10 Interesting Facts about the Great Wall of China

These following facts about the Great Wall of China will help you to know more before your visit there. This iconic tourism object of China consists of series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials. Let’s explore the interesting facts about the Great Wall of China with the list below.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 1: Name

In Chinese, they are most commonly known as changcheng (??), meaning “long wall”. In the era of Qin Dynasty, it was called “Wanli Changcheng”. The dynasties after Qin avoided using the term changcheng to refer to their own “Great Walls”, as the term was said to evoke imagery of Qin’s tyranny. In the end of the 19th century “the Great Wall of China” became the name of the walls

Facts about the Great Wall of China 2: The Materials

The Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. During the Ming Dynasty, bricks were started to use in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 3: Measurement

According to a comprehensive archaeological survey, the Ming walls measure 8,850 km. This is made up of 6,259 km sections of actual wall, 359 km of trenches and 2,232 km of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. The other archaeological survey noted that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km. Find more facts about the Great Fire of London here

Facts about the Great Wall of China 4: Purpose

The Great Wall of China was built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 5: As a Border Controls

One of the functions of the Great Walls was used as a border controls. It controlled immigration, emigration and trade.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 6: As a Tourism Object

After its defeat in the First and Second Opium Wars, China opened its borders to foreign merchants and visitors. Soon after the opening, the Great Wall became a main attraction for tourists.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 7: Human Cost

The building process of the Qin wall has been estimated by some authors that hundreds of thousands if not up to a million workers died.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 8: Threat

In the next 20 years, the Great Wall of China is predicted to lose its 60 km wall in Gansu province. The disappearance is caused by the erosion from the sandstorms. Find out facts about the Gray Wolf here

Facts about the Great Wall of China 9: Visibility from the Moon

The claim the Great Wall is visible has been debunked many times, but is still ingrained in popular culture. The claim that the Great Wall is visible appears in 1932’sRipley’s Believe It or Not! Strip and in Richard Halliburton’s 1938 book Second Book of Marvels. In fact, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed to have seen the Great Wall from the Moon.

Facts about the Great Wall of China 10: Visibility from low Earth orbit

There is a debate about the visibility of the Great Wall of China from low Earth Orbit.  NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects. In addition, Neil Armstrong and Yang Liwei stated that they had not been able to see the Great Wall of China.

Those are the interesting facts about the Great Wall of China, the better way to explore more information about this place is make a journey there.