Facts about the Great Wall of China

There is lots of information about the Great Wall of China, if you wish to know more, read on.

The purpose of the Great Wall of China

Why was the Great Wall of China built? Well it was built in defense of invasion. In the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, many states, especially those in the north of China, were threatened by the barbarian Xiongnu (huns), who even invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth century. They attacked the northern states from time to time and took everything away and burnt the houses down into ground. So the states were forced to build a high wall to prevent Xiongnu from attacking again. And that is why many dynasties were building new walls.

Every time enemy troops was found, the message was flamed by signal fires from one beacon tower to another, then troops gathered, and battles followed.

When was the Great Wall of China built

As I said in my previous post, the Qi state began to build the wall, but when was the Great Wall of China finished? Well this is hard to answer. In fact, many dynasties made their contributions to the construction of the Great Wall. The Great Wall we see today was most built by the Ming dynasty, but the irony is that the Great Wall served no purpose for the defense of Ming dynasty, which was taken over by Qing dynasty.

How long did it take to built the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall was more than two thousand years ago, Qin shi huang, the first emperor of Qin dynasty started to build the Great Wall, but it was not finished even after the death of Qin dynasty.

How long is the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall is over then thousands miles long, that is why it is call wan li chang cheng in Chinese. And the Chinese and foreign experts are to map it and the exact length will be published.

How tall is the Great Wall of China

It is three meters in height, and 10-15 meters wide.

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a living miracle also a legend of the ancient Chinese people. It dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, around 685-643 B.C., when state QI began to construct the West of the Great Wall of China of Qi. In the meantime, other states started to construct their walls respectively as well.

When the first emperor of Qing dynasty, Qing shi huang, take over China and created the first feudal kingdom in China, he put great energy connecting the walls of other states, and called up nearlly a million labor force, accounting for the country's 1/20 population to connect and built the walls.

Qing shi huang wished to live a long life and rule the country all the time however, the kingdom created by him came to an end only three years after his death, and himself only ruled the Qing dynasty for 11 years. His son, the second emperor, was also killed by his subordinate.

There was also a touching story regards to the construction of the Great Wall of China. A woman, whose husband was ordered to build the walls the third day of their marriage, never returned home, nor did she know if he's still alive or dead, so she decided to find him. When she got to the wall, only to find her husband dead and buried under the walls. She was in such a great grief that she cried three days, and finally moved god, who let the wall collapse and the body of her husband appeared. It drove her to despair and she did not wish to live alone and threw herself into the sea.

This beautiful tale passed down from generation to generation and moved everybody. People moved by her loyalty and fidelity go to the spot where she stand looking for her husband, and built a temple for her.