here it comes to a geographical end
at the dragon's head

of the Yellow Sea.

Not far from this location, in 1644,
the commander of Shanghai Guang

faced his biggest challenge

an event which led to the end
of the Great Wall functioning

as a national defense.

Professor Huan is taking William
to the gates of walls

in the outskirts of Shanghaiguan.

This is the place where the Great Wall
story came to an end.

The construction of the Great Wall

led to the financial
and strategic collapse

of the Ming dynasty.

Revolts broke out everywhere
in the Empire.

An army of rebel peasants
marched on Beijing

where they toppled the emperor.

Then on to Shanghaiguan
the last stronghold of the Ming Empire.

But a mighty army had risen
from the steppes

heading for the Middle Kingdom.

The Manchus.

Caught in between, ???

He was the general in command
of the fortress at Shanghaiguam

Now he was under siege.

What could he do?

This was a powerful garrison.

But was it powerful enough
to fight off attackers on two fronts?

Professor Huang tells William Lindsay

the solution he found.

Trapped between two enemies,
commander ???

knew he could not defeat them both

so, he came up with a plan,

to offer an alliance treaty
with the Manchus in the north

and the two armies joined
and confronted the peasant rebel army

and they defeated them,

A wall is only as strong
as the men who guard it,

Genghis Khan is supposed
to have said,

his successes from the steppes

the Manchus would have agreed with him.

80,000 Manchu soldiers
passed through this gate.

and answered the heartland of China

The Manchus founded a new dynasty

which in effect ruled
over the Middle Kingdom

until 1912.

They called themselves Xing,
meaning "the Pure".

And the Great Wall was of no use anymore.

But its story did not come to an end,

Even today nobody knows how long
all the great walls of China really are.

There are still many more walls
and stories to be discovered.

And William Lindsay will not stop
walking the Great Wall

until he knows them all.

I don't think in future

so many people will be organized
in such a methodical way

to create something that
was not just history

that not just fell apart

but is left as part of the geography
of China and the world.

Certainly in future,
there are goint to be new wonders,

communications, longer life,
exploring planets,

but in terms of blood, sweat and tears

the Great Wall of China
I think is the ultimate

and that is why I am continuing
to understand it.

into companies
of about 250 men each.

And they are going to build
for him 70 towers in that year.

That means that each company has to
build one tower every five days.

These men have got to work
day and night

without stopping
for the entire year.

But Qi had the great advantage
of using the troops that he had

disciplined, trained himself,
and brought them up.

And he could rely
on their competitiveness

to build the wall within the time
limit that the court had given him.

The Great Wall project
is more ambitious

than anything the Ming Empire
has ever undertaken.

By the late 1570s, it is consuming
more than three quarters

of the government's income.

But there is another cost that
doesn't appear in the accounts -

the human cost.

They were, you know, far from
their families, they were just

working together as an entire unit.

It must have been extremely hard,
extremely difficult.

Very, very heavy work
and exhausting beyond speech.

The pressure is on Qi to deliver.

And the one force he knows he can
keep driving as hard as he needs

is his own army.

But there are limits.

Malnutrition, exhaustion and
disease take their inevitable toll.

And for those who die far from home,
fellow workers become family...

..scattering token money
to pay for a friend's passage
to the next world...

..to rest at last.

"We buried Fong today.

"He was from the south,

"like me.

"He had a family...

"..somewhere.

"My love,

"we're so hungry and
exhausted all the time.

"I sometimes think
death would be a relief.

"But that would be a betrayal of you.

"So I carry on for your sake.

"I've heard they'll make us
stay and serve

"on the wall when it is finished,

"so even if I survive
building the damn thing,

"I may have to stay and defend it."

For centuries,
workers like Geng Zhou have been

the forgotten heroes of the wall.

Who they were and where they came
from has rarely been recorded.

Histories of these men have
been almost totally unknown -

until now.

Wang Tao is an archaeologist
from London University,

used to digging in the ground
for evidence of the past.

In the Great Wall,
he faces a challenge.

The most revealing insights are
found not so much in the bricks

as in the descendants of
the people who laid them.

And that is what
he has come to find.

Outside a village to the east
of Beijing called Dongjiakou,

he takes a tour with local
historian, Zhang Heshan.

Zhang takes Tao on a climb
1,000 metres up

and 500 years back to the heart
of the wall-building project.

The past here lives because of
the efforts of men like Zhang.

40 years ago, he discovered
the building records of each tower

carved on stone stele inside.

The stones themselves were removed
during the Cultural Revolution.

But not before
Zhang had made copies.

