From how it was built, to the importance of the wall today, join me as we explore facts and historical points about the Great Wall of China!
9. The Great Wall Of China's Popularity
Fun fact, the Great Wall of China originally wasn't one long wall. It actually was sections of wall that were eventually filled in to become one great long wall that we now know of today. Furthermore, the wall that we know of now, isn't the same wall (per se) that was started with. As this wall has been upgraded, remade, rebuilt, and enhanced over the various Chinese dynasties. There was even completely separate great walls that don't exist anymore. But this one does.
Widely hailed as one of the most impressive feats by man, the Chinese initially built the Great Wall of China to help ward of raiders and invaders to the north. As their nation and Empire grew, so did the wall. To the extent that as of now, the wall is over 13,000 miles long. It is so big, that it is one of the few landmarks you can see from outer space.
Naturally, people go to the wall not just for the view, but to walk upon it, and see just how far it truly goes. It's attracted all manner of people from various nations, and even a President from United States in a historic moment.
Millions of people come to see the wall, which isn't too hard when the length of the thing allows you to see it from various places and angles.
8. The Building Of The Wall
So as we teased, the Great Wall of China wasn't just something that was made in one sitting, or even by one group of Chinese people. It's a massive project that took over 1800 years to make in full, with many people coming together one after another to add onto it and more.
Also as noted, this wasn't the first wall that the Chinese built themselves. In fact, throughout the course of Chinese history, you'll find that walls and barriers were the go-to defense mechanism for them to try and defend against the invaders that they knew were coming. This eventually led to the start of the Qin dynasty, ruled over by Qin Shi Huang. He had captured a whole bunch of places within China, and to ensure that he could defend them, he built a 5000 kilometer wall. This was mean to defend his territory as well as keep a lock on what was his. This was the first true part of the Great Wall of China.
But, as I stated, this wasn't the end of it. As more and more dynasties came to be, they kept the wall up, and then added onto it. Sometimes to continue the reach of the wall, and other times to just improve upon it. The Ming Dynasty is one of the dynasties that are most credited with the "completion" of the wall. This is because of how the wall looks now and how it is kept together.
Which brings us to the other misconception of the wall. If you look at it from above, the Great Wall of China looks like one long, snaking wall. But that's not exactly true. It's "interrupted" by various things, including buildings. It is connected, but it's not like regular border walls where they are a continuous line. Rather, it's a "network" that spans 20,000 kilometers and is broken up by buildings, towers, and more that help connect them.
It's still an impressive feat, no doubt. But it's not exactly what everyone says that is. And if you actually look at the shape of the wall, you'll see all the different angles that the wall turns in. A singular wall would be much straighter.
7. The Wall's Construction Force
Given the nature of the Great Wall of China, you would be forgiven for thinking that various townsfolk and soldiers and such were responsible for the bulk of the work. And to an extent, that probably is true, but not unlike many other massive monuments in the world today, back then, the main force of labor...were slaves and criminals. Not unlike the Coliseum of Vespasian where over 10,000 slaves helped build that monument.
But for the Great Wall of China, it was the criminal element that really helped make the wall what it was, including in the days of the Qin dynasty where the wall got started. It was dictated that wall construction, maintenance and surveillance were all punishments to be carried out by criminals. The ironic thing here is that when it came to the various crimes that would have been dealt with via wall duty, it was a very wide net. It didn't matter if you were a murderer, or someone who just didn't pay their taxes on time, you were sent to the wall.
Now to be clear, there were regular builders, workers, and civilians on the walls, so to make sure that everyone knew which was which, all criminals would have their heads shaved, their faces blackened, and would have their limbs put in chains.
You might be thinking, "Why were they so bent on putting criminals on the wall? Did they not have jails or something?" That is one way of thinking about it, but what you need to know here is that building the Great Wall of China...

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