At the foot of Shanhaiguan, the “First Pass under Heaven”, there stands the largest Great Wall thematic museum in China-The Great Wall Museum. As an important military defense facility in ancient times, the Great Wall showed the severity of wars. However, the Great Wall is not only a military facility, but also an important cultural symbol, containing the wisdom and heritage of Chinese people for thousands of years.
Speaking of the Great Wall, what else can you think of except for the majestic figure on the top of mountains and the beautiful scenery? Do you know how the Great Wall defends against enemies? How was the Great Wall built? How does the Great Wall promote national amalgamation? … Come to the Great Wall Museum in Shanhaiguan, your will find all the answers here.
The Great Wall Museum in Shanhaiguan, Qinhuangdao City.
The story of Qinhuangdao and the Great Wall
Dating back to the tale of Meng Jiangnv breaking down the Great Wall with her tears, Xu Da building the city, and Qi Jiguang resisting against enemies, the Shanhaiguan(the pass of mountains and sea) has been a legend, and Qinhuangdao has a close relation with the Great Wall since ancient times.
The Great Wall is the largest and the most widely distributed cultural heritage and important tourism resources in Qinhuangdao, with a total length of 223.1 kilometers, 905 single buildings and 62 fortresses. It is the most quintessential section of the Great Wall.
In December 1987, the Great Wall was listed as a world cultural heritage. In 1991, a museum with the theme of the Great Wall debuted at the “First Pass under Heaven”. It is a thematic museum with the Great Wall, especially the Great Wall in Shanhaiguan, as its main display content, and the largest thematic museum of the Great Wall in China.
In 2003, the Shanhaiguan Great Wall Museum was refurbished, and its theme display “Chinese Backbone” was rated “The Sixth National Museum’s Top Ten Exhibits” in 2005. The Great Wall Museum in Shanhaiguan was expanded in 2007, to play the role in patriotism education, which was completed on July 29, 2009 and opened to the public free of charge.
The Great Wall Museum in Shanhaiguan is a national secondary museum and listed the fourth batch of national patriotic education demonstration bases.
The iron cannons and stone cannons of the Great Wall.
The Stone Cannons and Iron Cannons Exhibition Hall
It’s sunny and warm in May, tourists walk along the brick-paved path to the antique buildings in the Great Wall Museum, which is filled with solemn silence.
After the renovation, the Great Wall Museum consists of the exhibition halls of “The Great Wall” and “The Great Wall-Shanhaiguan”. The tour starts with “The Great Wall” exhibition hall where you can see the stone cannons and iron cannons in different sizes and shapes, and the cannon balls ranging in size from football to pigeon egg, and it feels like to be on the battlefield in ancient times.
Cannon is an indispensable weapon for defense of the Great Wall. There are some treasures of the Great Wall Museum: the Great Wall Stone Cannons, Anbian (guard the frontier) Cannons, and the Shenwei General (invincible mighty) Cannons.
The Great Wall Stone Cannons are only seen in Qinhuangdao
The Great Wall Stone Cannons have only been discovered in the Jizhen Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty in Qinhuangdao City. The stone cannon was created by Liu Yingjie, governor of Jizhen Town in the Ming Dynasty, in the early years of Emperor Longqing (1567), specialized for guarding the border areas.
These stone cannon weighs 200 kg to 300 kg each, with a small muzzle and big barrel, and a rectangular ignition slot at the rear which is connected to the body on which a round ignition hole leading to the inside of the barrel, and the tail of the ignition slot has a bullnose-shaped hole, which is used to tie the leather strap to adjust the direction of the muzzle.
Stone cannons are made from local materials, which saves time, materials and cost. It shows the wisdom of our ancestors.
The stone cannons are rare and precious invention in the history of Chinese firearms, and has high historical and scientific value.
The bronze Anbian (guard the frontier) Cannon made in the Guihai year of Emperor Tianqi period in the Ming Dynasty was discovered in the No. 42 courtyard of Xisantiao in Shanhaiguan in 1984.
The barrel is straight, 49.5 cm long, there are 5 raised round hoops cast from the muzzle to the chamber. The chamber is raised like a lantern cover, with a rectangular fire door and an ignition hole leading into the chamber. The chamber is oval-shaped, with a bigger front and smaller rear.
It has no trunnions and sights. Soldiers tamp gunpowder, lead bullets, and stones from the muzzle, and ignite the fuze to fire.
5 columns of 10-character inscriptions are engraved on the body: “Tianqi, Guihai, Nianzao, Anbian, Cannon(the Guard Frontier Cannon was casted in Guihai Year of the Emperor Tianqi Period)”, marking the casting time and the cannon’s name. The craftsmanship is exquisite and reflects high scientific and historical value.
The Shenwei General (invincible mighty) Cannon
The Shenwei General (invincible mighty) Cannon is the biggest and most famous among others. It is 270 centimeters in length, the front is bigger than the rear.
It was imitated from the Portuguese cannons in the Emperor Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty to fight against the Later Jin Dynasty. It features long range, high hit rate and reliability, and it is the most advanced weapon at that time.
“The cannons are called general during the Ming Dynasty, and the firearms was very common at that time.”said Zhao Hongli, deputy curator of the Shanhaiguan Great Wall Museum, adding that the custom originated from the period of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, the cannons were entitled mighty names in accordance with their sizes and power.
In fact, we resist against invasions with the Great Wall not only in ancient times. There is an exhibition hall to show the War Resistance against Japanese Invasion along the Great Wall. At the beginning of 1933, the Japanese army invaded Shanhaiguan, and the Chinese people rose up to fight, building a new Great Wall with their flesh and blood.
The exhibition hall to show the War Resistance against Japanese Invasion along the Great Wall.
The Great Wall bricks with inscriptions
“The Great Wall integrates our ancestors’ wisdom, maybe we can say it is technological innovation. Please take a look at this section of the wall, the special-shaped bricks are at the top, and the bricks at the crenellations have also been improved, which expanded the vision of soldiers, and the angle of weapons.” Zhao Hongli said.
The Great Wall bricks with inscription is extremely precious cultural relics of the Great Wall in the Museum. These bricks are blue-grey and heavy, 37.5 cm long, and 30 kg each, specializing for building walls in the Ming Dynasty.
These bricks not only resist weathering, but also have a particularly strong ability to resist salt-alkali water erosion. After more than 600 years of wind and rain, they are still intact. The biggest difference between it and ordinary Great Wall bricks is that there are 9 to 10 Chinese characters on the bricks, which are pressed on the bricks while the bricks are not dry before they are fired in the kiln.
“These characters record the making time and manufacturers of the bricks, including military units and local authorities. They are medals to show their responsibility.” Zhao Hongli said.
The Great Wall story condenses the spirit of the Great Wall
“The Great Wall is a symbol of ethnic integration for thousands of years.” Zhao Hongli said, adding that both the process of building the Great Wall and the role played by the Great Wall reflect the integration of ethnic groups. The Great Wall is not only a military facility, but also provides a place and guarantee for the exchanges and transactions of ethnic groups inside and outside the Great Wall, and it is more obvious in peacetime. The economic, trade and material exchanges along the Great Wall have improved and influenced the customs and lives of the Chinese people inside and outside the Great Wall.
The “The Great Wall –Shanhaiguan’ exhibition hall mainly displays the history and current situation, military and culture of the Great Wall in Shanhaiguan.
“We are happy to see more and more people visit the museum and experience the Great Wall culture.” said Li Jie, a staff member of the Museum, adding that the Museum has took action to “make the cultural relics alive” as other museums did. They have seen more pupils, even kindergarten kids, come to pay a visit in summer camps, marking that people are paying greater attention to the cultural relics, history and culture.
The Great Wall Museum has become a base of the Great Wall history and culture, the patriotism education, and the science education with its exquisite design, reasonable layout, magnificent momentum, and rich connotations. It has become a good place to learn more about the Great Wall.
During the summer vacation, it receives an average of 2,000 visits every day, and the annual reception of tourists is about 300,000. The museum took measures to prevent and control COVID-19 last year. Tourists flocked to make appointments and paid visit.
“The Great Wall Museum is not only a museum, but also a patriotism education base, and it plays an important role in promoting the Great Wall culture and the patriotism education.” Li Jie said.
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