by RobynArt and
Architecture by Robyn
The Ming dynasty rebuilt the Great Wall of China because it was crumbling. There were more then one great wall. The one that we all know is 4,000 miles long. All of the walls put together are 35,000 miles long.The Han started the wall through the Gobi desert, because it was the closest place to Mongolia, and that was the country that was attacking China. If you thought that this would be easy to build, you're wrong. It took 12 years to build, and most of the wall was built out of stone! The peasants had to carry the stones from places and bring them to the wall. A lot of people died, and they were buried in the wall. One of the things they did to make the wall stronger, was make drains to keep the water from getting the mud that they used to put the stones together from getting wet . They also made towers that stuck out of the wall, so that if the enimies made it to the top of the towers, the guards could defend the city, and could also sound the alarm. The Great Wall is one of the most amazing things China constructed. The watch towers are 100 yards apart.
Tung Chi-Chang was one of the most famous artists in the Ming dynasty. He was also the leader of a group of other artists. Tung Chi-Chang made his writing and pictures strong and bold. He did this because, he wanted people to say, "Wow," when they saw it. When Tung Chi-Chang made a painting or writing that he liked, other people loved it. They all wanted to be like him. Tung Chi-Chang's paintingd and writings looked liked ones from the Sung and Yuan dynesties, but they were really from the Ming dynasty.
These are two pictures from the Ming dynasty. The top one is of some peasents on the street, and the one on the left is a jar from the Ming dynasty.
artist paragraph from: www.artpage.com
architecture paragraph from: Mystery of the Great Wall, program on the Discovery Channel.
http://www.rugreview.com/stuf/dming.htm
P:\START2.HTM