To aid in defense, the Great Wall utilizedwatchtowers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and its status as a transportation corridor. Other purposes of the Great Wall have includedborder controls (allowing control of immigration and emigration, and the imposition of duties on goods transported along theSilk Road), and the regulation of trade.[6]
The collective fortifications constituting the Great Wall stretch fromLiaodong in the east toLop Lake in the west, and from the present-daySino–Russian border in the north toTao River in the south: an arc that roughly delineates the edge of theMongolian steppe, spanning 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi) in total.[7][3] It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was voted one of theNew 7 Wonders of the World in 2007.[8][9] Today, the defensive system of the Great Wall is recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history.[10]
Names
Huayi tu, an 1136 map of China with the Great Wall depicted on the northern edge of the country
The collection of fortifications known as the Great Wall of China has historically had a number of different names in both Chinese and English.
The longer Chinese name "Ten-Thousand Mile Long Wall" (t 萬里長城,s 万里长城,Wànlǐ Chángchéng) came from Sima Qian's description of it in theRecords, though he did not name the walls themselves as such. The AD 493Book of Song quotes the frontier generalTan Daoji referring to "the long wall of 10,000 miles", closer to the modern name, but the name rarely features in pre-modern times otherwise.[14] Thetraditional Chinese mile (里,lǐ) was an often irregular distance that was intended to show the length of a standard village and varied with terrain but was usuallystandardized at distances around a third of anEnglish mile (540 m).[15] However, this use of "ten-thousand" (wàn) isfigurative in a similar manner to the Greek and Englishmyriad and simply means "innumerable" or "immeasurable".[16]
Because of the wall's association with the First Emperor'ssupposed tyranny, theChinese dynasties afterQin usually avoided referring to their own additions to the wall by the name "Long Wall".[17] Instead, various terms were used in medieval records, including "frontier(s)" (塞,Sài),[18] "rampart(s)" (垣,Yuán),[18] "barrier(s)" (障,Zhàng),[18] "the outer fortresses"(外堡,Wàibǎo),[19] and "the border wall(s)"(t邊牆,s边墙,Biānqiáng).[17] Poetic and informal names for the wall included "the Purple Frontier"(紫塞,Zǐsài)[20] and "the Earth Dragon"(t土龍,s土龙,Tǔlóng).[21] Only during theQing period did "Long Wall" become the catch-all term to refer to the many border walls regardless of their location or dynastic origin, equivalent to the English "Great Wall".[22]
Sections of the wall in southGobi Desert andMongoliansteppe are sometimes referred to as "Wall of Genghis Khan", even thoughGenghis Khan did not construct any walls or permanent defense lines himself.[23]
The current English name evolved from accounts of"the Chinese wall" from early modern European travelers.[22] By the nineteenth century,[22] "the Great Wall of China" had become standard in English and French, although other European languages such as German continue to refer to it as "the Chinese wall".[16]
The Great Wall of theQin stretches fromLintao to Liaodong.
The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques ofwall-building by the time of theSpring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC.[24] During this time and the subsequentWarring States period, the states ofQin,Wei,Zhao,Qi,Han,Yan, andZhongshan all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders.[25][26] Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly of stone or by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.
The Great Wall of theHan is the longest of all walls, from Mamitu, nearYumenguan, to Liaodong.
The state ofQin emerged victorious in 221 BC; its ruler, now theFirst Emperor of a unified China, intended to centralize rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords; in doing so, he ordered the destruction of the sections of the walls that divided his empire among the former states. To position the empire against theXiongnu people from the north, however, he ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the northern frontier. "Build and move on" was a central guiding principle in constructing the wall, implying that the Chinese were not erecting a permanently fixed border.[27]
Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources; stone was used in montane areas, whilerammed earth was used while building in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin walls, as most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, theHan, theNorthern dynasties and theSui all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders.[28][29] TheTang andSong dynasties did not undertake any significant effort in the region.[29] Dynasties founded by non-Han ethnic groups also built border walls: theXianbei-ruledNorthern Wei, theKhitan-ruledLiao,Jurchen-ledJin and theTangut-establishedWestern Xia, who ruled vast territories over Northern China throughout centuries, all constructed defensive walls, albeit being further north—reaching into the environs of present-dayMongolia—than Han-built fortifications.[30]
TheMing dynasty made substantial contributions to the Great Wall, following their defeat to theOirats in theBattle of Tumu. This defeat had come in the context of protracted conflict withMongol tribes; a new strategy for defense was thus realized by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in theOrdos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge, instead of incorporating the bend of theYellow River.
