The Great Wall of Qi () is the oldest existing

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian noma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Construction of the wall started in 441 BC (during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

) by the

state of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a state of the Zhou dynasty-era in ancient China, variously reckoned as a march, duchy, and independent kingdom. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded shortly ...

, to defend itself against attacks from the states of Jin and Yue. Construction ended during the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

and became Qi's defense against enemies states like Ju, Lu, and Chu.Ancient sites from Zhou Dynasty discovered in the Qi Great Wall in Shandong
The wall stretches from Guangli village of today's Changqing District,

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

, running across the mountain ridges of central Shandong Province to the Yellow Sea in the present-day city of

Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

. Its total length has been estimated at about 600 kilometers. Most of the wall is still able to be seen.

Dating

Before the discovery of the Tsinghua bamboo strips, several dates had been put forward as the date for the construction of the Great Wall of Qi. The earliest possible date is during the reign of

Lord Huan of Qi Duke Huan of Qi (; died 643 BC), personal name Xiǎobái (小白), was the ruler of the State of Qi from 685 to 643 BC. Living during the chaotic Spring and Autumn period, as the Zhou dynasty's former vassal states fought each other for supremacy ...

(r. 685–643 BC) as mentioned in the '' Guanzis "Qing zhong D" (輕重丁) chapter. However, the "Qing zhong" chapters of the ''Guanzi'' were in all likelihood composed no earlier than the Warring States period instead of the 7th century BCE work they purport to be, and thus could not be seen as a reliable historical source for the Spring and Autumn period centuries removed. The next date is 555 BC, which comes from the '' Zuo zhuan'' describing a Jin invasion of Qi that year which involved a Qi fortification, claimed by the ''

Shui Jing Zhu The ''Commentary on the Water Classic'' (), or ''Commentaries on the Water Classic'', commonly known as ''Shui Jing Zhu'', is a work on the Chinese geography in ancient times, describing the traditional understanding of its waterways and ancient ...

'' to be part of the Great Wall of Qi. The ''Zuo zhuan'' itself, however, never used the term "great wall" (長城 ''changcheng'') or referred to other fortifications along Qi's southern border, throwing doubts into this identification. The date 441 BC comes from the ''Xinian'' () collection of the Tsinghua bamboo strips, which were discovered from a Chu tomb in Hebei or Hunan and acquired by the

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

in 2008. ''Xinian'' was determined to be composed in the state of Chu no later than 370 BC, which puts it in good authority for the events it describes in its last four sections covering the period from 450 to 395 BC. Specifically, ''Xinian'' writes that Qi built the Great Wall "for the first time" after Zhao Huanzi () of Jin allied with the state of Yue to invade Qi. This date accords well with other records of battles happening along the wall in 404 BC, 365 BC, and 350 BC from the ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...

'' and inscriptions on the Piaoqiang bronze bells (𠫑羌鐘; discovered in Luoyang in 1928–1931).

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{Shandong topics Great Wall of China Buildings and structures in Shandong Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shandong Tourist attractions in Qingdao Tourist attractions in Jinan Qi (state)

Dating

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography