One of the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’, the Great Wall of China is indeed a marvelous structure. Built in sections, over a period of over 200o years, the Wall is today the pride of China. It stretches over a total area of 6700 km. The result if the construction effort of over one million people, the Great Wall of China has also been bestowed with the ‘World Heritage Site’ status by UNESCO and continues to mesmerize its visitors. In this article, we have provided some interesting information on the Great Wall of China.
Facts about the Great Wall of China
- The construction of the Great Wall of China was started in circa 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, and continued till rule of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
- The Great Wall of China is more than 7 meters high and over 5 meters wide.
- The aim behind the construction of the wall was to protect the agricultural lands from invasion and to keep the people from moving out of the Chinese empire.
- The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
- The construction of the wall was the result of the labor of over a million people, who comprised of peasants, prisoners and soldiers.
- Thousands of people are believed to have died during the construction of the Great Wall of China.
- Earlier, the wall was known as ‘Ten Thousand Li Wall’, referring to the wall’s length.
- The sections of the wall, in the eastern part of China, have been made of bricks and stones, while the western sections of wall have been constructed out of earth and grass.
- The Great Wall is actually made up of a number of interconnecting walls and is not a single wall in itself.
- The wall was not constructed at one go. Several different dynasties, which ruled over the 2,000 years of its construction, claim the credit for it.
- There are more than 10,000 watchtowers and beacon towers on the Great Wall of China.
- The average height of the Great Wall of China is somewhere around 25 feet.
- The Great Wall of China was declared as a “World Heritage Site’ by UNESCO, in the year 1987.
- The Great Wall of China stretches over an area of approximately 6700 km in toto.
