Earlier frontier ramparts were joined into one system by China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang (3rd century BC)
The Qin works were mostly rammed earth; almost nothing of them survives above ground
Geography · Landmarks & wonders
The Great Wall of China
7th century BC onwards; best-known sections 1368–1644
China — the northern frontier, from Liaoning to Gansu
Not one wall but a system of fortifications thrown up along China's northern borders over two thousand years, joined under the Qin and rebuilt in brick and stone on a monumental scale by the Ming. A Chinese state survey published in 2012 put the total length of all its branches at 21,196 km. It was voted one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007, and is the subject of the most persistent geographical myth in circulation.
How to spot them
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Qin Shi Huang', 'Ming dynasty', 'Badaling', 'Jiayuguan', 'Shanhaiguan'
- ▸Built against the horse nomads of the steppe — the Xiongnu, and later the Mongols
- ▸A Chinese survey gave its total length, with all branches, as 21,196 km
- ▸Known in Chinese as the Changcheng, the 'Long Wall'
Key facts
The brick-and-stone version tourists visit was built by the Ming against the Mongols (1368–1644)
Badaling, north-west of Beijing, is the most-visited restored stretch
A 2012 Chinese state survey put its total length, with all branches, at 21,196 km (2012)
Earlier figures counted only the Ming main line, roughly 8,850 km
Its eastern end meets the sea at Shanhaiguan, the 'Old Dragon's Head'
The western terminus is the desert fort of Jiayuguan in Gansu
Contrary to the most famous claim made about it, astronauts cannot pick it out with the naked eye from orbit
It is very long but only a few metres wide, and much the same colour as the ground it runs over
In 1644 a Ming general opened its gates to the Manchus, ending the dynasty that built it (1644)
Wu Sangui let the Qing armies through at Shanhaiguan
A 2007 New7Wonders winner, and the only one measured by a survey at 21,196 km (2007)
Quick-fire facts
- •The first frontier walls date from the Warring States period, 7th–3rd century BC
- •Ming sections are typically 6–7 m high and broad enough on top for horsemen, with watchtowers and beacon towers at intervals
- •Signals were passed along it by smoke and fire from the beacon towers, far faster than a rider could travel
- •Inscribed by UNESCO simply as 'The Great Wall' in 1987
- •Large stretches, especially of earlier earthen wall, have eroded away or been quarried by local villagers
- •Common misconception: it is not a single continuous wall, and it is not visible from the Moon — the claim predates spaceflight, appearing in print in the 1890s and in Ripley's Believe It or Not! in 1932
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — The Great Wall
- Arthur Waldron — The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth