Recent News
Sep. 25, 2023, 12:09 AM ET (Yahoo Finance)
Main Venue Event of 2023 Beijing Great Wall Culture Festival Held in Changping District
Sep. 20, 2023, 12:15 AM ET (The Guardian)
Indigenous burial mounds in Ohio become Unesco world heritage site
Sep. 6, 2023, 6:39 AM ET (AP)
China authorities arrest 2 for smashing shortcut through Great Wall with excavator
Top Questions
Why was the Great Wall of China built?
Historically, the Great Wall of China was built to fortify China’s northern border. The Great Wall has been the site of multiple battles and skirmishes between the Chinese and various peoples across history, including the Xiongnu during the Qin dynasty, the Khitans during the Song dynasty, and the Mongols during the Ming dynasty.
How long is the Great Wall of China?
The total length of all sections of the Great Wall of China ever built adds up to about 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles), including overlapping sections that were rebuilt. The wall constructed during the Ming dynasty, the most well-preserved section, is about 8,850 kilometers (5,499 miles) long.
How old is the Great Wall of China?
Historians usually consider the defensive walls built during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE) and the Warring States period (475–221 BCE) to be the first sections of what would eventually become the structure known as the Great Wall of China, putting the wall at almost 3,000 years old.
Can you see the Great Wall of China from space?
You typically can’t see the Great Wall of China from space. A popular myth, the claim was disproved when astronauts stated that the Great Wall of China was not visible with the naked eye from the Moon. Due to its coloration and pollution, the structure is only sometimes visible from low orbit and the International Space Station.
Great Wall of China, Chinese (Pinyin) Wanli Changcheng or (Wade-Giles romanization) Wan-li Ch’ang-ch’eng (“10,000-Li Long Wall”), extensive bulwark erected in ancient China, one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken. The Great Wall actually consists of numerous walls—many of them parallel to each other—built over some two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia. The most extensive and best-preserved version of the wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and runs for some 5,500 miles (8,850 km) east to west from Mount Hu near Dandong, southeastern Liaoning province, to Jiayu Pass west of Jiuquan, northwestern Gansu province. This wall often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside, and about one-fourth of its length consists solely of natural barriers such as rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (about 70 percent of the total length) is actual constructed wall, with the small remaining stretches constituting ditches or moats. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on Earth. The Great Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Large parts of the fortification system date from the 7th through the 4th century bce. In the 3rd century bce Shihuangdi (Qin Shihuang), the first emperor of a united China (under the Qin dynasty), connected a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. Traditionally, the eastern terminus of the wall was considered to be Shanhai Pass (Shanhaiguan) in eastern Hebei province along the coast of the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), and the wall’s length—without its branches and other secondary sections—was thought to extend for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km). However, government-sponsored investigations that began in the 1990s revealed sections of wall in Liaoning, and aerial and satellite surveillance eventually proved that this wall stretched continuously through much of the province. The greater total length of the Ming wall was announced in 2009.
History of construction
The Great Wall developed from the disparate border fortifications and castles of individual Chinese kingdoms. For several centuries these kingdoms probably were as concerned with protection from their near neighbours as they were with the threat of barbarian invasions or raids.
Early building
About the 7th century bce the state of Chu started to construct a permanent defensive system. Known as the “Square Wall,” this fortification was situated in the northern part of the kingdom’s capital province. From the 6th to the 4th century other states followed Chu’s example. In the southern part of the Qi state an extensive perimeter wall was gradually created using existing river dikes, newly constructed bulwarks, and areas of impassable mountain terrain. The Qi wall was made mainly of earth and stone and terminated at the shores of the Yellow Sea. In the Zhongshan state a wall system was built to thwart invasion from the states of Zhao and Qin in the southwest. There were two defensive lines in the Wei state: the Hexi (“West of the [Yellow] River”) and Henan (“South of the River”) walls. The Hexi Wall was a fortification against the Qin state and western nomads. Built during the reign of King Hui (370–335 bce), it was expanded from the dikes on the Luo River on the western border. It started in the south near Xiangyuan Cave, east of Mount Hua, and ended at Guyang in what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Henan Wall, built to protect Daliang (the capital, now Kaifeng), was repaired and extended in King Hui’s later years. The Zheng state also built a wall system, which was rebuilt by the Han state after it conquered Zheng. The state of Zhao completed a southern wall and a northern wall; the southern wall was built mainly as a defense against the Wei state.
Britannica Quiz
A Quiz About Walls and More
After administrative reorganization was carried out by Shang Yang (died 338 bce), the Qin state grew politically and militarily to become the strongest among the seven states, but it was frequently raided by the Donghu and Loufan, two nomadic peoples from the north. Therefore, the Qin erected a wall that started from Lintiao, went north along the Liupan Mountains, and ended at the Huang He (Yellow River).
In the Yan state two separate defensive lines were prepared—the Northern Wall and the Yishui Wall—in an effort to defend the kingdom from attacks by northern groups such as the Donghu, Linhu, and Loufan, as well as by the Qi state in the south. The Yishui Wall was expanded from the dike of the Yi River as a defense line against Qi and Zhao, its two main rival states. It began southwest of Yi City, the capital, and ended south of Wen’an. In 290 bce the Yan state built the Northern Wall along the Yan Mountains, starting from the northeast in the area of Zhangjiakou in Hebei, passing over the Liao River, and extending to the ancient city of Xiangping (modern Liaoyang). This was the last segment of the Great Wall to be erected during the Zhanguo (Warring States) period.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
In 221 bce Shihuangdi, the first Qin emperor, completed his annexation of Qi and thus unified China. He ordered removal of the fortifications set up between the previous states because they served only as obstacles to internal movements and administration. In addition, he sent Gen. Meng Tian to garrison the northern border against incursions of the nomadic Xiongnu and to link the existing wall segments in Qin, Yan, and Zhao into the so-called “10,000-Li Long Wall” (2 li equal approximately 0.6 mile [1 km]). This period of construction began about 214 bce and lasted a decade. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and conscripted workers laboured on the project. With the fall of the Qin dynasty after Shihuangdi’s death, however, the wall was left largely ungarrisoned and fell into disrepair.