(SPEAKING CHINESE)

The most important stone stele
was placed in one of these, uh,

towers just over there.

And the names of all the important
officials who are involved in this

construction are recorded here,
including General Qi Jiguang.

And on the back, there are all
the names of the ordinary workers -

builders, carpenters,
all related to the re-construction.

And their descendents may actually
live in the local village,

become a part of the local history.

The end of the climb is
what Zhang is most proud of

and what makes this section
of wall unique.

Every single tower
in the district is named

after a family in the village.

(SPEAKING CHINESE)

Mr Zhang is saying this is called
the Zhang family tower,

and it's constructed by
General Qi Jiguang.

(SPEAKING CHINESE)

He recruited about 9,000 soldiers
from the south,

from Zhejiang, Yiwu.

And Mr Zhang's ancestor

was among those 9,000 soldiers.

This is why this one is called
the Zhang family tower.

(SPEAKING CHINESE)

The actual lives of the soldiers
can only now be reached through

the folk-memory of the villagers.

And because every village name has
a tower and a history to go with it,

Zhang has started recording the
oral history of the entire village,

one family at a time.

Starting with Mr Loa Jianhua.

What's interesting is that Mr Loa's

great great grandfather's
tomb is still there,

very close to the wall.

And that can go back
to the Ming Dynasty.

They have about almost
over 20 generations

all lived in this village.

And they've all come here, they
were southerners and they actually,

they didn't mix up with
the northerners, the locals.

And a story they were talking about
was that one year,

there was a famine and no food,

and all the locals were coming to
the wall to the Zhang family tower

and the Loa family tower.

They were all kind of fighting over,

basically it's fighting over
very little food to survive.

And I can probably imagine
that many people probably would die.

For any monumental project,

team discipline is vital.

And when it breaks down,
for whatever reason,

it must be seen to be restored.

Examples, however painful,
must be set...

Faster!

..for the good of the wall.

Get them on their knees!

Heads down!

Draw your swords!

What's going on here?
Why have you stopped working?

Put down your swords!

Sir.

There was a fight. We're making
an example of the ringleaders.

But don't worry, sir.
We'll make up the lost time.

That depends on how many times
you have to do this, doesn't it?

Haven't you enough to do,
without fighting?

You!

What's your excuse?

We haven't got enough
food to go around.

We are worked to death
and treated like slaves!

Is that what we are?

No.

You are my soldiers, paid workers.

All of you!

We only get half what we're owed

and what's the point of money
when you're dead?

You are working to
protect the Empire!

Yes, there are hardships.

But as a soldier,

I am prepared to sacrifice myself,

my life,

to protect my home and my people!

Those of you who have
fought with me,

you know that!

You know what it means...

There is not a man here
who would not die to protect
our families and our homes!

But they are a thousand miles away.

All we see is bricks and stones.

This is not a battlefield.

It is not even our home!

This is just one long headstone
for a million graves!

On his knees!

Bring out your swords!

Sir, on your command.

'The wall will not build itself.'

'And it will not defend
itself either.'

Send them back to work.

And get them some food
from somewhere.

I don't care where. Ya!

Put down your swords!

Set them free.

Qi's new design was,
in a way, revolutionary.

It used a new structural form.

But Qi realised that without the men

to build it, and to exploit its
potential, it was absolutely nothing.

Qi issues orders for soldiers'
families to be allowed to join them

and settle along the length
of the Great Wall.

Having once turned farmers into
soldiers, he returns those soldiers

to the land to live,
build and fight for their homes.

The fact the men like Mr Loa
are here shows the policy worked.

But as Wang Tao discovers,
its success

owed much to the resilience
and fortitude of the men themselves.

At Dongjiakou,
starvation had threatened

the lives of the soldiers,
and the future of the project,

until Mr Loa's ancestor
saw a solution.

(SPEAKING CHINESE)

When his ancestor first arrived here,
there was a food shortage

and people were fighting over
a very little bit of food.

And then they discovered
the apricot trees.

Mr Loa's ancestor and other soldiers
began to gather the wild apricots

for food, and later on,
they decided they would plant them

so they gathered loads of them and
they planted them all along the wall.

And so as you can see now,

the whole landscape and the whole
mountain is full of apricot trees.

And for Mr Lao's ancestor,
the gesture he inspired not only

averted starvation,
but ensured the Loa family

would be here for centuries to come.

The grave of Loa's ancestor lies
directly beneath the family tower...

..its inscription barely visible
after 500 years.

But for Wang Tao, it's a chance to
connect with an actual wall builder.

This is extraordinary, it's
Mr Loa's family or ancestral tomb.

And the title here,
it actually says,

"the important or highly important
ancestor, Lord Loa was buried here".

And obviously Mr Loa, his ancestor,

was the garrison commander
of this tower.

That's why it's called
the Loa family tower.

This is a family, personal story,
which I have never known, and now,

standing together with Mr Loa,
the descendent of the soldier Loa,

close to the Loa family tower,

I think it's just bring me
really back to the whole history

and also the people who
kind of, as part of the wall...

And I feel a kind of...

I'm becoming part of this as well.

Today, the entire Loa family comes
to honour their illustrious ancestor

with offerings for his spirit...

..and to plant, in his memory,
a single apricot tree.

A memorial to one soldier
who helped build the Great Wall.

By 1575, the first sections of
Qi Jiguang's wall are complete.

Hs dream is becoming a solid
and impregnable reality.

On it stands an army he has
trained to exploit its strength...

..an army now 20,000-strong...

..devoted to him.

The young soldier who once
dreamed of serving the Empire

has now created its ultimate
defence system.

Not only is it the most ambitious,

it is also the most expensive
project of the age.

And with the hopes of an entire
dynasty riding on its success,

it had better work.

By the mid 1570s,

the Great Wall is advancing at a
rate of a new tower every five days.

Yet Qi Jiguang knows it will be
tested by Mongol attack

long before it is complete.

In the Beijing archives
is a remarkable set of maps,

showing how Qi's Great Wall
defences were designed to work.

Out to the far northwest,
you see a pass

between two mountains

through which the Mongols
would normally trade or raid.

Then you have a series of
outward observation points.

Then you have a series of
beacon towers, signal towers,

and they're on the top of a
range of hills.

Then you have the Great Wall
with all the forts.

Then, behind that,

are the headquarters of the various
brigades of Qi's soldiers.

If there was an attack, they
would march out to the Great Wall

to defend it, or even go further.

So what Qi was able to develop
was a very complex system.

The wall functioned
in different ways.

And the men had to
have an understanding

of their function
in the total system.

Guangzhou is now part of Qi's
defence line

in an observation unit
in front of the wall.

One of Qi's greatest innovations
is to introduce cannons,

copied from Western models
and now manufactured in China,

an integral part of wall defence.

The unit's job is to
intercept and slow any attack

while at the same time
alerting the wall defences.

No-one knows how well
this new system will work.

But on this March day in 1575,

the perfect opportunity to find out
materialises from out of the steppe.

They're coming!

Get yourselves organised!

While Mongol raiders
charge towards the outer defences,

on the wall, the alarm signal
triggers a well-rehearsed response.

Men and cannons are
mobilised in minutes.

Fire now!

The job of advanced units
is to try to slow the attack.

But the Mongols keep their eyes
on a bigger prize -

settlements around the
town of Dongjiakou...

..where Qi Jiguang himself
happens to be stationed.

Inside the wall, the warning system
has alerted the main garrison,

and a counter force is mobilised.

This is the moment of truth,
for Qi and the wall.

Whether the attacking force
might try to scale the wall

or break through
the unfinished sections,

no-one will ever know.

The historical records
recount that Qi's force

was able to meet the invaders
beyond the wall...

..where his superior forces
could be made to count.

The history also recounts
Mongol prisoners are taken,

including the brother of
Mongol leader, Chang Ang.

The battle of Dongjiakou is won

and it is a defining moment
for Qi Jiguang.

He has proved that his Great Wall
system works,

with him at its head,
inspiring the victory.

At court, those who have
criticised his project are silenced,

at least for now,

and the wall is declared a success.

For his personal heroics, Qi is
rewarded with two kilos of silver

and the personal gratitude
of the Emperor.

It's an encouraging start...

..but Qi Jiguang
is looking to the future.

When his wall is finally complete,

he will be the
gate-keeper of the north...

..and potentially more than
just another general.

A few days after the battle,

a chance to play the role of
statesman appears,

in the shape of
Mongol leader Chang Ang,

returning to the wall to bargain
for the release of his brother.

Is he still alive?

Yes.

If I were to make an offering
to secure my brother,

who is the man I must make it to?

Is it the Emperor,

through you?

Or is it you?

It's me.

So what does it cost
to get my brother back?

Your brother can go free

if we can be free of you.

If you can guarantee that we will
no longer have to pursue you

and run you down,

then yes, you can have him.

Despite their agreement, the
same tribe will renege on its deal

and attack again. But again
the wall will defeat them.

Unbreakable,

its brooding power sends
a clear and unmistakable message

that the Ming empire
can and will defend itself.

