The Great Wall Of China Offers Some Dread, Walled In Through History
The Great Wall of China is undoubtedly one of the most famous structures in the world – so its inclusion as one of the world’s new wonders is anything but surprising. It is a very popular tourist site, an architectural masterpiece that shows the ability of man to build such an impressive monument over thousands of years. On the other hand, its history includes unfortunate events; significant parts didn’t survive the test of time, and some rather absurd myths about the wall were born.
The Great Wall of China is much more than an architectural wonder. It is evidence of a fundamental story of achievements and suffering caused on the way to them, some would even say, life and death.
So, does it deserve to be included on our site as one of the world’s scariest historical sites? We have collected some scary facts about The Great Wall of China that will help you decide whether it also deserves the definition of a historical site that looks like it came out of a horror movie.
How Long Is The Great Wall Of China?
There seems to be no better name than “great” to describe the Wall of China. It stretches across a vast part of China, from Shanhaiguan on the east coast (known as “Shanhai Pass”) to the Lop Nur region in the western part of the country.
It isn’t easy to estimate the exact length of the Great Wall of China because some secondary walls and parts have not been adequately preserved. According to one of the most comprehensive studies, the length of the Great Wall of China is about 8,851 km, of which about 6,259 km are walls, about 360 km are moats, and the rest – about 2,232 km – consists of natural defense barriers, such as mountains or rivers.
According to another calculation, the length of the Great Wall of China is about 21,196 km. The problem is that almost a third of this section has disappeared over time.
No matter how you think about it, the bottom line is that the name “Great Wall of China” is a bit misleading. It’s not one continuous wall, but many walls built in parts in different regions and at various times.
How Long Did It Take To Build The Great Wall Of China?
Estimations are that it took over 2,000 years of work (!), in several sections, of course, to complete The Great Wall of China. The starting point is around the 5th century BC, and construction was only completed in the 16th century.
Some of the first sections of the walls have not survived for apparent reasons. According to estimations, the central sections of the wall that did survive were built sometime around the 15th and 16th centuries during the Ming Dynasty. This period is also considered the most significant period of wall construction.
In other words, the construction of the Great Wall of China began several thousand years ago, and that is probably true, but the vast majority of these parts didn’t make it till today.
A Unique Combination Of Materials
Most of the existing sections of the wall are “only” about 500 years old. They were built of dressed stone, unlike the earlier parts of the wall, which were made mainly of compacted ground and combined stone, glutinous rice mortar, and wood. This combination was not durable enough to the test of time, as most parts disappeared, and nothing remained of them other than mounds of dirt.
Over the years, the wall has been renovated and rebuilt in several locations, with the main emphasis this time being on bricks made of stone. Arsenic, known as the “The Poison of Kings,” was also used. The purpose was to prevent the wall from being worn down by insects and pests, such as ants. The apparent meaning is that certain parts of the wall were actually poisonous.
Who Built The Great Wall Of China?
With a wall built over such an extended period, over such a vast area, it is clear that there is an endless list of partners in its success. The construction of The Great Wall of China began during the Qin Dynasty when Emperor Qin Shi Huang – who is considered the first emperor of China and the founder of the dynasty – decided to unite the walls that had existed until then (in ancient China, building walls as a means of protection and differentiation was very common). The idea was to create a wall from which they would add new sections.
In this part, we can start talking about the dark side of the wall. The subjects of Qin Shi Huang had to deal with burdensome taxes to finance the wall and a magnificent tomb that he decided to build himself. The subjects who could not bear the heavy economic burden, you guessed it, were forced to perform labor at the various sites of the wall.
From that period, the following dynasties of China continued the construction of the wall. In each case, we have seen specific changes in the vision and patterns of the wall. In practice, the labor force was almost always composed of peasants recruited for forced labor, soldiers, prisoners, and prisoners of war.
Why Was The Great Wall Of China Built?
As mentioned, building walls was prevalent in ancient China. In our case, the first purpose of building the wall was to serve as a means of containment and protection from the nomadic tribes who came from the north. Because the north of China has steppes that do not allow for agricultural life, the tribes that relied on traditional jobs such as herding sheep, camels, and horses needed fodder and other products only available in the south. At best, they used trade to get what they wanted, and in other cases, they resorted to robbery and killing. The walls were one of the last means of defense after previous methods proved ineffective.
In practice, the number of bloody battles around the wall was relatively limited, perhaps because the nomads realized that attacking the wall was not a profitable and effective enough step for them. While there were battles, it is not sure that the Great Wall of China justified its purpose as a means of defense.
In the 13th century, the Mongol Genghis Khan arrived with an army of about 100,000 cavaliers. After a battle, he decided to stage a retreat, drew the defenders outside the wall area, and attacked them with relative ease. He continued to conquer China from there, leaving a trail of bodies behind him: the conquest killed about a third of the Chinese population in those years.
Other goals in building the Great Wall of China throughout history were to isolate the local population from the outside world (also because the Chinese considered themselves superior and chose xenophobia and isolation) and to annex new territories to the Chinese Empire.
Throughout history, the wall has been used for other purposes, such as transmitting messages using communication towers or faster transportation of soldiers.
How Many People Died During The Construction Of The Great Wall Of China?
We all know the stories of construction projects that ended in disasters, whether due to an overly busy schedule, compromises on safety guidelines, or even cruelty by the builders. In the case of the Great Wall of China, the human cost was enormous and unimaginable. Some estimates say that for every meter of the wall, one person paid with his life.
