<<type 90ms>>\<div style="color:red;text-align:center;font-family:'Trade Winds'; font-size: 4rem;">The Great Wall of China</div>\<</type>> <<fadein 1000ms 4s>> <div class="openingpage"> [[Choose your path after reading this page|Choose your Path]]
The Great Wall of China is one of the most impressive structures ever built. From the earliest walls to the grand towers and fortresses, the Great Wall is a symbol of China a nd its people. In this book you’ll explore how the choices people made meant the difference between life and death. The events you’ll experience happened to real people.
Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page. After you finish one path, go back and read the others. Use your device’s back buttons or page navigation experiment with different choices.
<h1>Chapter 1</h1> The Great Wall of China has been a part of your life since you were born. It is as ancient as the land and as strong as the most terrible dragon. The wall stretches across the land and disappears over the mountains. You feel proud as you look at it. Your ancestors helped to build the first earthen walls in 221 BC. The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, ordered that the first part of the Great Wall be built. But Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s wall wasn’t the first wall in China.
<img src="https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/2365/Z6sh2O.png">
The Great Wall of China is the longest structure human beings have ever built.
Before Emperor Qin Shi Huang, China was filled with villages and small cities. It was hard to defend them against attacking enemies. One way that villagers protected their homes was by building walls. Qin Shi Huang was the first person to unify all the villages and cities into one empire. He liked the idea of protective walls, so he ordered that the walls be joined into one long wall. Thousands of soldiers, farmers, and prisoners built these new walls. For a time, the walls worked. But the First Emperor fell ill and died in 210 BC, and wall building stopped.
<img src="https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/534/gFh7Es.jpg">
Later emperors kept building and improving the wall, hoping to keep out the invaders. The wall helped in defending China, but invaders continued to mount attacks. Some of your other ancestors fought China’s enemies along the wall.
The wall you know was built during the Ming Dynasty, from AD 1368 to 1644. Thousands of miles of walls, forts, castles, towers, and battlements were added. Workers built every inch of the wall out of earth, brick, and stone. The wall snaked through deserts and forests and wound along mountaintops. The farmers in your family grew the food that fed the builders.
By the 1600s China was no longer at war. The Great Wall was left to ruin. People took the bricks and stone from the crumbling walls to build their own homes. Large sections of the wall disappeared. In some areas people forgot the wall had ever existed.
But others did not forget. The Great Wall is filled with the stories of the people who built it. Every stone is wet with the tears of the workers who suffered. Every brick is covered with the blood of those who died. The towers and battlements still ring with the sounds of war.
[[Choose your Path]]
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<H1>The First Walls Go Up </H1>
The cold room you are locked in smells like sweat and human filth. Something red has stained the thin walls. Blood, probably. Maybe your father was held here when he was arrested years ago. That was in 219 BC, when you were a child. He was a peasant farmer. The emperor’s men took him away and you never saw him again.
You blame the emperor for all of this. Not that long ago, China was at war with itself. Seven different states fought one another for power. In 221 BC all the states came together under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Emperor Qin is a cruel ruler. He believes that human nature is basically bad. People should be punished harshly for any bad thing they do.
<img src="https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5106/0WUe2l.jpg">
A beacon tower sits alongside a trench in northwestern China. It marks an ancient portion of the Great Wall.
You have no idea why you are here, but it was probably because of someone else. Every family in your village is registered with the government. Your family is part of a bigger group of other families in the village. Every family in the group is responsible for the other families. If one person breaks the law, everyone in the group is punished for it.
Two guards burst into the small room.
“You are lucky today,” one of them says. “The emperor himself is in the village. He will punish you and the rest of the dirty peasants himself.”
“Maybe he’ll have your nose and feet cut off,” the other guard says.
“He might have you branded. Or you could be boiled alive. You are as good as dead.”
The door is wide open, and you are small and fast.
[[To escape|1a1 escape]]
[[To stay|2a1 stay ends same]]<h1>Building the Wall, Brick by Brick</h1>
The Ming Emperor’s soldiers came to your village in the night. They were looking for people to work on the emperor’s grand project: The Great Wall.
You have heard about the wall all your life. Many centuries ago the First Emperor built a Long Wall to protect the land. Your parents told you stories about the Long Wall. You, like many others, weren’t sure the Long Wall really existed.
