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Documentary, The Great Wall of China The Hidden Story
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00:00it's the most extraordinary feat of engineering in history and one of the
00:13most iconic man-made structures on the planet the Great Wall of China it's the
00:21ultimate wonder of the world this took more time more people more material than
00:25any other building but why did the Chinese go to such staggering lengths to build it
00:32this wall is the result of blood sweat and fears and what are the secrets that have
00:40enabled it to survive for over 2,000 years now groundbreaking science is rewriting its
00:49complex history decoding its mysteries to reveal there's much more to the Great
00:56Wall just bricks and mortar it's simple and yet sophisticated it's a wonderful
01:03design it's defied mountain ranges time and all-out war today cutting-edge
01:18chemistry discovers that the secret to its remarkable strength it's a simple
01:24ingredient that can be found in every kitchen and a new survey determines its
01:30length is truly extraordinary as we finally solve the enigma at the heart of
01:39the world's greatest megastructure
01:41many centuries ago in the days before the Great Wall bands of horsemen began to gather
02:00together in the lands to the north of China they're united to become a deadly
02:11cavalry force and would battle the China for millennia in a bloody conflict the
02:22raiders were fast-hitting skillful warriors who left devastation in their wake
02:34the Chinese responded with a series of defenses that would eventually grow to become the greatest
02:40structure ever created they stretch from the ocean using sun baked mud to master the most
02:52arid deserts stone to forge rivers and bricks to conquer mountains
03:04the wall is a tremendous piece of hardware because unlike the pyramids or the Colosseum or the Taj Mahal
03:14this is not just history is part of the world's geography is so immense the Great Wall is a must-see site for millions of visitors every year
03:26a globally recognized symbol of China's strength and independence
03:31and a place where everyone who's anyone just has to be seen
03:38this wall I am sitting on here is the only individual building that appears on world maps and globes this has a scale of its own
03:53few people know the wall as well as William Lindsay in 1987 he walked its entire length the first westerner to do so for decades
04:06those were the days when you were in central Beijing and hundreds of people would gather around you because most of them had never seen a live foreigner before
04:15they were astounded at my height you know six foot three I must have just looked like a man from Mars
04:27for me it translated initially into a journey of 78 days when China was tentatively opening its doors to the outside world
04:37in China the wall is known as Wang Li Changchung literally that's the 10,000 Lee wall that's about 5,000 kilometres
04:50Wang Li Changchung is the Chinese term for this doesn't translate as Great Wall of China it is more meaningful
05:00if you really want to be on the mark what we're standing on in Chinese is the endless wall
05:06the great wall is so vast nobody has ever managed to measure its true length until now
05:13until now
05:17everyone is left in the understanding of each other
05:21some people think that the長城 is only 2,000 square miles
05:24most people think that the長城 is only 5,000 square miles
05:27now the Chinese have set out to solve the mystery once and for all
05:35one hundred and fifty kilometres northeast of Beijing at Jin Shanling
05:46technicians prepare to use helicopter drones carrying sophisticated pods
05:53they can map every detail with great clarity
06:00this control panel which has a map with GPS points allows him to pinpoint the locations and direct the helicopter to those locations
06:08the pod has five cameras so as it's flying it will precisely calculate the height of the wall the height of the towers the relief of the surrounding terrains
06:23basically it's producing a 3D view of the wall
06:38basically it's producing a 3D view of the wall
06:45basically a survey lasts for about 40 minutes and within that survey you're looking at about 4 kilometres of wall
06:57and I guess you'll be quite occupied in the next few years this is a long wall
07:04this pioneering technology is helping to revolutionize our understanding of the wall
07:12and providing valuable information for conservation work
07:24this research is just a pilot stage of a much larger operation
07:40back in 2006 China's official cultural heritage academy started a definitive nationwide survey
07:52deploying a battery of high technology including aerial photography satellite images and laser scanning
08:04thousands of kilometers into the western deserts
08:18teams spread out over a vast area
08:25this is the first time cartographers have gone out with archaeologists looking for every trace of the wall
08:40in 2010 archaeologists came to Jintar County and found previously undiscovered sections of the wall
08:53over 2,000 years old
09:00they've survived even though they're built of little more than sun-baked mud
09:08the discovery of these ancient mud walls along with the more famous brick ones
09:15give a clue to the survey's first big revelation
09:22there's not just one wall but many
09:28it should be the great walls of China and there are at least 16
09:34the survey shows it took over 2,400 years for the 16 walls to evolve
09:43built by successive emperors and dynasties in response to changing threats
09:49using different materials and with a great variety of striking features
09:55the earliest walls were scattered and short
10:07while others sat far to the north and were then abandoned
10:10long sections of the walls overlapped or adapted to the terrain
10:17and not only did they discover new walls
10:21but also undocumented structures
10:25nearly 44,000
10:28including forts and towers
10:32the western end is deep in the Gobi Desert
10:39it spans China
10:41and climbs the mountains north of Beijing
10:44before plunging into the ocean of the dragon's head
10:49and extends as far east as the North Korean border
10:54but the biggest shock came when all the survey data was finally put together
11:05we were surprised that China has been around 21,000 miles
11:11it's almost half an hour
11:1521,000 kilometers is three times longer than traditionally believed
11:22it's further than the distance from the North Pole to the South Pole
11:37this wall is so long that when it was being operated 400 years ago
11:41guards in towers at the east end of the wall would witness the sunrise
11:46one hour and 20 minutes before guards at the western end of the same wall
11:51the same wall would witness the same events
11:54the next challenge is to discover the forces that first drove the walls creation
12:00and break the codes of its secret communication system
12:06visitors to China are familiar with the famous brick wall
12:21it's one of the world's most iconic structures
12:24but it started as sun-baked mud and foliage
12:33terrifying forces drove its creation
12:36and explain why and how the Great Wall was first built
12:41we have to go back over 2,200 years
12:46and deep into the wilderness
12:48to find parts of the longest wall built to defend ancient China
12:52only fragments remain
12:56this was once one of the most disputed parts of Asia
13:08the battleground for fearsome raiders
13:11known as the deadly Xiongnu
13:15Xiongnu were famed as horse archers
13:19a brutal raiding force
13:21the hard-riding men
13:22who struck terror into the hearts of the enemy
13:26the Xiongnu left a trail of destruction in their wake
13:32to pursue or engage them
13:36often led to disaster
13:38horse archers were the ideal troops for harassing attacks
13:43they could come as if from nowhere
13:45appearing suddenly
13:47it was true terror tactics
13:50the Xiongnu were only few in number
13:54but with their superb mastery of the horse
13:58and deadly composite foe
14:00they revolutionized warfare
14:03and forced the great Chinese Empire
14:09to adopt a radical new strategy
14:12they decided to build a wall
14:23a complex linear fortress
14:26nomads from the north posed a realistic military threat
14:33every emperor soon learned
14:35that the length of his job
14:37would depend on managing the frontier well
14:41but over two millennia ago
14:46how did they make a wall in a desert?
14:51this is a replica of the rammed earth wall
14:55it's at once wonderfully simple
14:58and yet wonderfully sophisticated
15:00look at this frame for instance
15:02this triangular frame
15:04this does two things
15:05a the top of the frame allows you perfect alignment
15:10to get that wall running exactly where you want it across the landscape
15:14but it also gives standardization to the shape of the wall
15:19I also use these reeds
15:21so bundles of reeds that were layered in between the rammed earth
15:26pounding in the reeds binds the earth together
15:30making a tough solid wall
15:33it's simple and yet sophisticated
15:37it's a wonderful design
15:39and this reconstructed section
15:43is only a third of the size of the original walls
15:46they changed the landscape
15:50standing six meters tall
15:52these defenses focused on blocking strategic weak points
15:58vulnerable passes and valleys
16:00these sections of fortifications spanned ancient China
16:09stretching for 10,000 kilometers
16:15but this wasn't just a simple barrier
16:19it was an entire protection and communications network
16:23expertly designed to resist attack
16:29one of the many defense systems
16:31is this perimeter forest of porcupine spikes
16:35look how unpleasant they are
16:37you'd have to send very brave men in
16:40attacking troops would have to clear the spikes
16:43in order to climb and breach the wall
16:46but while they're being cleared
16:49men up there are shooting down at you
16:51when they weren't defending the wall itself
16:55the troops would live in garrison forts
16:58like this
17:03now ruins
17:05they once housed a thousand Chinese cavalry
17:10ready to battle the shongnu
17:16but today many scholars challenge the traditional Chinese view
17:20that the wall was purely for defense
17:22the wall was purely for defense
17:23the wall was purely for defense
17:27in the
17:53started to make some stunning discoveries tiny wooden strips engraved with text
18:02the juyen slips
18:17the ancient chinese used wood and bamboo
18:20as paper
18:34these unique fragments allow us to read minds from 2000 years ago
18:41letters home i am patrolling the wall and life at the border is hard please write often to me
18:48medical cures
18:51to treat a cold mix wild ginger with cinnamon and monk's hood
18:57but the slips don't just tell us about the personal life of those on the frontier
19:01they also decode one of the war's best kept secrets
19:09the operation of a complex signaling system
19:12these stumps in the desert used to be beacon towers they ran deep into shongnu territory
19:22and were used to send coded signals back to the troops on the great wall
19:26they extended
19:29at 90 degrees to the wall they came out from the wall and they extended for perhaps 400 kilometers
19:38that's something like the distance between london and newcastle a tremendous distance
19:44out into the desert they would send signals back to the garrison
19:49telling them the shongnu are on the move there's this many and their signaling devices were quite
19:55ingenious they had this fun this lantern shaped object which they could run up the pole
20:01they had bell flags which in various combinations of numbers they could run up the pole
20:08but is it possible to work out exactly how the signals were used here
20:122 000 years ago
20:15so there's the original beacon tower and we've set our beacon signal along the horizon to the left of that
20:23and something's happening i can see movement it's a film it they're putting up one of those lantern shaped
20:33symbols if you see 50 shongnu raise a phone something's happening again and i can see
20:43that this is going to be the flags the body if you see 200 shongnu raise three flags
20:53the signals summoned help from the fords to stop attacks and they got larger as the threat escalated
21:05the towers all had a massive bonfire ready to light
21:09those reads start to go quite quickly if you see 1 000 shongnu light the bonfire
21:16the warning of a thousand attackers would quickly be passed along the towers to the fords
21:28but it left the men on the beacon towers alone to face the advancing shongnu
21:38listening to the roar and crackle of this fire behind me
21:42i could just imagine the dread that must have gone through the four or five men in a beacon tower
21:47when they had to light one of these but the signaling system worked
21:53the chinese defense system kept the shongnu at bay evolving and adapting over time
22:00but a thousand years later in the early 1200s the raiders reappeared
22:06only now there were many more and they were united under a great warlord genghis khan and the mongols
22:21in 1209 they attacked on several fronts going around the great war and bursting through it
22:29they conquered all china setting up their own ruling dynasty
22:33the chinese suffered the yoke of mongol rule under genghis khan and his successors
22:42for more than a century and it was a brutal war
22:47defeat at the hands of the mongols left deep scars
22:53but after decades of subjugation in 1368 the chinese ming dynasty overthrew the mongols
23:03and established one of the richest dynasties in china's history
23:11the ming emperors were determined that china would never again be conquered
23:16they vowed to turn it into an impregnable fortress
23:21they demanded the ultimate war built not from mud but from bricks
23:26and they would gamble everything on it including the future of all china
23:41in the 16th century china's ming dynasty began to construct the great wall familiar today
23:47a vast brick edifice the workforce included soldiers but also forced labor convicts and debtors
24:02the construction cost the lives of countless people
24:08altogether the ming walls took around a hundred years to build
24:11the world stretched over 8 800 kilometers and used billions of bricks
24:23but extraordinary new scientific research has shown the secret of its success isn't only in the bricks
24:31it's hidden in the mortar
24:32decoding it starts with an ancient chinese legend
24:41the mortar is very special very bright white and in fact some of the earliest walkers on the wall
24:48asked local chinese why is it so white and the locals said oh that's because the bones of the deceased builders was ground up
24:55so many chinese people grew up with the popular legend of lady mong jiang new whose husband died building the war
25:09j., j.j.j.j.z.
25:12그러
25:24j.j.j.j.j.j. je
25:38The legend says that when she made the walls collapse,
25:42they revealed human bone.
25:49From that time on, it's believed that the name of the wall,
25:55in Chinese, Wan Li Changcheng,
25:59became a death knell, a place of no return.
26:05To many, the wall meant death.
26:08To many, the wall meant death.
26:16The wall meant death,
26:19but not the wall meant death.
26:26The wall meant death.
26:35The Ming walls have withstood attacks and earthquakes for centuries.
26:38But if they're not really held together by skeletons, what makes it so effective?
26:53Bingzhen Zhang is a chemistry professor, pioneering the study of ancient building materials.
27:01He's come with his post-graduate students to collect samples of the 400-year-old main mortar.
27:07In order to help restore and preserve the walls, he wants to discover its precise chemical composition.
27:14The main ingredient of the ancient mortar is lime.
27:21The main ingredient of the ancient mortar is lime.
27:28The challenge is to find the extra magic ingredient that made it so resilient.
27:34Once the ancient mortar sample is pulverized, it's mixed with water and then heated.
27:41Adding iodine shows the mortar contains starch, an organic substance.
27:47And further tests reveal the Ming derived this vital ingredient from a most surprising source.
27:54This is the result of the ancient mortar mortar.
27:55This is the result of the mortar mortar.
27:56This is the result of the mortar mortar.
27:57The mortar mortar contains starch, an organic substance.
28:01And further tests reveal the Ming derived this vital ingredient from a most surprising source.
28:09The magic ingredient is sticky rice.
28:30The walls have been kept standing not by human bones, but by something that can be found in most kitchens.
28:36Pictures from a scanning electron microscope show how the rice binds the mortar.
28:43It has to contain exactly 3% rice to be most effective.
28:48Rigorous tests show it's highly shake-resistant and stronger than modern mortar.
28:55größer mortar.
28:56我們認為螺米灰漿是中國古代的一項重要發明.
29:07糯米的加入使得灰漿的強度等等性能都大大的改善.
29:13這種糯米灰漿確實能夠使得中國長城千年不到。
29:18But however ingenious the mortar is, it's nothing without bricks.
29:29Ming bricks are very big and allow unskilled workers to create vast walls quickly and to
29:36a uniform design, 7.5 meters tall and 9 meters wide.
29:43They're also uniquely stamped with their manufacturing details to ensure quality control.
29:51And they're still a useful source of evidence.
29:54This particular one is telling us the year in which the brick was made.
30:00Wanli is the name of the emperor.
30:02Qin Yan is the seventh year of his reign.
30:05So 1578 this brick was made.
30:10These epic fortifications required an almost endless supply of bricks.
30:17Creating them started a mass production revolution that would change China forever.
30:27And here in the remote village of Ban Chongyun, the legacy of that revolution can still be found.
30:37The 16th century Ming walls rise from the mountain peaks.
30:43The work of building the wall drew thousands of workers and their families here.
30:54And today their descendants still live in the shadow of the wall.
30:58People like Go Hua Xu.
31:00Mr Xu believes that his ancestors moved from southern China around 450 years ago to build the original Ming walls.
31:16Mr Xu has also made an amazing discovery in the village.
31:28Over 200 original Ming kilns.
31:31A clear indication of the vast scale of the manufacturing operation that went on here.
31:37Today he continues his ancestors' work.
31:48And is in charge of restoring a section of the Ming wall for the Chinese government.
31:58He's even built a working Ming kiln to learn more about the techniques of his forefathers.
32:05This is 3 meters tall.
32:104,5 meters tall.
32:13All they needed to make bricks was sandy soil and water packed into a uniform frame.
32:23Once shaped, they're left to dry.
32:30Ming bricks are big.
32:36About four times the size of modern house bricks.
32:39Weighing in at a hefty 10.5 kilograms.
32:44The walls are closed.
32:45We've been locked.
32:46We've got this.
32:47We've got this.
32:48We'll have to be locked.
32:49We've got this.
32:50We've got the stone.
32:52We've got this.
32:53We've got this.
32:54We've got this.
32:55We've got this.
32:56We've got this.
32:57We've got this.
32:58Before the kiln is lit, a small blessing to Mr Xu's wall building ancestors seems appropriate.
33:14The fire quickly spreads beneath the bricks.
33:25The smoke shows it's taking hold.
33:29The kiln has to reach a thousand degrees centigrade to make the bricks rock hard.
33:38It's a scene reminiscent of over 400 years ago, when the Ming wall was first built.
33:44I think if we were back in the 1570s here, we would see all around us an enormous amount of industrial-scale activity.
33:55There's a lot of smoke, a lot of pollution. It was a massive effort.
33:59So we can definitely say this was a military industrial operation.
34:05The Ming Empire mobilised millions to create their vast edifice.
34:10A line of defence, a base for attack, and the longest cemetery on earth.
34:22Professor Zhang has brought his new sticky rice mortar,
34:25so Mr. Xu could discover if it helps restoration work, using original Ming bricks.
34:31He biết it's a small piece of wood.
34:32He mightak alo.
34:33Ok.
34:34I'll put it back.
34:35I'll do it.
34:36Our factory is a wood.
34:37This is a wood.
34:38We're using a wood.
34:39This wood is a wood.
34:40It's a wood.
34:41This wood is a wood.
34:42This wood is a wood.
34:43The wood is wood.
34:44So is the wood.
34:45This wood is a wood.
34:47It's a wood.
34:48It's a wood.
34:49It's a wood.
34:50It's a wood.
34:51Both history and chemistry suggest the sticky rice mortar will again hold the wall together for centuries.
35:02The Ming Dynasty's capacity to produce an endless supply of bricks and magic mortar
35:07helped to create the strongest and longest brick wall in history.
35:13But did the Great Wall ultimately succeed in fulfilling its purpose?
35:18Defending China?
35:22Or did it fail?
35:31The big question remaining about the Ming Great Wall is whether it's a military marvel
35:37that held back invasion from the north
35:41or a grand and costly folly that ultimately failed to protect China.
35:46The Ming Wall stretched from its mighty desert stronghold, across the savannah and up to the mountains, around the Ming capital, Beijing,
36:02before reaching the Dragon's Head, a barrier against the terrifying threat from the north, the Mongols.
36:11This wall is the result of blood, sweat and fears, and this was built to stop the Mongols invading again.
36:24The Ming Walls look impregnable, with strong brick battlements, and the finest military engineering.
36:37The D
37:04And about every four paces along the wall, you see these bomb doors.
37:12They're shaped the same curve as the bomb.
37:15So when you drop it through, it holds it steady.
37:18You do not want it tumbling over like that.
37:21But it's falling straight down like this.
37:23So it will hit the ground bottom first and detonate it.
37:27Because in here, it is packed with gunpowder.
37:31Other much larger ones were landmines, which were linked with tripwires.
37:38So as horses and men went over the tripwires,
37:41they would operate a system that would set these off.
37:46And together with the gunpowder, they would pack in noxious chemicals,
37:50chemicals that would burn the eyes, chemicals that would burn the skin.
37:54Men at the bottom on horses would be terrified and kept away from this wall.
38:01If any attackers did scale the walls,
38:06the Ming troops could barricade themselves into these sturdy watchtowers.
38:11There are 1,200 in all.
38:13There are 2,200 in all.
38:14This great hole in the roof is not dereliction.
38:23This is where there would have been a ladder leading from the ground floor to the top storey,
38:29where three or four men on active duty during the night would be stationed.
38:34But Genghis Khan, the arch enemy of the Chinese, had foreseen the world's greatest weakness.
38:47It was manned, and in the early 1600s we have a figure that tops up to just over three quarters of a million soldiers.
39:02We're looking at about 115 per kilometre.
39:06750,000 troops is a vast host, a huge drain on national resources.
39:13The wall is a tremendous piece of hardware. It's a fortification.
39:18But the performance of the Great Wall, just like a shield, depended on who was holding the shield.
39:27By the 1600s, the Ming defenders faced a double threat.
39:34The Mongols had new allies.
39:39They'd united with warlords from the east, from Manchuria, the Manchu,
39:48and were determined to conquer China.
39:52From the 1630s, thousands of Manchu troops assaulted the walls.
40:05With the wall in danger of falling, the Ming defenders desperately needed reinforcements, and quickly.
40:13And the wall's ingenious and effective design allowed it to double up as a highway.
40:20The simplest test of its practicality is a Great Wall race.
40:35The red team, Chinese Ming defenders along the wall.
40:40And the blue, Manchu invaders across rough country.
40:45In the 16th century, when the brick wall was first operational, all the vegetation was removed from the sloping terrain,
40:59to give the defenders a clear field of fire, and to leave the ground a slippery screen.
41:06Oh, the blues are struggling. They're struggling up that slippery slope.
41:11If the Ming reinforcements don't arrive first, the Manchu attackers will be able to reinforce their breach, and control more of the wall.
41:21Who got there first, could be decisive for holding the wall.
41:28Who got there first, could be decisive for holding the wall.
41:33Well done, the winners. Yeah!
41:40Hang Hao. Good. Well done, the red team.
41:46I want to wear the blue. All the blues coming.
41:48Quiter! Quiter!
41:50They're coming gamely up that last hill, puffing and panting.
41:54Here they come!
41:57the attackers are about a minute behind well that's not a huge difference but it is a difference
42:05just between two towers this wall is a useful way of getting men from one tower to another
42:14for a few decades the grand brick wall did hold back the manchu
42:20it would take something extraordinary to breach it when it finally came it came from within
42:26in the 17th century china was in turmoil the wall had cost more than could be afforded
42:36then famine and plague hit the people starved as the ming emperor and his lords did little
42:46in 1644 the chinese people rose up and took beijing
42:50the emperor committed suicide and the country was engulfed in civil war
43:01the manchu army beyond the great wall took advantage of the chaos and attacked in force
43:07the chinese rebels inside china advanced eastwards while the manchu marched west
43:22to where the ming armies loyal to the dead emperor held the walls
43:25the ming general now faced a terrible dilemma unite his forces with the chinese rebels he despised
43:42or make common cause with the manchu invaders against his own people
43:46he held the fate of china in his hands
43:57and opened the wall's gates to the manchu
44:03in its decisive moment the wall had remained undefeated but its open gates rendered it useless
44:11the manchu now ruled all china
44:19over the coming decades they greatly expanded china's borders to the north and west
44:26the walls were no longer a frontier
44:30unmanned and abandoned they were left to crumble slowly
44:34the walls were forgotten for nearly 300 years
44:44until the chinese manned them again in the 1930s now to hold back the invading japanese
44:53but defending the wall in an age of total war was largely symbolic
44:57of the war
45:04china was looted and shelled and put to the torch
45:07after the war newly communist china stood apart from the rest of the world
45:14the great wall represented this isolation
45:18but that began to change in 1972 when u.s president richard nixon made a momentous trip
45:26to re-establish relations with the people's republic of china
45:34the president sees one symbol of the gulf to be bridged
45:38it is a symbol not only of china's ancient independence but also of her ancient isolation
45:44nixon's visit was the start of the transformation in china's relationship with the world
45:48the world once again the walls symbolize chinese strength innovation and endurance
46:02sadly one modern myth simply isn't true
46:07recent interviews of astronauts who've flown missions on the international space station
46:13proved that it's impossible to see it from outer space halfway to the moon or from the moon
46:21today the great wall remains a marvel whose ancient secrets are only now being fully understood
46:29the future of the great war is absolutely in the hands of ordinary chinese people
46:34this is an immense outdoor museum people go there and they appreciate its value the prospects are
46:43looking good for a better great wall in the 21st century
46:47the next sunday from eight the dismantling of camp bastian the billion pound base set up in
47:00afghanistan a giant jigsaw the size of reading and next tonight a soul berenson takes center stage and
47:06his performance will leave you breathless nowhere to run in homeland
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