Willow Palisade

Willow Palisade

wall, China
Chinese (Pinyin)  Liutiaobian  or  (Wade-Giles romanization)  Liu-t'iao Pien (“Willow Branch Barrier”) 

      ditch and embankment built across parts of southern Northeast China (historically called Manchuria) and planted with willows during the early Qing (Qing dynasty) dynasty (1644–1911/12).

      Possibly from as early as 1,000 BC, the Chinese (Han) inhabiting Manchuria primarily occupied a triangular area in the south, centring around the alluvial basin of the lower Liao River and the uplands of the Liaodong Peninsula. Willow walls or palisades were built along the western side of this area as early as the Ming (Ming dynasty) dynasty (1368–1644). The Willow Palisade of the early Qing was constructed in two stages. During the first stage, a section called the Laobian (“Old Border”) was built as a 500-mile- (800-km-) long northeastward extension of the Great Wall (Great Wall of China) from its eastern terminus near Shanhaiguan, on the western shore of Liaodong Bay, to create a barrier around southern Manchuria. From Shanhaiguan, the palisade ran northeastward to Weiyuanbao, northeast of Shenyang; southeastward to Xinbin, on the Suzi River east of Shenyang; and finally southwestward to Fengcheng, northwest of Dadong and north of Korea Bay. During the second stage, the Xinbian (“New Border”) was built as a northeastward 150-mile (240-km) extension of the Laobian from Weiyuanbao to Fate, near the Sungari (Songhua) River (Sungari River) north of the city of Jilin.

      The portion of the Laobian from Shanhaiguan to Weiyuanbao together with the Xinbian separated the Manchu people and the Chinese living in southern Manchuria from the Mongols (Mongol) inhabiting the steppes to the west. The southern part of this barrier was also intended to prevent further Chinese migration into the Manchu homeland centred at Shenyang (which they called Mukden). The sections of the Laobian running southeastward from Weiyuanbao to Xinbin and then southwestward to Fengcheng separated the Manchu heartland, occupied primarily by Manchu but also by some Chinese, from nomadic groups to the north and Koreans to the east. For a period of time beginning in 1688, the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty required the Chinese to obtain authorization before crossing the palisade, particularly the southwestern portion of the Laobian, and prohibited them from settling in the Manchu homeland.

      Parts of the western section of the Laobian were built on top of the preexisting structures from the Ming period. The remainder of the Laobian and all of the Xinbian typically shared a common design. The embankment was about 40 inches (1 metre) high and wide, a ditch being formed by these excavations. Along the top of the embankment willow branches were planted at intervals of about 13 inches (33 cm) in three parallel rows. As the branches grew into trees and spread their own branches to adjacent trees, a thick barrier of willows emerged. The Willow Palisade was more of a symbolic barrier than a physical one, unlike the Great Wall, which for centuries at a time actually kept foreigners out of the country. Today the Willow Palisade is no longer visible, except for occasional low mounds where the embankment once stood.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Willow Palisade — (柳條邊) was a system of ditches and embankments planted with willows intended to restrict movement into Manchuria, built by the Qing Dynasty during the later 17th century. Manchuria borders Mongolia in the west, Siberia in the north, China proper… …   Wikipedia

  • Ning'an — Ningguta redirects here. For the brush footed butterfly genus, see Ninguta (butterfly). Coordinates: 44°20′37″N 129°27′47″E / 44.34361°N 129.46306°E / …   Wikipedia

  • March (territory) — For other uses, see March (disambiguation). A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout… …   Wikipedia

  • Миграция в Гуаньдун — Ка …   Википедия

  • Qing Dynasty — Not to be confused with the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China. Qing redirects here. For other uses, see Qing (disambiguation). Great Qing 大清帝国, Dà Qīng Dìguó …   Wikipedia

  • Racial segregation — Segregationist redirects here. For the short story by Isaac Asimov, see Segregationist (short story). Part of a series of articles on Racial segregation …   Wikipedia

  • China proper — (also Inner China) or Eighteen Provinces[1] was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative,… …   Wikipedia

  • Han Chinese — This article is about the majority ethnic group within China. For other uses, see Han (disambiguation). Han Chinese 漢族/汉族 漢人/汉人 …   Wikipedia

  • Emigration — Emigrant redirects here. For the band, see Emigrate (band). For the butterflies, see Catopsilia. The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown, depicting emigrants leaving England Emigration is the act of leaving one s country or region to settle in… …   Wikipedia

  • Human migration — Net migration rates for 2008: positive (blue), negative (orange), stable (green), and no data (gray) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”