The Great Wall*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	China
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Reference	438
Region†	Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	1987  (11th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: 长t; traditional Chinese: 長城; pinyin: Chángchéng; literally "Long wall") or (simplified Chinese: 万里长城; traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng; literally "The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)"^[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu attacks during the rule of successive dynasties. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex As of 2008 there are a total of 878 World Heritage Sites located in 145 "State Parties" Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia, Australia and the Pacific ( Australia) A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most common Standard Mandarin Romanization system in use This article is about two traditional Chinese units of length Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River ( valley in the Neolithic era The Xiongnu ( Turkish: Doğu Hun were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes The following is a Chronology of the dynasties in Chinese history. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC. The most famous is the wall built between 220–200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; little of it remains; it was much farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor of China ( refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning since the founding of the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC until the fall of Qin Shi Huang ( (259 BC – September 10 210 BC personal name Yíng Zhèng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (during the The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led ^[2]

The Great Wall stretches over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)^[3] from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total. Shanhaiguan or Shanhai Pass ( literally "Mountain and Sea Pass" is a part of the city of Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province People's Republic Lop Nur ( Chinese: 罗布泊 Pinyin: Luóbù Pō also Lake Lop, Lop Nuur) Lop Nor = Lob-nor = Lo-pu po Inner Mongolia ( Mongolian:, Öbür mongɣul; occasionally romanized to Nei Mongol is the Mongol ^[4] At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led ^[5] It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall. ^[6]

History

Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty

Great Wall of the Han Dynasty

Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty

Map of the whole wall constructions

The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began around the 7th century BC. Not to be confused with the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty of China The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area The Spring and Autumn Period ( was a period in Chinese history which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (from the second half of the 8th century BC During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. The Warring States Period ( also known as the Era of Warring States covers the period from some time in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Qi ( 齊; Pinyin: Qí was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States. Yan ( was a state during the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods in China. Zhao ( Pinyin: zhào Traditional Chinese: 趙 Simplified Chinese: 赵 was a Chinese State during Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. Qin Shi Huang ( (259 BC – September 10 210 BC personal name Yíng Zhèng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (during the China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Not to be confused with the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty of China Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state borders. To protect the empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's new northern frontier. The Xiongnu ( Turkish: Doğu Hun were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. Rammed earth, also known as cob, pisé de terre or simply pisé, is a type of construction material There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, the Han, Sui, Northern and Jin dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. The Han Dynasty ( 206 BC–220 AD followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms The Northern Dynasties (北朝 běi cháo included Northern Wei Dynasty, Eastern Wei Dynasty, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, This is an article for the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 For other Chinese dynasties whose names are also rendered "Jin" in Pinyin, see Jin Dynasty

The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming Dynasty ( or Empire of the Great Ming ( was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol -led This article deals with the Oirat ethnic group For the obsolete term for the Turkic Altays see Altay people. The Tumu Crisis (土木之變 Pinyin: Tŭmù zhī bìan) also called Crisis of Tumubao (土木堡之變 or Battle of Tumu (土木之役 was a frontier conflict The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Manchurian and Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. Manchuria ( Romanized Manchu: Manju,, Маньчжурия Mongolian: Манж is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Nomadic people, (from the νομάδες nomádes, "those who let pasture herds" also known as nomads, are communities of people that Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He. The Ordos Desert ( is a Desert and Steppe region lying on a Plateau in the south of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of the People's The Yellow River or Huang He / Hwang Ho ( Hatan Gol Queen river) is the second-longest river in China (after the Yangtze River) and the

Photograph of the Great Wall in 1907

Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. A brick is a block of Ceramic material used in Masonry construction laid using mortar. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong. ^[7]

Towards the end of the Shun Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. The Manchu people ( Manchu: Manju;, Mongolian: Манж Russian: Маньчжуры are a Tungusic people who originated in Under the military command of Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Liaodong Peninsula and the Chinese heartland. Yuán Chónghuàn (袁崇煥 Style name: Yuánsù 元素 and Zìrú 自如 6 June 1584 – 22 September 1630) was a famed patriot Shanhaiguan or Shanhai Pass ( literally "Mountain and Sea Pass" is a part of the city of Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province People's Republic The Liáodōng Peninsula ( is a Peninsula in the Liáoníng province of northeastern China, historically known in the west as southern east- Manchuria The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, when the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by Wu Sangui, a Ming border general who disliked the activities of rulers of the Shun Dynasty. Wu Sangui ( styled Changbai 長白 or Changbo 長伯 (1612 &ndash October 2, 1678) was a Ming Chinese general who was Shun Dynasty ( was an imperial dynasty created in the brief lapse from Ming to Qing rule in China. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty. Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China

Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued. Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East A counterpart wall to the Great Wall in the south was erected to protect and divide the Chinese from the 'southern barbarians' called Miao (meaning barbaric and nomadic). The terms Hmong (m̥ɔ̃ŋ and Mong ( both refer to an Asian ethnic group in the mountainous regions of southern China. ^[8]

Notable areas

An area of the sections of the Great Wall at Jinshanling

The following three sections are in Beijing municipality, which were renovated and which are regularly visited by modern tourists today. Jinshanling (;) a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping county 120 km northeast of Beijing.

