Section 2 Border Beacon in Major Dynasties

The early beacon in China originated in the last years of the Yin-Shang Period. At the beginning, fire was lit to deliver message. By the Western Zhou, beacon communication became more developed, beacon towers went in all directions from the capital. It was recorded in Sima Qian's Shiji ("History") that the King Zhouyou Wang "played tricks on dukes by beacon fire" to favour his wife, leading to the perish of Western Zhou Dynasty. By the Warring States Period, almost every regime constructed great walls, on one hand, to defend against the invasion of northern nomadic nationalities, on the other hand, to defend against the invasion of other countries. Beacon system was developed. After the Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the six regimes, to ensure the safety and unity of the nation, he linked some of the great walls of the 6 regimes, forming the important defense in northern areas. Beacon communications in the Qin Dynasty was rather advanced. It was reported by China Relics News Paper that it was discovered in the central part of Yinshan Mountain of inner Mongolia area that there was a great wall of 200 km long. It was built with stones in the Qin Dynasty, small beacon towers were set up at intervals of I km, while major beacon towers and military stations were set up at intervals of 5 km, which were preserved completely.

The Western Han Dynasty constructed roads, sent envoys to western countries and opened up Silk Road which made the observation organizations and beacon system in north-western areas more perfect, and combined with opening up waste land by garrison troops. It was enormous in scale, reached out 10,000 km from east to west. From the unearthed Bamboo slips of Han Dynasty, we can know in detail that in the Western Han and Eastern Han, there were beacon towers from Gansu to Luobu Lake in Xijiang: "one beacon per 2.5 km, one 'Dun' per 5 km, one 'Pu' Per 15 km, one castle per 500 km". In the Han Dynasty beacon system was stricter. Under Taishou, there were officials of different levels: Duwei, Houguan, Houzhang, Suizhang. There were soldiers under "Suizhang", with several to tens differently, even hundreds for large beacon, which formed important military station.

Beacon tower, built in Han Dynasty,
locate in Xinjiang

Beacon system in the Han Dynasty was perfect. Regulations for implementation rules of beacon-lighting were issued from 3 levels of central government, county and department. The unearthed Border Beacon Regulations of the initial years of the Eastern Han, in Gansu in 1974, was the unified regulations on beacon alarm. It regulated the kind, quantity, response and the measures to be taken when error happened in the situation of different directions, number of soldiers, time, intention and change of the invasion by the Huns as well as abnormal weather conditions. It also regulated that the alarm signals issued or delivered by each beacon per day should be completely recorded and reported to upper level.

In the Han Dynasty, there were posts in some beacon towers, which equipped with soldiers and horses, responsible for official document delivery of border areas.

From the investigation recently, there are still many beacon relics of Han Dynasty in Gansu, Xinjiang, Ningxia and inner Mongolia. For only along the 150 km great wall of Han Dynasty from east to west in Dunhuang, Gansu province, there are over 70 beacon tower relics. In northern and central part of Silk Road in Xinjiang, there are still many Han beacon relics. There are some complete, tall beacon tower built by earth in Luntai, Kuche county.

By the Tang and the Song, beacon organization was more perfect, with large scale and long intervals, one tower was set at about per 15 km. The delivery speed of beacon was very fast. It was regulated to deliver about 1000 kin in one day. The territory of Yuan Dynasty was wide and broad, with frequent military activities. Beacon communication became more developed. The territory in Ming Dynasty was large, with enemies outside the country. The ruler attached importance to beacon communication. After Qing Dynasty was established, beacon tower was still used to give alarm signals in northern border areas.