12 Colossal Facts about the Great Wall of China

The Structure isn't one consistent Wall, but a collection of Walls

The Great Wall, against common belief is not really a single great wall. It is actually a series of walls and fortifications.

It is not one long uninterrupted structure.

In fact, it would be more accurate if it is described as a network of walls. 20,000-kilometer to be true!!! - spanning across the northern border of Ancient and Imperial Chinese territories.

Building the wall took more than 1800 years!!

It was not constructed in a single go! It began with Qin Dynasty back in 221 BCE. Qin Shi Huang began the construction of a 5000-kilometer wall to safeguard his territory. Later dynasties continued this work and added their own flourishes.

Recognizable Ming Dynasty

While the construction began under the Qin Dynasty, the most recognizable segments of the wall which comes to our minds when we first think of it are largely the handiwork of the Ming Dynasty, which created them between the 14th and 17th centuries CE.

A surprising ingredient can be found in making of the wall.

The longevity of the Great Wall is attributed not ot the bricks or rocks that were used in its construction, but the mortar!!

Rice-mortar!!

The mortar interestingly contains a secret ingredient - glutinous rice—known colloquially as “sticky rice”!! Modern studies have indicated that the amylopectin of the rice has brilliant cohesive properties which explain the wall’s strength and endurance.

Wall construction was a common punishment for chinese convicts.

The construction, maintenance, and surveillance of the Great Wall construction were the regular duties of convicted criminals during the Qin Dynasty. The work was dangerous—some estimates state that 400,000 workers perished while building the wall.

The erroneous story of its visibility from space!!

A lot of rumours that has been going around even today is that it is visible from the space. But this isn’t true!!

Not from Space, no sir!!

Reliable sources—astronaut Neil Armstrong famous among them—assert that the Great Wall is by no means visible from space, much less the moon. At best, the Wall can be spotted from a low orbit, provided the sunlight and weather permits.

Pieces of the great wall were recycled to build civilian homes in the 1960s and 1970s.

The 20th century sociopolitical movement known as Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong and the Red Army did quite a bit of damage to the Great Wall.

Just a relic?

They recognized the Wall “just” as a relic whose materials they saw would better serve in the development of contemporaneous housing. Between 1966 and 1976, miles of the Wall were stripped of bricks and repurposed to build civilian homes.

Thousands of miles of the original great wall have actually disappeared.

The Great Wall of China stretch to a whopping 13,171 miles today is actually what remains of the original length – It’s quite a decrease from what is believed to be the Wall’s peak length during the Ming dynasty.

A spectacle to be preserved.

More than 1200 miles’ worth, or approximately one third, of the construction from this period no longer stands.

Certain standing portions of the wall might vanish before 2040.

Natural weathering and human-imparted erosion have affected the magnificent structure. Thus many are predicted to disappear by 2014 especially those in the Gansu province.

New sections of the wall are still being discovered!!

Previously unknown stretches of the Great Wall have been discovered as recently as 2012.

An ancient poem predicts construction of the great wall.

The Shijing, a collection of Ancient Chinese poems believed to be written between the 11th and 7th centuries BCE, predicts the construction of a Great Wall where a king would build it to fend off military invaders.

World Heritage Site

Despite its cultural and historic importance, it wasn’t until 1987 that the Great Wall of China was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

The great wall goes by many names around the world.

“The Great Wall of China” is commonly used by Americans and in Western nations, or simply “The Chinese Wall.” Within China, the Wall has known a number of monikers: “The 10,000-Li-Long Wall”, “The Purple Frontier” and “The Earth Dragon.” Ultimately, China christened its manmade wonder with a simple but appropriate name: “The Long Wall.”