Today the soldiers have changed everyone’s mind. The First Ming emperor, Hongwu, and the Chinese army drove the Mongols out of China in 1368. The Ming Dynasty began. Since then war has torn the land. Mongol invaders and other nomads keep attacking.
<img src="https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1048x557q90/922/LUw7u6.png">
Most wall construction during the Ming Dynasty used bricks and mortar as the main building materials.
To protect China Hongwu started rebuilding the wall. He decided that the only way to stop them was to rebuild and repair the old walls to keep them out. Since then other Ming emperors have kept up the building. The Ming walls must be bigger and stronger than the ancient wall of the First Emperor. That is why the soldiers are here.
The soldiers are especially in need of skilled workers like you. They are asking thousands of farmers, architects, stonecutters, brick makers, and other workers to move to the construction site. The men in your family have been brick makers for many generations. The soldiers want to make you a deal: you won’t have to pay any taxes if you agree to work. You will be paid for your work. They also say you will be able to come home after a few months.
[[To stay in your home village]]
[[To agree to go work on the walls]] Don’t look back, you think as you race through the door. The dense forest beyond the village will be a great place to hide. The guards are right behind you. You run into the forest. Soon you don’t hear the guards behind you anymore. You crawl under a fallen tree and hide until dark.
It’s colder and darker than you thought. As the night wears on, your stomach growls. You wish you had been able to grab some food or a blanket. You briefly consider going back to the village to gather some supplies. But you realize it might be easier to try to get to the next village.
It’s only a few miles to the next village and you know the way. Ignoring the cold, you find the road and set out. You are so focused on your misery that you don’t hear the hoofbeats behind you until it’s too late. The guards grab you, tie your hands, and throw you over the back of a horse. You’re so cold and hungry that you don’t even care.
In 1974 farmers discovered thousands of clay warriors buried around Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb. This army includes more than 8,000 life-size soldiers and other figures. Historians think this terra-cotta army was made to protect the emperor’s tomb in the afterlife.
Soon you are standing in front of the emperor. Crowds of villagers watch silently as the emperor stares at you.
“Do you know what they say about me?” he asks. “I have the heart of a wolf and I show little mercy. But I will show mercy today and spare you and your family.”
Relief floods through you. The emperor continues. “A dead peasant is a useless peasant. I need workers on a big project. It is the Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li. ”
You have heard terrible stories of the wall. When Emperor Qin unified China, several small walls snaked through China. They protected the lands of the different tribes. The emperor wanted to join these small walls into one long wall. He wanted to protect his new empire from his enemies. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to work on the Long Wall. Many of them have never come back.
“Your sentence is four years of hard labor, ” the emperor says. “In my mercy, I will let you choose. You can work on the wall. Or you can work in the food caravans that deliver food to the workers.”
[[work on the wall]]
[[work in the food caravans]]
Double-click this passage to edit it.Soon you are standing in front of the emperor. Crowds of villagers watch silently as the emperor stares at you.
“Do you know what they say about me?” he asks. “I have the heart of a wolf and I show little mercy. But I will show mercy today and spare you and your family.”
Relief floods through you. The emperor continues. “A dead peasant is a useless peasant. I need workers on a big project. It is the Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li. ”
You have heard terrible stories of the wall. When Emperor Qin unified China, several small walls snaked through China. They protected the lands of the different tribes. The emperor wanted to join these small walls into one long wall. He wanted to protect his new empire from his enemies. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to work on the Long Wall. Many of them have never come back.
“Your sentence is four years of hard labor, ” the emperor says. “In my mercy, I will let you choose. You can work on the wall. Or you can work in the food caravans that deliver food to the workers.”
[[work on the wall]]
[[work in the food caravans]]
For days you and the other prisoners are forced to march through the wilderness to the wall. The days become a blur of exhaustion, hunger, and thirst. At night everyone sleeps on the ground, even in the rain. The only thing you get to eat is one small bowl of food a day.
Late one night you wake up to go to the toilet. Everything is quiet. Even the guards are asleep. If you want to escape, now is the time. You’re not sure where you are. You could die in the woods alone. But you could die on this terrible march too.
