BEIJING (Reuters) - Rice fills the bowls on many Chinese tables -- and also the cracks in its ancient buildings, and maybe even the Great Wall, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The legend that ancient Chinese craftsmen used glutinous rice porridge in the mortar while building ramparts has been verified," it said in a report seen on Monday.
Archaeologists researching an ancient wall around the city of Xi'an, a former imperial capital and home to the famed terracotta warriors, were stumped by the ingredients of a resilient mortar holding bricks together.
The hardened paste reacted similarly to glutinous, or sticky, rice in chemical tests, Qin Jianming, a researcher with the Xi'an Preservation and Restoration Centre of Cultural Relics, was quoted as saying.
"Thus we can conclude that the sticky material was in the mortar," Qin said.
The 12-metre (40-ft) wall was built during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and remains well preserved today.
Rice, a staple for most of the country, may also have been used to keep one of the world's most famous structures together, Xinhua said.
"It is said that ancient construction workers used glutinous rice porridge when building the Great Wall more than 2,000 years ago."
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