Both sides of the sea of clouds after snow at the barrier wall of Simatai Great Wall (2021-01-24) by Wu QiangSimatai Great Wall
Why building the Barricade Walls?
The ridges in Simatai are so narrow that fortifications could not be built at the further back section of the Simatai Great Wall. Therefore, when the Great Wall was built hundreds of years ago, people chose to take advantage of the terrain and build interconnected battle walls and barricade walls by laying bricks on the ridges.
Barrier wall (2021-05-16) by Wu QiangSimatai Great Wall
Structure of the Barricade Walls
People usually call the side wall built against the outside of the wall the “battle wall”, which is basically the same as the main body of the wall. The end wall built by colliding vertically relative to the battle wall is called the “barricade wall”.
Defensive line
The battle walls have been perforated with plum-shaped and staggered arrow shooting holes, which are set in a dense and diverse form with beautiful shapes. Each barricade wall is connected to a beacon tower, forming a long defensive line.
Barrier wall of Simatai Great Wall (2021-04-05) by Wu QiangSimatai Great Wall
Shooting holes
The entire wall is carved with shooting holes allowing three postures of prone, kneeling and standing, to ensure more guards can participate in the battle at the same time. Therefore, it can guarantee high, medium and low shooting positions while combating the enemy.
Barrier wall of Simatai Great Wall (2021-04-05) by Wu QiangSimatai Great Wall
The shape of the holes
The many holes on top of the battle wall that look small on the outside and big on the inside are actually used during the battle.
The shooting holes look very small from the outside, but it is very large from the inside. It's the unified form.
Barrier wall of Simatai Great Wall (2021-04-05) by Wu QiangSimatai Great Wall
Functions of the Barricade Walls
The structures of the barricade walls are diverse based on the terrain.
This architectural design made the Great Wall easy to guard and hard to attack, significantly improving its defensive and offensive functions.
