Great Wall, China

Length of the Great Wall and other features

The Chinese Wall is the largest monument ever built by man.

This set of fortifications consists of a fortified wall from 5 to 7 meters wide and a height of 5-17 meters depending on portions.

How long is the Great Wall of China?

This common question and the answer is not so simple.

A 1990 study estimated the length of the Great Wall of China at 6700 km. It is this figure that is most often mentioned.

In 2008, the Agency for Cultural Heritage Chinese state had re-estimated the length of the Great Wall at 8850 km, including the walls, trenches and natural barriers such as mountains or rivers.

A recent survey conducted in 2012 by the same State Agency, assessed the original length of the Great Wall of China at 21 196 km!

This distance includes sections having completely disappeared, and where only the foundations still exist. According to the agency, the parties of the current wall undamaged represent only 8.2% of the wall built in the Ming Dynasty.

The Great Wall, view of the Moon

The popular belief is that this immense building that is the Chinese wall, is visible from the moon.

However, not being wider than a highway, it is impossible to see with the naked eye from the moon.

History of the Great Wall of China

The construction of the Great Wall of China stretches over nearly 2 millennia.

Begun in the third century BC. JC, under the Qin dynasty, it took its present appearance after major overhaul project undertaken under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).


The Great Wall of China and the Silk Road

The first emperors of the next dynasty, the Han Dynasty, abandoned maintenance of the Great Wall, preferring to negotiate with the Northern invaders by offering girls rather than fight.

But Emperor Wudi revived the construction of the wall; on the one hand to push the nomads of the north and the other to promote trade and develop the Silk Road!

Finally, during its history, the Chinese wall served as a benefit for the road transport of people and goods as a defensive fortification.

Indeed, despite its size and strength, the guards were corruptible, and the wall does not always managed to contain the invaders!

tourism

Following the craze of tourists to this impressive construction, the Chinese government launched the restoration of some sections of the Great Wall.

The latter was considerably damaged during the years of abandonment. Its bricks and stones were used to build houses and roads and even his heart land was used by farmers to enrich their fields.

Today is the massive influx of tourists puts at risk the wall. Some amenities, such as cable cars, were built to accommodate tourists, without trying to preserve this heritage.

Since 1987, the Chinese wall is a World Heritage site by UNESCO and was named as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" in 2007.