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The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China and the Giza pyramids are arguably the two greatest architectural feats ever achieved and both are the most well known structures in modern history. The Great Wall is the only manmade structure visible from the moon.

The Great Wall is the oldest architectural monument in China. It and the new Three Gorges Dam Project, are considered China's most spectacular architectural feats. Stretching from the Bohai Sea in Shanhaiguan to Jiayugan in Gansu province the Great Wall of China reaches nearly 4000 miles (6000 kilometers).

It is unknown when the first sections of the Great Wall were built but itl does mark a frontier that goes back to the very dawn of China's history. Before 228 BC separate states, the Qin, Yan, and the Zhou, constructed defensive stonewalls along the northern border to protect against barbarian raids. In 214 BC the country was unified and the first emperor of the Qin dynasty joined these various defensive walls together to create the Great Wall. With its length of about 1400 miles, this portion of the wall is thought to have taken well over 10 years and 250,000 workers to complete.

Constructed for defensive purposes the Great Wall snakes through rugged mountainous terrain and inaccessible locations. Some parts are staircases; others are steeply vertical as though defying the natural terrain.

Although the original foundation of the Great Wall is more than 2200 years old, its final size and length was built during the Ming Dynasty to thwart a Mongol invasion from the North. During the Ming reconstruction period, bricks and granite were used to build the Great Wall's foundation and entry and exit ways were built in the places of strategic importance. To strengthen the military control of the northern frontiers, the Great Wall was divided into nine zones. Its height reaches to 25 feet tall. In some places square watchtowers stand at close intervals These were used as lookouts and fires were lit in emergencies. Along parts of the wall is a 10 foot wide walkway.

Although considered by many in the past and present as a magnificent military defense, the Great Wall was often breached by invaders, including Genghis Kahn whose Mongols broke through in 1112.

The human cost of constructing the Great Wall was immense. An orthodox history of Qin Shi Huangdi’s wall says 300,000 troops built it but some put the total at well over a million with as many as 400,000 dying along the way. Legend holds that thousands were entombed within its center. When, in the year 555, a part of the Wall near Datong was repaired, two million laborers were conscripted to complete the job. During the Ming Dynasty a Portuguese merchant reported serving a one-year sentence at a work camp with 300,000 fellow convicts.

The Chinese Government has been restoring parts of the Great Wall to its
original state. As a result, thousands of Chinese and foreign visitors travel the 40 miles (65km) from Beijing to a section of the wall closest to the capital which dates from the Ming period (1368-1644).

UNESCO declared the Great Wall of China a World Heritage site in 1987.