Study On The Military Defense System And Spatial Layout Of The Great Wall In Jin Dynasty

The study on the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) has been less active than that on the Great Wall built in the Qin (BC221-206), Han (BC202-AD220), and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, in terms of both protection and archeology. In the past, the research on the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty was focused on literature and relics studies, as well as small and medium-sized military settlements along the borderline, instead of the overall military defense works and its hierarchy. As a result, the Great Wall of the Jin Dynasty hasn't been listed as a world cultural heritage item until China's heritage protection organization endorsed it as a part of the Chinese Great Wall.The Jin Dynasty in Chinese history once erected a huge fortification in its northwest frontier to defend the Mongolians. The military facility, whick stretched more than 4,000 kilometers, was composed of a long entrenchment from the west to the east, hierarchical settlements vertical to the entrenchment, and an effective message passing tactic, which consolidated the Great Wall by widening its defense in depth.Based on the formation of the Greatl Wall of the Jin Dynasty, the reference that it has drawn from the old Great Wall built before, and restrictions by specific historical and natural conditions, the thesis depicts the necessity and functions of the entrenchments, and discusses the development process, geographical distribution, hierarchies, and defense mechanism of the entrenchments and settlements of Jin's Great Wall.The thesis also portrays a general map for the entrenchments and settlements, analyzes the relations between hierarchical settlements and the military management system at that time by using mathematical statistics on military settlements, and explores the defense works according to current archeological findings. In addition, the thesis compares the layouts, sizes and features of the military settlements distributed along the Great Wall, unveils the connection between hierarchy and scales of settlements, and illustrates and compares the geographical layouts of settlements in different periods of time.The special, simple and pragmatic Great Wall built in the Jin Dynasty resisted cavalries in both latitudinal and longitudinal directions. As a transitional structure in the entire Great Wall history, the part in the Jin Dynasty had a more comprehensive defense mechanism and a more complex military settlement system.