• "North Pass" of Juyongguan pass, known as the Badaling. Juyongguan or Juyong Pass ( is located in an 18 kilometer-long valley named "Guangou" which is inside Changping County more than 50 kilometers from Beijing Badaling (;) is the site of the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately 50 Miles northwest of Beijing city in Yanqing When used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall has had many guards to defend China’s capital [Beijing]. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7. 8 meters (25. 6 ft) high and 5 meters (16. 4 ft) wide.
• One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes. It runs 11 kilometers (7 mi) long, ranges from 5 to 8 meters (16–26 ft) in height, and 6 meters (19. 7 ft) across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters (16. 4 ft) across the top. Wangjinglou is one of Jinshanling's 67 watchtowers, 980 meters (3,215 ft) above sea level. Jinshanling (;) a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping county 120 km northeast of Beijing. A watchtower is a type of Fortification used in many parts of the world
• South East of Jinshanling, is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for approximately 2. Jinshanling (;) a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping county 120 km northeast of Beijing. Mutianyu ( is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Huairou County 70 km northeast of Beijing. 25 kilometers (about 1. 3 miles). It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east.
• 25 km west of the Liao Tian Ling stands of part of Great wall which is only 2~3 stories high. According to the records of Lin Tian, the wall was not only extremely short compared to others, but it appears to be silver. Archeologists explain that the wall appears to be silver because the stone they used were from Shan Xi, where many mines are found. The stone contains extremely high metal in it causing it to appear silver. However, due to years of decay of the Great Wall, it is hard to see the silver part of the wall today.

Another notable section lies near the eastern extremity of the wall, where the first pass of the Great Wall was built on the Shanhaiguan (known as the “Number One Pass Under Heaven”), the first mountain the Great Wall climbs. Shanhaiguan or Shanhai Pass ( literally "Mountain and Sea Pass" is a part of the city of Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province People's Republic Jia Shan is also here, as is the Jiumenkou, which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge. Shanhaiguan Great Wall is called the “Museum of the Construction of the Great Wall”, because of the Meng Jiang-Nu Temple, built during the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty ( Wade-Giles: Sung Ch'ao was a ruling dynasty in China between 960&ndash1279 CE it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Characteristics

The Great Wall on a 1805 map

Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from Earth or Taipa, stones, and wood.

During the Ming Dynasty, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as Ceramic, stone, metal or even Glass. Lime is a general term for various naturally occurring Minerals and materials derived from them in which Carbonates Oxides and Hydroxides of The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use. Consequently, stones cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Lepomis is a Genus of Freshwater Fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes A gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by Walls or an opening in a Fence. Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm (one foot) tall, and about 23 cm (9 inches) wide. A battlement, (also called a Crenellation) in defensive Architecture such as that of City walls or Castles comprises a Parapet

Condition

The Great Wall at Mutianyu, near Beijing

While some portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair. Mutianyu ( is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Huairou County 70 km northeast of Beijing. Those parts might serve as a village playground or a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads. ^[9] Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Graffiti (singular graffito; the plural is used as a Mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched scrawled painted or marked in any manner on property Vandalism is the behaviour attributed to the Vandals in respect of Culture: ruthless Destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or Venerable Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction. No comprehensive survey of the wall has been carried out, so it is not possible to say how much of it survives, especially in remote areas. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often frequented by sellers of tourist kitsch. Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior tasteless copy of an existing

More than 60 kilometres (37 mi) of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms. ( is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. In places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than five meters (16. 4 ft) to less than two meters. The square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared completely. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion. A mudbrick is a firefree Brick made of Clay, or mud mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw ^[10]

Watchtowers and barracks

Watchtower

Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warn garrisons of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility.

Visibility from space

The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-color radar image from the Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994

Visibility from the moon

A Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon from May 1932 claimed that the wall is "the mightiest work of man, the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon," and Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels makes a similar claim, but it is not true. A false-color image is an image that depicts a subject in Colors that differ from those a faithful full-color photograph would show NASA 's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS) is the Spacecraft currently used by the United States Ripley's Believe It or Not! is a franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so Richard Halliburton ( 9 January 1900 – presumed dead after 24 March 1939) was an American Traveler, Adventurer This belief has persisted, assuming urban legend status, and sometimes even appeared in school textbooks. An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them Arthur Waldron, author of The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth, has speculated that the belief might go back to the fascination with the "canals" once believed to exist on Mars. For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was believed that there were canals on Mars.

