长城英文导游词(5)

The Great Wall wanders eastwards for thousands of miles across the territory of China like a massive dragon. In the Qin dynasty 221-206 B.C., sections of earlier fortifications constructed by vassal states during the Spring and Autumn Period 770-476 B.C. and the Warring States Period 475-221 B.C. were connected together to defend invasions of the Huns in the north, forming the Great Wall that extended from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east. The Han dynasty 202 B.C.-A.D.220 further expanded the west end of the Great Wall to the Ershi City today’s Osh City in southwestern Kyrgyzstan of the Dawan Kingdom, while its east end was extended to the north bank of the Heilongjiang River. At that time, the Great Wall extended nearly 10,000 kilometers, the longest in its history. The existing Great Wall was mainly reconstructed in the Ming dynasty 1368-1644 to resist the Mongols and Jurchen. With a total length of more than 7,000 kilometers, it runs from the Yalu River of Liaoning Province in the east to the Jiayu Pass of Gansu Province in the west, crossing nine provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions such as Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu. As the first pass at the east end of the Great Wall, the Shanhai Pass is dubbed the First Pass under Heaven. The west starting point of the Great Wall, the Jiayu Pass has been known as the First Pass of Hexi and served as an important traffic hub along the Silk Road since ancient times. The Badaling section of the Juyong Pass Great Wall in Beijing is considered the best-preserved and most magnificent part of the Great Wall of the Ming dynasty.