[[To stay and continue on]]
[[To take your chances in the wilderness]]Four years driving a cart filled with food doesn’t seem so bad. But the job turns out to be worse than you thought. The trip to the construction site takes many days. You are punished if you do not deliver the food on time. But the worst problem is the bandits. They attack caravans and steal the food. There should be soldiers along the roads to protect the caravans. You rarely see one, though.
You heard a story about the bandits and caravans. A caravan of almost 200 carts of grain once set out for the Long Wall. Only one cart arrived safely. Many workers starved to death when the food did not come.
In only two more days you will be at the Long Wall again. Suddenly a group bursts out of the trees beside the road. The bandits crowd around, digging through the cart to see what food you have. One pulls you off the cart and throws you onto the muddy ground.
Most of the time bandits leave you alone and take the food. Not today. The leader pulls out a knife and shoves it into your stomach. The last thing you hear is their laughter as you fall, your blood turning the mud red as you die.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] The terrible march goes on for another week. The land becomes rough, with steep, rocky hills. But you manage to make it. Finally you see the construction site. A giant wall twists up and down along the tops of the hills. Parts of the wall are half finished. Thousands of workers swarm everywhere. Some are bent with the weight of heavy baskets. Others push carts full of earth and rock. Lines of people stand on the half-completed wall, tramping the earth.
“Are they all prisoners?” you gasp.
The guard laughs. “No. Most of the workers are soldiers or common peasants. They are forced to work just like you are. In fact, every male over 4 feet tall is forced to work on the Long Wall. That means some of the workers are children. The rest are prisoners.”
A tall man in military clothing speaks to the guard. He turns and says, “I am General Meng Tian. My task is building the Long Wall.”
He points to the construction. “The Long Wall is built from earth and any other materials we can find in the area,” he says. “First the workers build a wall-shaped frame out of wood or bamboo. Other workers fill the frame with earth and other materials. They stand on top of the earth and tamp it down to make it hard and tight. Then workers put another layer of earth on top and tamp it again. They keep doing this until the wall is about 20 feet high.”
“I need workers to dig and carry earth and rocks to the wall,” Meng says. “I also need workers to build frames and tamp the earth.”
[[To dig earth and rocks and carry them]]
[[To tamp earth]]
[[To build the wooden frames]] You disappear into the woods and run until you can’t move. At dawn you crawl under a fallen tree and sleep. When you wake up, the sun has set. No one seems to have come looking for you.
You feel lucky when you find a small stream of cold, fresh water. You follow it for several days until a small village appears through the trees. You stumble into the village and pass out in the dirt.
When you wake up, you’re comfortable and warm. Someone feeds you hot soup. Slowly you tell the villagers your terrible story. They don’t seem shocked. They know about the prisoners and the marches to the Long Wall. They promise to help you get back to your village when you are stronger. But for now, it is enough that you have survived.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] The march here was nothing compared to the work of building the wall. There is hardly anything to eat. The workers begin at dawn and work until dark. They tell you horrible stories of how the emperor’s soldiers took them away from their homes. Some of them haven’t seen their families in years.
At night you sleep with the others in makeshift camps near the wall. The hard, cold ground is your bed. There are no blankets or tents. Everyone sleeps outside, no matter what the weather. You only get enough food to survive. Every day workers die of starvation and sickness. Their bodies are buried in huge ditches that run along the wall.
Today you can work carrying earth for the wall. Or you can dig rocks from a nearby quarry.
[[To carry earth]]
[[To work at the quarry]]
You join the workers along the wall. Workers bring basketfuls of earth and clay and pour them on the top of the wall. You drop a large, heavy tool onto the dirt to pack it down.
Workers use heavy tools to tamp, or pack down the wall’s dirt surface. This process helped strengthen the wall. It takes hours to build up only a few inches of earth wall. When you are done, workers build the frame a little higher. Once the wall is about 20 feet high, you will start working on the next section.
Some people say that the bodies of dead workers are buried in the wall. You’ve never seen a body buried there, but you would not be surprised. Already, people are calling the wall the “World’s Longest Cemetery.”
Eventually this section of the wall is done. You can keep tamping earth, or you can help build the wooden frame for the next section.
[[To build the wooden frames]]
[[To stay on the wall]]You strap a large basket on your back and make the day’s first trip to the digging area. A digger fills your basket with earth. The first few loads are not too bad. But they seem to get heavier as the day wears on. Over and over you walk the path, bent in pain. The hours blend into one long day of agony.
