- published: 27 Sep 2015
- views: 99295
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.
Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.
Advice is cheap you can take it from me
It's yours to keep 'cause opinions are free
Nobody knows about the trouble I've seen
Nobody's perfect, mister, nobody's clean
It costs too much and takes too long to find out too late
Some words are not heard 'til after they're spoken
Your role was protective, your soul was too defective
Some people just don't have a heart to be broken
CHORUS
We could have gone all the way to the Great Wall of China
If you'd only had a little more faith in me
In lieu of diamonds, gold and platinum reminders will still shine bright
All the king's men and all the king's horses
Can't put you together the way you used to be
We could have been standing on the Great Wall of China
You take a piece of whatever you touch
Too many pieces means you're touching too much
You never win if you can't play it straight
You only beat me if you get me to hate
It must be so lonely to think that you have only
Somebody else's life to live if they let you
I ain't too selective, but it don't take no detective
To find out how fast your friends will forget you
We could have gone all the way to the Great Wall of China
Now all you're going to be is history
Help yourself, it's all you can eat at the Empire Diner tonight
You coulda had class, you coulda been a contender
Charlie, you shoulda looked out for me
You could have been standing, standing on the Great Wall of China
This was not your calling, just look how far you've fallen
I heard your story, man, you've got to be joking
Keep things in perspective, this is my true objective
Why tear this heart out if it's only been broken?
CHORUS