572 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 8 



Vitruvius. In general, however, the walls of Chinese cities have 

 always been of earth, in later centuries generally, though not always, 

 faced with brick. Significant of this is the fact that the ideograph 

 for "city-wall" 8 has as its determinative or "radical" the character 

 for "earth." The original Great Wall of China, constructed a few 

 years prior to the founding of Ch'ang-an and just at the time of the 

 Second Punic War, was likewise of earth, as indeed are long portions 

 of it still (cf. pi. 3). 



The ancient rampart which we were studying rested directly upon 

 the original surface of the soil, without the interposition of a stone 

 plinth or a damp-course of any kind. Its thickness at the base we 

 found to be 350 feet. Protruding from the western side of the afore- 

 mentioned gap, near the top of the wall, were remains of what had 

 evidently been a drainage-system of gray unglazed tile; for the region, 

 though in general comparatively dry, experiences torrential summer 

 rains. At the foot of the rampart's outer face, still quite steep 

 (owing to the durability of the terre pise) even after the lapse of 20 

 centuries, we found traces of a narrow berm (see fig. 1, drawing of 



so! 



350 Fee t >J 



Figure l.— Drawing of profile of rampart, old Ch'ang-an; suggested restoration in broken lines. 



cross-section of rampart), now almost worn away. It may originally 

 have been 15 feet wide, possibly even less; in any case barely enough, 

 it seemed, to withstand the thrust of the vast mass of rammed earth 

 above and behind it. 



The vertical height of the outer face, above the berm, we found to 

 average 25 feet in its present state. We noticed particularly that 

 there were in the line of the wall none of those rectangular projections 

 or salients, often loosely called "bastions," seen in many of the 

 Chinese city walls built during more recent centuries (see pi. 4). On 

 the contrary, at old Ch'ang-an we saw only the long straight curtain- 

 Wall, with no provision, save possibly at the city gates (see post), for 

 the directing of a flank fire against bodies of assailants. 



Extending back from the brink of the outer face of the rampart 

 were the remains of a platform or parapet of pise, once no doubt level 

 but now much cut up by erosion and cultivation. This was 42 feet 

 across at the widest of several points where we measured it; while 

 in places its now very irregular inner edge rose as much as 10 feet above 



» The same character, pronounced ch'fing, also means "city;" for according to the traditional Chinese 

 way of thinking, the wall is what makes the city. 