Most of the victims were young men who died due to work accidents, exhaustion, hunger, and various diseases. None of this is surprising given the fact that the working conditions here were terrible and horrific: long working days of over 12 hours of immense physical effort, very extreme temperatures from time to time, very little food and water, and more.
Are People Buried In The Great Wall Of China?
Legend has it that you can find buried skeletons inside the wall or even that ground bones of workers who died during the work were a key ingredient in the cement mixture.
There has been no evidence of this, at least as far as we know, but several legends align with these stories. Perhaps the most famous of these is the legend of Lady Meng Jiang, one of the great love legends of ancient China. Lady Meng Jiang’s husband was one of the workers who built the wall, and his wife did not know his fate. Just as she was about to look for him to bring him warm clothes to help him get through the cold months, she discovered that he had died. Legend claims her crying was so intense and loud that parts of the wall collapsed. They exposed the husband’s bones, and the wife was able to bring him to a proper burial.
Can You See The Great Wall From Space?
One of the most famous myths about the Great Wall of China, which has even appeared on several television trivia shows, is that it is the only structure on Earth you can see from the moon, even with the naked eye. This myth began to develop in the 18th century, in a letter by an English antiquarian and archaeologist, William Stukeley. Later, we saw it in various writings such as scientific books, a National Geographic magazine, and comic books by Robert Ripley, the American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist known mainly as the man behind “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”.
The truth is that distinguishing the Great Wall of China from the moon is impossible since its maximum width is only about 9 meters, and its shade resembles the ground on which it stands. There are not enough large dimensions or high enough contrast to make it possible to distinguish the structure from the moon, which is more than 384,000 kilometers from Earth. Some experts claim that seeing the Great Wall of China from the moon is comparable to being able to distinguish a human hair from a distance of about 3 kilometers and that a resolution about 17,000 times higher than perfect vision is required to be able to see it.
Another claim that has been reversed over time is that you can notice the Great Wall of China from a relatively low satellite orbit (about 100 kilometers) above the Earth. We can distinguish it from such a distance, perhaps only under optimal lighting conditions and with incredible difficulty. There are even more prominent structures from an astronaut’s bird’s eye view, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Which Sections Of The Great Wall Can You Visit?
Although the most significant route of the Great Wall of China is in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in terms of length and number of sites, most tourists focus their visit on the parts of the castle located around Beijing.
More specifically, for several reasons, most tourists who come to China choose to visit the Badaling section (“Great Wall of Badaling”). First of all, it is probably the best-preserved section of the wall. It is also accessible, about 60 kilometers north of touristy Beijing, so you can visit as part of an organized tour or independently, using public transportation. Although this section of the wall is impressive, with an average height of about 7.5 meters, it is also very crowded – which may affect the experience of some visitors.
Some other sections of the wall are considered less busy, and you can also reach at a very reasonable distance from Beijing:
- The Mutianyu section, including a cable car, allows people with mobility disabilities to reach the top of the wall. This section is also considered popular for day trips combining Beijing’s Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.
- Simatai – An imposing but challenging section because climbing the high wall in this section may be complex and unstable. On the plus side, this section has beautiful lighting at night, so it is also suitable for evening trips.
The Most Famous Wall Ever
It’s not just the length that explains why the Great Wall of China is considered so famous, to the point that it is now one of the world’s new wonders.
Unesco recognized the Great Wall of China as a World Heritage Site in 1987 for several reasons. The construction of the wall was a very complex engineering undertaking, requiring advanced technologies much ahead of their time, such as a unique cement mixture containing glutinous rice, which the Chinese added to strengthen the wall’s foundations.
The Great Wall Attracted Many People (And Celebs)
In a given year, more than 10 million tourists visit the Great Wall of China, making it one of the most visited attractions in the world. Of course, the number of celebrities who have visited the Great Wall of China is impressive by any standard. In 2009, former US President Barack Obama visited here, saying something probably meant to be philosophical about human existence (“”Our time here on Earth is not that long, and we better make the best of it”).
Queen Elizabeth II of England, well-known celebrities such as Beyonce and Jennifer Lawrence, athletes such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and many others have also documented themselves on the world-famous wall.
How Can We Protect The Wall?
The efforts to protect what remains of the wall are significant, given that almost a third of the original structure has also disappeared due to human error.
In 2006, China passed the Great Wall Protection Ordinance, and Regulations On the Protection Of The Great Wall are within this framework—the prohibitions involved taking bricks or sections of the wall, painting graffiti on it, and more.
The Great Wall Of China Becomes A Cultural Icon
Beyond being a world wonder and one of the most visited sites in the Far East, the Great Wall of China is one of residents’ main points of pride. Some of them also believe in the legend that the wall was initially built to protect a mythical ten-headed dragon or that whoever climbs the wall will receive a lot of good luck.
Several films have centered on the Great Wall of China, even if, unfortunately, they do not belong to our favorite horror genre. The most famous example is a very bombastic American-Chinese film with the surprising name “The Great Wall,” with a cast that includes Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and others. The bombastically budgeted film ($150 million) focuses on two Europeans (Damon and Dafoe) who arrive in 11th-century China to find gunpowder and escape from murderous bandits into a cave containing a mysterious creature. When they arrive at the Great Wall, they are captured by a unit responsible for protecting against mythical monsters that attack China every 60 years.
The film received mixed reviews but grossed over $335 million, the vast majority (about 86%) outside the United States. About half of the revenue, unsurprisingly, comes from China.
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