The Great Wall project required the work of a huge number of soldiers, common people, and criminals.
When the sun goes down, you make it to camp and crumple onto the ground. The next morning the call comes to wake up, but you can’t move. Each of your muscles screams in pain. As you struggle to stand you realize that you must have injured your back as well. The previous day’s work pushed your body too far. Guards come and haul you to your feet, but you collapse.
For several days you lay there, moaning, and everyone ignores you. Then one morning you wake up with a fever and a terrible cough. Throughout the day you feel your remaining strength disappear. As you slowly slip into unconsciousness, you feel thankful that the pain is gone. You will probably be another body in the ditch by morning, but you don’t care anymore.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] Hundreds of workers are already at the quarry when you arrive. To save money and time, each section of the Long Wall is built with whatever materials are on hand. This is a rocky, hilly area, so rocks go into the Long Wall.
Soon you’re filling basket after basket with rocks. Suddenly one of the workers slips and falls to the bottom of the quarry, hitting several rocky ledges on his way down. Soldiers come and take away his lifeless body. Someone else steps forward, and you fill his basket. You wonder if the dead worker had family somewhere. If so, they will probably never know what happened to him.When the sun goes down you head back to camp.
As you try to fall asleep, you think about the dead worker. You remember a poem another prisoner recited to you. It is about all the people who have died building the Long Wall. It goes,
“If you have a son, don’t raise him.
If you have a girl, feed her dried meat.
Can’t you see the Long Wall
Is propped up by skeletons.”
The next day you take extra care, remembering what happened the day before. Around noon you kneel at the quarry edge to fill your basket with rocks. Suddenly the ground begins to crumble under your feet. The quarry edge collapses, sending you down toward the rocks below. Before you have a chance to react, your head slams into something hard and everything goes black.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] Frame building is hard but not as terrible as the tasks some other workers have to do. Your grandfather was a woodworker and he taught you well.
Today you are building frames out of wood from the nearby forest. Sometimes the frames are made out of bamboo. It all depends on what is available nearby. You do your best to make the frame sturdy. The other workers don’t have your skill, and they don’t seem to care about building a strong frame.
When it is done the frame is not as sturdy as you’d like. You are worried that it isn’t going to hold the weight of the earth, rocks, and workers. If you tell a soldier you might be punished or killed. But if you don’t tell anyone and the frame fails, the same thing could happen.
[[Stay quiet|Stayed quiet]]
[[Alert a soldier|Alerted a soldier]]Day after day you tamp earth with the others. One section of wall takes many days to finish. Slowly the wall rises. It snakes along the top of a high ridge overlooking vast forests. You hear that the wall will protect the new empire from outside enemies. You don’t know why the emperor needs a wall in such a remote area. Some workers whisper that the emperor’s mind is leaving him.
So many people die every day that you cannot count the bodies. They make you think of the legend of Meng Jiangnu. Meng’s husband was sent to work on the Long Wall. He did not come home before winter set in. Meng was worried that her husband would be cold, so she took some warm clothes to the Long Wall for him. When she got there, she could not find him. Finally someone told her that he had died. Meng Jiangnu cried for many days. Her tears split open the Long Wall. Inside the earth she found the bones of her husband and all the others who had died building the Long Wall. She buried her husband’s bones and then killed herself.
Four years pass. The day you are set free, you weep. You think of your family, hoping they will still be there to greet you when you return.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] Speaking up isn’t worth your life. The soldiers send you to a different part of the site to build another frame. Soon you’re so focused on the work that you forget your concerns.
Around mid-afternoon everyone is startled by a huge crash. The frame you were worried about has collapsed into a heap of splintered wood. Two workers fell, screaming, on top of the sharp wood. All of the earth that had been tamped that morning has now crumbled away.
The soldiers grab you and the other workers who built the collapsed frame. They haul you before General Meng Tian. He says only one word. “Death.” You are taken to the edge of the burial pit. The last sight you see in this life is the corpses of all the dead workers in twisted heaps below you.
— THE END —
To follow another path, press here.
To read the conclusion, press here.Speaking up isn’t worth your life. The soldiers send you to a different part of the site to build another frame. Soon you’re so focused on the work that you forget your concerns.