And over time, the growing security
brings something new to the border.

The first signs of peace.

On some of the towers in Dongjiakou,
there are the unmistakable marks

of domesticity...

..clear evidence that some soldiers
had the time and inclination

to decorate their homes.

Perhaps, as Wang Tao believes,
under the influence of their wives.

Before I came here, I thought these
towers were just military towers.

When I came here and visited
these towers, I feel it's home.

Of course, it has its function
as a military device,

but if you look, both sides of the
wall, you actually see, no, it's not.

It's actually very much a part of
people's life and home life.

Because when you look down the cliff,
you're looking out on fields,

and you see a wife with young kids,

and then we can see, in Chinese
history, it happens all the time,

people being uprooted, re-rooted,

and I think the Great Wall
has re-rooted so many people

and has created
a new life for so many people.

Geng Zhou is now a senior member
of Qi's garrison

and has settled his family
in the village below the wall,

now part of a new and growing
frontier population.

In what was once only
a conflict zone, inhabited
by raiders and soldiers,

agriculture thrives
and the population grows.

The peace dividend
of the Great Wall.

It gives Qi the confidence
to demand the funds

to finish his great project.

So far, only 1,200 of his planned
3,000 towers have been built.

The wall will only continue
to work, he warns the court,

if he is allowed to complete it.

However, in Beijing, the cost
is already ringing alarm bells.

So far, 1,200 towers
and 1,000 kilometres of wall

have consumed 550 tonnes of silver,

two-and-a-half times the treasury's
income for the last decade.

For many, it is proof that Qi's
project was always over ambitious.

Basically, Qi had,
in a sense, solved the problem.

But still, when it's successful

and you can keep the peace for
15 years, then people start to say,

"Well, why are we wasting
so much time, money and effort

"against what is
essentially a nuisance?"

Maybe just a few raids by Mongols.

Well, that was not going
to be too problematic.

Oblivious to the court's concerns,
Qi looks ahead to the next phase.

He turns once more to the man
who has always supported him,

who has always pulled the strings
in court to provide him with funds -

grand secretary Zhang Juzheng.

But the more Qi demands from Zhang
and the more Zhang tries to give him,

the more their power is
seen by the court as a threat.

Qi and Zhang Juzheng
had their enemies at court.

They were just simply waiting,
biding their time.

And at last that time has come.

There is a new emperor on the throne

who listens to
these new councillors.

The great danger, as was always the
danger throughout Chinese history,

was if a powerful courtier linked
with an equally powerful general.

In Chinese, that was the military
and the civil getting together.

This is what always
brought down a dynasty.

Looking for ammunition to
destroy the Qi - Zhang alliance,

their enemies find it,
in the Great Wall financial records.

Great secretary.

I hope you're not going to
ask for more money.

I can't help you.

Do you know what
they're saying about me?

"Grand secretary Zhang
has cheated the imperial person.

"He has plagued the population
with taxes,

"accepted bribes, sold government
offices and advanced his henchmen!"

That's you, by the way.

What did they say about me?

I said, "Majesty, those henchmen
preserve the Empire

"and your imperial person
in continued safety."

What do they want?
They demanded protection.

Well, protection costs.

You only know it's worth paying for
when it doesn't work. Tell them that.

Tell them we need more towers.

Don't even think it.

There is an indictment for me
for charges of corruption.

Did you know that?

All it needs is for the emperor
to sign it into proclamation.

And what am I supposed to do?

If I were you...

..I'd stay away from me.

As the emperor's former tutor,
Zhang is spared prosecution...

for the time being.

But for the next few years,
Qi's ally remains under attack

until, worn down by the ceaseless
strain, Zhang Juzheng dies.

The partnership that
built the wall is broken.

Now with his only political ally
gone, Qi himself is open to attack.

And the most effective weapon
at his enemy's disposal

is his alliance with Zhang.

A provincial examiner
in Zhang's employ

confessed that Zhang
had placed before candidates
to imperial office...

In court,
Zhang's crimes are re-examined

and a conspiracy with Qi
is discovered.

A clear attempt
to create a suitable atmosphere

for an impending takeover.

Furthermore, and I quote...

"General Qi Jiguang
is to make his army available."

We can only surmise what for.

That before his death,
Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng

had plotted to take over the throne.

I find it hard to believe
that my old tutor

had the intention of usurping me
from my throne.

Yet it is clear that he and
commander-in-chief Qi Jiguang

have had the capacity to do so.

This is too ominous to be ignored.