The Great Wall is a maximum 9. 1m (30 ft) wide and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, metres for large telescopes) an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings some 70 miles in diameter (1 arc-minute) would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km (238,857 miles). The Great Wall is of course not a disc but more like a thread--it can be seen from much further than would be possible if it were simply a 30 foot disc. Still, the apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles away. Not surprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed seeing the Great Wall from the moon.

Visibility from low earth orbit

A different question is whether the Wall is visible from low earth orbit, i. A Low Earth Orbit (LEO is generally defined as an Orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2000 km e an altitude of as little as 100 miles (160 km). The consensus is that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other manmade objects. ^[11]

Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. William Reid Pogue (born January 23, 1930) is a retired American Astronaut. Skylab was the first Space station the United States launched into orbit and the second space station ever visited by a human crew The Grand Canal of China ( also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal ( is the longest ancient Canal or artificial River in the world He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye. Binocular telescopes, or binoculars (also known as field glasses are two identical or Mirror - symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and " US Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several US astronauts. Edwin Jacob Garn (born October 12, 1932) is an American politician a member of the Republican Party, and served as a U NASA 's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System ( STS) is the Spacecraft currently used by the United States Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he could not see it at all. Yáng Lìwěi ( (born June 21, 1965) is a Chinese major general and military pilot and a CNSA Astronaut.

Veteran US astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 100 miles (160 km) to 200 miles (320 km) high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye. Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) is a retired United States Navy officer and a former NASA Astronaut of Czechoslovakian " Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot of other objects. Edward Tsang Lu ( (born July 1 1963) is an American physicist and astronaut a veteran of two space shuttle missions and an extended stay aboard the Expedition 7 was the seventh expedition to the International Space Station. And you have to know where to look. "

Topographic maps put together showing the location of the eastern parts of the wall between the Yellow River and the Bohai Sea

Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: "I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. The Yellow River or Huang He / Hwang Ho ( Hatan Gol Queen river) is the second-longest river in China (after the Yangtze River) and the Bo Hai ( also known as Bohai Sea or Bohai Gulf, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of northeastern China. Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5 1930 is a former American Astronaut, Test pilot, University Professor, and United States I have not yet found somebody who has told me they've seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. . . . I've asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I've talked to didn't see it. " ^[12]

Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. Dr Leroy Chiao ( born August 28, 1960) is an American Engineer, former NASA Astronaut, entrepreneur motivational speaker Chinese Americans ( Chinese: 华裔美国人 are Americans of Chinese descent It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the China Daily later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look. The China Daily ( is an English-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China. ^[13]

Similar claims rose in many countries on other manmade constructions (such as a highway network or a military base), and usually located within that country, with associations made to the wall usually employing the formula, "the two manmade structures visible from the space are the Great Wall of China and. . . ".

Gallery

See also

• Chinese city wall
• Great Wall of Qi
• Defense of the Great Wall
• Great Wall of China hoax
• Great Wall of China Marathon
• Separation barrier
• Orders of magnitude (length)
• Great Firewall of China

References

Further reading

• Yamashita, Michael and William Lindeasy. The Great Wall: From Beginning to End, New York: Sterling Publishing; 2007. ISBN 978-1402731600
• Arnold, H. J. P, "The Great Wall: Is It or Isn't It?" Astronomy Now, 1995.
• Hessler, Peter. "Walking the Wall". The New Yorker, 21 May 2007, pp. 56-65.
• Lovell, Julia. The Great Wall: China against the World. 1000 BC - 2000 AD. London: Atlantic Books; Sydney, Australia: Picador, 2006. ISBN 978-0330-42241-3; ISBN 0-330-42241-3.
• Michaud, Roland (photographer); Sabrina Michaud (photographer), & Michel Jan, The Great Wall of China. Abbeville Press, 2001. ISBN 0-7892-0736-2
• Waldron, Arthur, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

External links

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Mojibake is the happenstance of incorrect unreadable characters (garbage characters shown when Computer software fails to render a text correctly according to its associated A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

• Enthusiast/scholar website (Chinese)
• International Friends of the Great Wall - organization focused on conservation
• "The Great Wall of China: Tangible, Intangible and Destructible", China Heritage Magazine, March 2005
• Paul Mooney, "Great Wall of China Overrun, Damaged, Disneyfied", National Geographic News, May 15, 2007
• Images:
  • Photos of Great Wall in Simatai
  • Google Earth Great Chinese Wall near Beijing
  • Panoramic images of the Great Wall from the Powerhouse Museum