Around mid-afternoon everyone is startled by a huge crash. The frame you were worried about has collapsed into a heap of splintered wood. Two workers fell, screaming, on top of the sharp wood. All of the earth that had been tamped that morning has now crumbled away.
The soldiers grab you and the other workers who built the collapsed frame. They haul you before General Meng Tian. He says only one word. “Death.” You are taken to the edge of the burial pit. The last sight you see in this life is the corpses of all the dead workers in twisted heaps below you.
— THE END —
[[To follow another path|Choose your Path]]
[[To read the conclusion|Conclusion]]
<h1>Beyond the Great Wall</h1>
People used to think that you could see the Great Wall of China from space. You can’t easily see the wall from space, but the Great Wall has other claims to fame. It is one of the largest manmade objects on Earth. It is the longest wall in the world. The wall stretches across parts of China for more than 2,000 miles, with another 2,195 miles of branches and extra sections. Today it is considered one of the wonders of the world.
Many people think that the Great Wall is one long wall that stretches across China. But the Great Wall is really many pieces of long, disconnected walls. The first long wall went up during the reign of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. He ruled China for only 15 years (221–206 BC) before his death. Qin Shi Huang’s general, Meng Tian, died soon after.
For the next 500 years, emperors built and rebuilt the wall. Others ignored it. When the Ming Dynasty took control of China in 1368, the emperor was desperate to keep the Mongols out for good. The Ming era became the “golden age” of the Great Wall. Old earthen walls were repaired and new walls were built with stones and bricks. The wall became a strong military defense against the Mongols and other nomadic tribes. The Ming emperors built most of the Great Wall that exists today.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, wars had changed. Cannons and gunpowder replaced arrows and spears. Battles were fought far from the Great Wall. The wall was no longer a great military fortress. It had become useless.
Slowly the wind and rain turned the strong wall into ruins. In some areas the wall disappeared completely. Local farmers pried the bricks and stones out of the walls and used them to build houses and roads.
Many Chinese forgot the Great Wall. The rest of the world barely knew it existed at all. Few foreigners saw the wall until the mid-1900s. China began allowing foreign visitors into the country in the 1970s. The Great Wall and its long, sometimes sad history became well known to Americans when U.S. President Richard Nixon visited it in 1972.
In 1987 the Great Wall was added to the list of World Heritage Sites. It was honored as “one of the world’s great feats of engineering and an enduring monument to the strength of an ancient civilization.”
Today many sections of the wall have been restored. Tourists from around the world come to climb its steep steps. In other places the wall is still in ruins, waiting to be rebuilt. The Great Wall stands as a symbol of China’s strength and greatness. Restoration projects have helped to preserve some parts of the Great Wall.
<h1>TIMELINE</h1>
800–221 BC—Chinese federal states build walls and fortifications around their territories.
221 BC—Qin Shi Huang unifies the warring states to become First Emperor of China.
221–209 BC—The First Emperor gives the order that new defensive walls be built around his empire.
209 BC—The First Emperor dies; the Han Dynasty begins.
130–102 BC—The Han Dynasty repairs parts of the wall and adds some walls in the eastern and western parts of China.
AD 423–1368—Various emperors repair, rebuild, and add sections to the wall.
1368—The Ming Dynasty begins.
1368–1644—Towers, battlements, passes, forts, and garrisons are built along the Great Wall. The wall is extended for hundreds of miles.
1644—The Ming Dynasty ends and the Great Wall begins its fall into ruins.
1923—The first claim is made that the Great Wall can be seen from space.
1950s—With the encouragment of the Chinese government, parts of the Great Wall are demolished. The bricks are used for building houses, farms, and other structures.
1987—The Great Wall becomes a World Heritage Site. World Heritage Sites are named to recognize cultural and natural places that have outstanding universal value.
2002—The Great Wall is designated as one of the world’s most endangered sites.
2003—The Chinese government announces a series of new regulations and laws to better protect and preserve the Great Wall.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]] <div style="color:red;text-align:center;font-family:'Trade Winds'; font-size: 4rem;">Choose Your Path Below</div>
<div class="openingpage">
[[Be a peasant forced to work on the First Emperor’s wall|1 Start Emperor’s Wall]]
[[Be a bricklayer working on the wall during the Ming Dynasty|2 Start Ming Bricklayer]]
</div>The soldiers leave without you. You are shocked that they didn’t force you to go with them. It may be because you are not a criminal. The emperor punishes some criminals by forcing them to work on the wall for their whole lives. But it is worse than that. If the criminal dies while working on the wall, one of his relatives must work in his place.
