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A 13,000 mile dragon of earth and stone winds its way through the countryside of China with a history almost as long and serpentine as the structure.
一條1萬3英里的土石之龍蜿蜒于中國鄉野之間，它的歷史幾乎與其結構一樣悠久曲折。
The Great Wall began as multiple walls of rammed earth built by individual feudal states during the Chunqiu period to protect against nomadic raiders north of China and each other.
長城最初是多座泥土夯實的城墻，由春秋戰國時期的各個獨立封建國家修筑，以抵制中國北方游牧民和其它國家。
When Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the states in 221 BCE, the Tibetan Plateau and Pacific Ocean became natural barriers, but the mountains in the north remained vulnerable to Mongol, Turkish, and Xiongnu invasions.
公元前221年，秦始皇統一中國時，青藏高原和太平洋成為了國家的天然屏障，但北方的山脈對于蒙古、土耳其及匈奴人的入侵來說顯得非常薄弱。
To defend against them, the Emperor expanded the small walls built by his predecessors, connecting some and fortifying others.
為了抵御外敵，秦始皇擴建了之前所筑建的小城墻，把它們鞏固強化并加以連接。
As the structures grew from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east, they collectively became known as The Long Wall.
城墻起于西部臨洮，止于東部遼東，合在一起稱為長城。
To accomplish this task, the Emperor enlisted soldiers and commoners, not always voluntarily.
為了完成這項工程，秦始皇征召了士兵和平民，而他們往往不是出于自愿。
Of the hundreds of thousands of builders recorded during the Qin Dynasty, many were forcibly conscripted peasants and others were criminals serving out sentences.
在秦朝記錄的成千上萬建造者中，許多人都是被強征而去的農民，另外一些則是服刑犯人。
Under the Han Dynasty, the wall grew longer still, reaching 3700 miles, and spanning from Dunhuang to the Bohai Sea.
漢朝時期，長城繼續擴建延長至3700英里，從敦煌延伸到渤海。
Forced labor continued under the Han Emperor Han-Wudi, and the walls reputation grew into a notorious place of suffering.
強制性勞動在漢武帝時期持續著，因而城墻被視作受苦受害之地，從而臭名昭彰。
Poems and legends of the time told of laborers buried in nearby mass graves, or even within the wall itself.
那一時期的詩歌與傳說描述了勞動者被掩埋于附近的大規模墓地甚至是城墻內。
And while no human remains have been found inside, grave pits do indicate that many workers died from accidents, hunger and exhaustion.
然而城墻內并未發現人類尸骸墓坑，表明那些勞動者大多死于意外、饑餓與疲勞。
The wall was formidable but not invincible.
長城令人生畏卻非不可戰勝。
Both Genghis and his son Khublai Khan managed to surmount the wall during the Mongol invasion of the 13th Century.
成吉思汗和他的兒子忽必烈曾于13世紀蒙古侵入之際設法攻克城墻。
After the Ming dynasty gained control in 1368, they began to refortify and further consolidate the wall using bricks and stones from local kilns.
1368年明朝執政之后，他們開始使用當地窯中燒制而成的磚與石頭重新強化和加固長城。
