Source: CCTV.com

01-19-2007 18:08

During the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B.C.) and the period of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.), China was divided into six states that often resorted to war with each other in their struggles for supremacy. Warfare was the predominant way of life.

The king of the Qin state, Yinzheng, conquered the other six kingdoms through ten years of wars and brought an end to the riotous Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC) in 221 BC. He built up the Qin Dynasty - the first unified, multi-national, autocratic and power-centralized state in Chinese history - by making Xianyang, a city near today’s Xian city in the Shaanxi Province, his capital city. Although Qin is a short dynasty with a span of only fifteen years, it started off a 2,000-year-long imperial history in China and exerted a far-reaching influence on the subsequent dynasties.

Qin emperor lived from 259 BC to 210 BC. He was crowned at the age of 13 after his king father died.

After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he made many tours of inspection around the country. He visited Hebei three times and once reached Qinhuangdao city.

Qin Huang Dao located in the northeast of China’s capital city Beijing. It is about 300 kilometers between the two cities.

Qinhuangdao got its name just because Emperor Qin Shi Huang once visited it. In Chinese, “Qin” refers to the Qin Dynasty; “huang” means an emperor and “dao” - an island. The name Qinhuangdao, in English, means an island that Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty once visited.

Except for frontiers in the west, southwest and northeast, Qin's territory has been kept fairly intact up to the present-day. To protect the northern frontier, Qin emperor ordered the construction of the Great Wall.

North of the district shanhaiguan is the famous Yanshan Mountain, and south of it is the Bohai Sea. And in between the mountain and sea located the critical pass where the great wall post was built.

The Great Wall in the eastern part of China was expanded in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the inner great walls built earlier and further south, Hebei has a total length of great walls as long as 2,000 km.

The enlargement of Qin territory was aided by frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the north. To fend off barbarian intrusion, the strengthening walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a 5,000-kilometer-long great wall. What is commonly referred to as the Great Wall is actually four great walls rebuilt or extended during the Western Han, Sui, Jin, and Ming periods, rather than a single, continuous wall.