For a time you forget about the wall. Then one day the village is filled with rumors of soldiers in the countryside, looking for recruits again. They might not bother you this time. But if they do come, you might not be lucky again. No one says no to the soldiers twice and lives.
[[To flee your village and run away|To leave your village]]
[[To refuse the soldiers & remain in your village|To refuse and stay]]It will take many days to get to the construction site, but you are not worried. The road winds through beautiful countryside, and the first few days are bright and clear. But by the end of the week, the rains come. Everyone is wet and miserable. A few people become ill with fever and chills. The whole group slows down for the weakened people. After a while, some of the healthy people want to ride on and leave the sick ones behind. You can go with them. But maybe you should stay and help take care of the sick.
[[To ride on, press here]]
[[To stay & take care of the sick]]Quickly you tell your family to gather what they can and load it onto your cart. By nightfall you are far away. If the soldiers don’t follow you or see you on the road, you might be able to escape.
You travel for many weeks, hoping that your wife’s family will take you in—if you are lucky enough to get there. You are thankful for each day of travel that passes without an encounter with soldiers or bandits.
After a two-month journey you arrive at your wife’s home village. Her family agrees to give you shelter. You thank them, promising to repay them one day for their kindness. You hug your family and smile, hoping that you’ve put the Great Wall behind you forever.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] The rumors are true. Another soldier comes looking for you. You tell him you will not go to the wall. You’re ready to die when he says something shocking. He doesn’t want to take you away! He wants you to make bricks for the construction. It doesn’t matter that you live miles away from the construction. The soldier makes arrangements to send the finished bricks to the construction site. He gives you money and tells you to get to work. It looks like you will have plenty of work, and money, for many months to come.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] After a few days the rains stop, and the rest of the trip is warm and comfortable. You tell stories to pass the time, including a brick-making story your father told you about the Great Wall.
“There is a place,” you begin, “where the wall was built on the spine of a mountain. It was too steep to carry stone and brick up the mountain. And there was no flat place nearby for brick kilns. The overseer did not know what to do. A local man named Li Gang offered to make bricks several miles away. But when the bricks were made, Li Gang did not know how to get them up the mountain.”
“Li Gang took a nap,” you continue, “and dreamed of a magical ox that could carry the bricks. In the dream the ox carried tens of thousands of bricks up the mountain. When Li Gang woke up, he was shocked to see that all of his bricks were really gone! Quickly he went to the mountain. There he saw that all the bricks he made had been built into the Great Wall.”
Finally your group arrives at the wall. The supervisor in charge of construction is happy to see you. He needs brick makers to go to the brick-making workshop. It is about a mile away from the main construction site. He also needs bricklayers to go to the construction site immediately.
[[To go to the brick-making workshop]]
[[To start laying bricks on the Great Wall]]At first people seem to be getting well. Then one by one they start to get worse. Some die, and no one knows why. You decide to continue taking care of them and hope you don’t get sick too.
One morning you awake with a terrible headache and fever. Your muscles ache and you feel cold. It becomes hard to breathe and you know your luck has run out. You slip into unconsciousness like many others, and die of this mysterious illness.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] Around the workshop the air is choked with smoke from the dozens of kilns that fill this flat area. An endless sea of tree stumps and brush stretches as far as you can see. Thousands of people swarm in the workshop. To unskilled workers this might look like a disorganized mess. But you can see that the work is very organized.
Kilns are ovenlike chambers used to capture heat and control temperature. They are essential in the process of traditional brick-making.
Workers dig the earth for the bricks in areas away from the construction site. Another group of workers molds the earth into brick shapes and bakes them in the kilns until they are hard.
The brick makers are using three different kinds of kilns. One design looks like a dragon, with several ovens for firing the bricks. Another kiln is U-shaped, and the third is shaped like a horn.
Near the kilns workers pull finished bricks from the ovens. The bricks get stacked in piles or neat rows. Other workers are carrying wood and other fuels for the kilns. Even more men dig earth to make clay and fill molds. Lines of workers fill baskets and carts with bricks to carry to the construction site.
