Opinion

1. 
   Is  the Great Wall really 'Great'? 
2. By: Clarissa Marroquin the know it all

         
               Was the Great Wall of China really great? Well, if you were one who settled for less then sure! This is not the case though. The Great Wall of China was stared to be built during the Qin dynasty but it was mostly built in the Ming Dynasty. It stretches over 4,000 m long.  They built the wall to keep invaders from coming in on horse back and also so that no goods would be stolen. Over time the wall was being extended by different dynasties. There methods of building were also different. The Ming dynasty built the foundation of the wall of stone and brick.The Great Wall of China is now mainly used for tourist attraction purposes but it was built for protection purposes. In fact, The Great wall did not achieve its purpose at all. The Great Wall of China is not all that great considering what it was built for.
               The Great Wall was built to keep the Mongols from re-conquering China but did not keep them out completely and were able to sneak through and hold the emperor of that time hostage.  In 1644,internal rebellions destroyed the ruling Ming dynasty, and the Manchu were able to enter China from the wall's gates. If the Great Wall of China was so great then why didn't it actually work? Was this man-made land mark only named "great" because of its massive size that stretches over 4,000 m long? If the wall was so great the Ming dynasty would have probably lasted longer and would have full filled its rightful purpose. So even though the wall was made of bricks and stone and was very tall it still had its weaknesses and knowing that the Chinese did not have the technology that we have today then it most likely was not built very stable.
              The "great" wall still stands today as a grand human structure. I guess the wall could not take all of its grandness because it continues to crumble and slowly fall apart. To this day the wall is being repaired to save and restore the history that it holds. Even though its history was not all that great. If the great wall of China was being built today it would have lasted longer because of the tools we have. The wall now only serves one main purpose, a place were tourist can enjoy its amazing view. Though the Great Wall of China is a piece in the past that is held in the future it was not fully functional and was not very productive in keeping invaders out.