I mourn the loss of
Grand Secretary Zhang

and can only assume that
he has been blinded in his old age

by the overwhelming ambition
of Qi Jiguang.

He has violated the divine principle
of balance.

We have had
enough of Qi's demands.

We have had enough of walls.

Stand by!

One!

Two!

For years after Zhang's fall,

life on the wall has gone on as
normal for soldiers like Geng Zhou.

Yet Qi's political enemies
in Beijing have not been idle,

and now they are now
ready to make their move.

Qi has years of correspondence
from Zhang

in which he promises Qi
his personal support

and hints at deals
done behind the scenes.

Words that in the wrong hands could
be twisted to look like conspiracy.

So Qi puts them beyond reach.

And a lifetime of friendship

and the record of their
wall-building partnership is erased.

It was Qi's ambition that drove him
to build the wall

for the sake of the empire.

Today is your first position.

Now the Empire fears
that ambition so much
it is ready to get rid of him.

Go.

The only question that remains
is how they will do it.

If a case of treason can
be made against Qi, he will be
summoned for trial

and public disgrace will
be followed by private execution.

But Qi is ready
to defend his record.

Regional Commander Qi Jiguang is
to step down with immediate effect.

He has underestimated them.

There will be no trial, no chance
in court to speak the truth.

Just quietly sacked.

(SHOUTS)

For common soldiers like Geng Zhou,

the end of Qi defies all reason.

The army is losing its father.

General...?

'He doesn't remember me.

'The great captain is gone.'

Qi Jiguang retires to his home town.

Within the year, he is dead.

He leaves behind 1,000 kilometres
of Great Wall and towers,

the most comprehensive
defensive line in China's history.

But still not
finished as he intended...

..and with him no longer there
to make it work.

Qi Jiguang was the heart
and soul of the wall.

You needed a man with Qi's vision

to use the wall not only
as a static barrier

but as an offensive weapon
against the Mongols.

Once Qi was gone, then the Ming
just retreated behind the walls.

The real problem then was
the Ming did not know

what was happening outside the wall.

Outside the wall, the Mongols
were teaming up with a new enemy.

The Manchu empire -

the next dynasty in waiting.

It is 1644, more than 50 years
since the death of Qi Jiguang.

The Great Wall system
he built still stands.

Yet behind it,
the empire is crumbling...

..crippled
by the weight of defence costs.

Now corruption in court,
neglect of defence

and peasant revolt push the Ming
dynastyto the brink of collapse.

And beyond the Wall,
the Manchu army is coming.

The Manchus were a much more
organised and unified force

than the Mongols.
They moved in systematically.

They launched raids on China
in 1636 and 1638 as they moved

in on the Chinese Empire.

Sweeping down from the northeast,

the Manchu approach the
Great Wall at Shanhaiguan...

..where historian David Spindler

enters the town from
the Chinese side,

heading for the most fortified
gate in the history of the Wall,

once called
the First Pass Under Heaven.

It is here on May 27th, 1644
that the Great Wall is finally
breached...

..without a single drop
of blood being spilled.

On the same day,

500 kilometres west in Beijing,
Emperor Chongzhen, the 16th

Ming emperor, leaves his palace for
the first and last time in his life.

His empire, riven with rebellion
and corruption, is bankrupt.

He is drunk.

In the spring of 1644,
the capital of Beijing was taken over

by a Chinese rebel leader.

So, at that time,

the Chinese Empire was
not a functioning entity.

The country was really in collapse.

With the Manchu army
approaching Shanhaiguan,

inside the town, Chinese rebels

have taken control and the garrison
commander is ordered to surrender.

His back was quite literally
up against the inside of this wall,

and he called for help from outside
of the wall, which was quite ironic,

because the people outside
of the wall

are the ones that it was built to
defend against.

The most impregnable
defences in China's history,

never once taken by force,

are now opened
to let the enemy inside

in a last, desperate bid
to save the failing empire.

This is an exciting place to be,

because I know that this is where it
happened.

I'm in one of the three places
through which the Manchus streamed

on May 27th, 1644.

They overran the country
and they stayed,

and they ruled China
for the next 200 or so years.

(SOBS)

As the Ming era closes, the Great
Wall experiment closes with it.

The coming centuries are
marked by more outside threats.

Yet this time, invasions do
not come overland from the north

but from the wider
world across the oceans.

And so, for hundreds of years,
the fabric of the wall decays.

Today, the skeleton of the
Great Dragon is all that remains

of the beast that once lived.

But its spirit lives on...

..not just in the bricks and stones

now being restored across hundreds
of kilometres,

but in the great
wall of iron and steel,

the modern army that protects China
today...