You’re not sure where to start.
[[To gather fuel]]
[[To mold bricks from clay]]
[[To fire bricks in the kilns]]After a hard climb, you arrive at the construction area. The size of the wall takes your breath away. It twists up and down the mountain like a dragon and disappears in the distance. Square watchtowers sit at different points on the wall. Small villages dot the valley far below.
It’s hard to breathe through the thick smoke and smell of fires and human waste. A sea of tree stumps and mud stretches out from both sides of the wall. The air is filled with the sounds of hammering and shouting. Carts filled with building materials crisscross the construction site. Lines of workers trudge along the wall with their loads.
A sweaty man appears. “I am the overseer of the bricklaying,” he says. “I need some men to work on the outer brick ‘skin’ of the wall, and others for bricklaying jobs on the top of the wall.”
[[To work on the top of the wall]]
[[To work on the outer section of the wall]]Large sections of the wall are only half finished. In some sections workers
push huge, heavy blocks of stone into place to make a foundation. In another
area, workers build the inside of the wall by tamping down earth. When the
earthen wall is tall enough, bricklayers build a brick “skin” over it for strength.
Other workers add stones to parts of the wall.
The bricklayers in this section work on scaffolding about halfway up the wall.
You climb up a ladder and start working. You stop when the sun goes down. At
dawn the next day, you start working again.
Weeks pass. The wall goes up slowly. The building supervisors are unhappy
with the slow pace. Every day they shout to go faster. The emperor wants the
wall finished, they say. More bricklayers arrive and climb the scaffolding. One
day a huge cracking sound splits the air. The scaffolding collapses under the
weight of the extra workers. Everyone crashes to the ground in a heap of
splintered wood and broken bodies. You and the other dead workers are quickly
buried in ditches alongside the wall.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] You climb steep stairs to the top. The stairs are only on the China side of the
wall. On the other side, there is nothing but wall. You see a long line of workers stretching up the mountain. They pass baskets and bricks from one person to the next, up the slope.
The top of the wall is crawling with workers. A supervisor sees you. “Good,
more workers!” he exclaims. When you tell him you are a master bricklayer, he
grins. “Just what I need,” he says.
He shows you around. “See how wide the top of the wall is?” he asks. “It must
be wide enough for five horsemen to gallop side by side, or ten soldiers to march
in a row. It is called the ‘horse road wall.’”
The supervisor needs people to lay bricks on the walkway. He could also use
people to mix the mortar that holds the bricks together.
[[To work on the wide walkway]]
[[To mix mortar]]Laying bricks is especially tricky here. Building a strong wall on sloped ground requires great architectural skill. The bricks must be of the best quality. The walkway must slope gently outward to let the rain drain away. And the whole walkway must be so well laid that it is watertight. You’re good at your job, so this is no problem.
Soldiers use the openings to watch for barbarians or shoot them with arrows.” He gives you the choice of working on the battlements or installing drain spouts along the wall.
[[To work on the battlements]]
[[To install drain spouts]]The mortar in the large tubs looks strange and white. You have never seen
white mortar before. Another worker laughs when you ask about it.
“We make special mortar with lime, clay, and white sticky rice soup!” he
says. “The sticky rice mortar is so strong that weeds do not grow through. The
emperor has ordered that all the rice grown in southern China go to making
mortar and to feeding the workers.” You smile, happy at the thought of food.
But then you wonder if the people in southern China will be hungry this winter.
You mix the sticky rice mortar all day. The next day the supervisor finds you.
The mortar you mixed the day before wasn’t right. He doesn’t have time for
people who can’t do their jobs, he says. He drags you away, and no one ever
sees you again.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] You’re an expert at building straight, strong walls. But these battlements are
different than what you’ve worked on in the past. The bricks are not laid in
straight, flat lines. They are sloped to the angle of the land. The workers explain that this method allows them to build faster because they don’t have to make sure every brick is level. It seems strange to you, but you start working. To your surprise the brick laying does go faster using the sloped building method.
Day after day you build the wall. Weeks turn into months, and the building
goes on in all kinds of weather. You forget how much time has passed until one
day the supervisor appears. He tells you that your time on the wall is over.
Finally you can go home.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] The wall’s drainage system is simple. Water drains from the walkway through
holes in the walls. The water flows into large stone spouts. This system is meant to keep the wall from washing away. The spouts are only on the Chinese side of the wall. This helps prevent plants and trees from growing on the enemy’s side, so they won’t have any place to hide or get over the wall.
Each spout is cut from one big stone slab. It takes many men to put a spout
into the wall.
You and the others work on scaffolding high on the wall. Slowly
you push the stone spout into place. Suddenly someone slips. The giant stone
spout crashes down on you, destroying the scaffolding and sending everyone to
their deaths in the forest below.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] It takes a lot of fuel to build the fires to make bricks. The only job that many workers have is gathering fuel for the kilns. The best fire for the bricks comes from layers of grass, a type of wood called wormwood, and pine branches.
Sometimes it is better to use heavy oil and sheep or goat dung. These fuels make the fire smokier. The smoke makes the bricks stronger.
There is a lot of good fuel in this area. Some workers cut down trees while
others gather pine branches. When you have filled your basket, you go back to
the main brick-making workshop and decide you’re ready for a new challenge.
[[To mold bricks from clay]]
[[To fire bricks in the kilns]]Some workers dig the earth and clay that will be used to make bricks. They
fill carts and baskets with earth from a huge pit. Others cut large pieces of earth and grass and pile them on the carts. Earth with grass roots in it makes strong bricks. Workers bring buckets of water to mix in the earth to make a thick mud.
Some bricks in the Great Wall are stamped with information about who
made them. A large area around the workshop is covered with square wooden molds. Each mold is the size of one brick. Every brick will be about 14 inches long, 7 inches deep, and 4 inches wide. You and the others pour the thick mud into the wooden molds, and then press the mud down. When the bricks are dry, they will be fired in the kilns. You could wait for the bricks to dry, but you don’t want to be accused of not working hard enough. Perhaps it would be better to help the diggers while you wait.
[[To dig earth]]
[[To rest and wait for the bricks to dry]]You decide to stick with the bricks and no one pays you any mind. Once the
bricks are dry you stack them by rows into the kiln to be fired. Each kiln can
hold 5,000 bricks, and you pack it full. It takes seven days to fire a kiln full of
bricks. You stack the bricks on the first day. The next day you fire them. The
third day you pour water on top of the kiln to help cool down the bricks.
You let the bricks cool for the next three days. On the seventh day, workers
unload the kiln. Brand-new bricks are ready to go to the Great Wall. Most of the
bricks are plain. You stamp your name in some of them.
Each day you and the other brick makers move from one kiln to the next,
doing whatever job needs to be done. One day you are getting a stack of fuel
ready for firing. When you light the fire, a gust of wind takes you by surprise.
Sparks fly into your clothing and burst into flames! You run, screaming, until
someone throws water onto your burning clothes. The burns cover most of your body. After a few days in agony, you die from your injuries.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] You decide to stick with the bricks and no one pays you any mind. Once the
bricks are dry you stack them by rows into the kiln to be fired. Each kiln can
hold 5,000 bricks, and you pack it full. It takes seven days to fire a kiln full of bricks. You stack the bricks on the first day. The next day you fire them. The third day you pour water on top of the kiln to help cool down the bricks.
You let the bricks cool for the next three days. On the seventh day, workers
unload the kiln. Brand-new bricks are ready to go to the Great Wall. Most of the bricks are plain. You stamp your name in some of them.
Each day you and the other brick makers move from one kiln to the next,
doing whatever job needs to be done. One day you are getting a stack of fuel
ready for firing. When you light the fire, a gust of wind takes you by surprise.
Sparks fly into your clothing and burst into flames! You run, screaming, until
someone throws water onto your burning clothes. The burns cover most of your
body. After a few days in agony, you die from your injuries.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]] Not wanting to take any chances, you decide to help the diggers make the mud
clay for the bricks. Later a building supervisor appears. He is furious! He says that the last batch of bricks was bad. He rounds up everyone who worked on that batch. You try to explain that you are a brick maker, just helping out the diggers. But he doesn’t listen. One by one you are all killed for the mistake.
— THE END —
[[Try a different path|Choose your Path]]
[[Read the conclusion|Conclusion]]