Unlike the earlier fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate, due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. Up to 25,000 watchtowers are estimated to have been constructed on the wall.[31] AsMongol 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.[32] Under generalQi Jiguang's supervision, 1,200 watchtowers from Shanhaiguan Pass to Changping were constructed between 1567 and 1570, and sections of the ram-earth wall were faced with bricks.[33]
During the mid–15th century, the Ming also built a so-called "Liaodong Wall". It enclosed the agricultural heartland of theLiaodong province, protecting it against potential incursions by Jurchen-Mongol Oriyanghan from the northwest and theJianzhou Jurchens from the north. While stones and tiles were sometimes used here, it was otherwise simply an earth dike with moats on both sides.[34]
Towards the end of the Ming, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against theManchu invasions that began around 1600. Even after the loss of all ofLiaodong, the Ming army held the heavily fortifiedShanhai Pass, preventing the Manchus from conquering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen toLi Zicheng's short-livedShun dynasty. Before this time, the Manchus had crossed the Great Wall multiple times to raid, but this time it was for conquest. The gates at Shanhai Pass were opened on May 25 by the commanding Ming general,Wu Sangui, who formed an alliance with the Manchus, hoping to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing.[35] The Manchus quickly seized Beijing instead, and eventually defeated both the Shun dynasty and theremaining Ming resistance, consolidating the rule of theQing dynasty over all ofChina proper.[36]
Under Qing rule and theannexation of Mongolia into the empire, China's borders extended beyond the Great Wall; work on it for the purpose of border defense was thus discontinued. Construction nevertheless persisted with projects like theWillow Palisade; following a line similar to that of the Liaodong Wall of the Ming, it was meant to prevent Han Chinese migration into Manchuria.[37]
Foreign accounts
Part of the Great Wall of China (April 1853, X, p. 41)[38]The Great Wall in 1907
Soon after Europeans reached Ming China by ship in the early 16th century, accounts of the Great Wall started to circulate in Europe, even though no European was to see it for another century. Possibly one of the earliest European descriptions of the wall and of its significance for the defense of the country against the "Tartars" (i.e. Mongols) may be the one contained inJoão de Barros's 1563Asia.[44] Other early accounts in Western sources include those ofGaspar da Cruz,Bento de Goes,Matteo Ricci, and BishopJuan González de Mendoza,[45] the latter in 1585 describing it as a "superbious and mightie work" of architecture, though he had not seen it.[46] In 1559, in his work "A Treatise of China and the Adjoyning Regions", Gaspar da Cruz offers an early discussion of the Great Wall.[45] Perhaps the first recorded instance of a European actually entering China via the Great Wall came in 1605, when the Portuguese Jesuit brotherBento de Góis reached the northwesternJiayu Pass from India.[47] Early European accounts were mostly modest and empirical, closely mirroring contemporary Chinese understanding of the Wall,[48] although later they slid into hyperbole,[49] including the erroneous but ubiquitous claim that the Ming walls were the same ones that were built by the first emperor in the 3rd century BC.[49]
When China opened its borders to foreign merchants and visitors after its defeat in theFirst andSecond Opium Wars, the Great Wall became a main attraction for tourists. Thetravelogues of the later 19th century further enhanced the reputation and the mythology of the Great Wall.[50]
Course
A formal definition of what constitutes a "Great Wall" has not been agreed upon, making the full course of the Great Wall difficult to describe in its entirety.[51] The defensive lines contain multiple stretches of ramparts, trenches and ditches, as well as individual fortresses.
In 2012, based on existing research and the results of a comprehensive mapping survey, theNational Cultural Heritage Administration of China concluded that the remaining Great Wall associated sites include 10,051 wall sections, 1,764 ramparts or trenches, 29,510 individual buildings, and 2,211 fortifications or passes, with the walls and trenches spanning a total length of 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi).[3] It was further concluded that theMing Great Wall measures 8,850 km (5,500 mi).[52] This consists of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) of wall sections, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.[52] In addition,Qin,Han and earlier Great Wall sites are 3,080 km (1,914 mi) long in total;Jin dynasty (1115–1234)border fortifications are 4,010 km (2,492 mi) in length; the remainder date back toNorthern Wei,Northern Qi,Sui,Tang, theFive Dynasties,Song,Liao andXixia.[3] About half of the sites are located inInner Mongolia andHebei (31% and 19% respectively).[3]
Han fortifications start fromYumen Pass andYang Pass, southwest ofDunhuang, inGansu province. Ruins of the remotest Han border posts are found in Mamitu (t馬迷途,s马迷途,Mǎmítú,l "horses losing their way") near Yumen Pass.
TheJiayu Pass, located in Gansu province, is the western terminus of the Ming Great Wall. From here, the wall travels discontinuously down theHexi Corridor and into the deserts ofNingxia, where it enters the western edge of the Yellow River loop atYinchuan. Here the first major walls erected during the Ming dynasty cut through theOrdos Desert to the eastern edge of the Yellow River loop. There, at Piantou Pass(t偏頭關,s偏头关,Piāntóuguān) inXinzhou,Shanxi, the Great Wall splits in two with the "Outer Great Wall"(t外長城,s外长城,Wài Chǎngchéng) extending along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi intoHebei province, and the "Inner Great Wall"(t內長城,s內长城,Nèi Chǎngchéng) running southeast from Piantou Pass for some 400 km (250 mi), passing through important passes like thePingxing Pass andYanmen Pass before joining the Outer Great Wall at Sihaiye(四海冶,Sìhǎiyě), in Beijing'sYanqing County.
The sections of the Great Wall around Beijing, were frequently renovated, and are regularly visited by tourists today. TheBadaling Great Wall nearZhangjiakou is the most famous stretch of the wall, as it was the first section to be opened to the public in the People's Republic of China; foreign dignitaries would be shown this section on visits to the Great Wall.[53] TheBadaling Great Wall saw nearly 10 million visitors in 2018, and in 2019, a daily limit of 65,000 visitors was instated.[54] South of Badaling is theJuyong Pass; when it was used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall had many guards to defend the capital Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) high and 5 m (16 ft 5 in) wide.
One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes inJinshanling. There it runs 11 km (7 mi) long, ranges from 5 to 8 m (16 ft 5 in to 26 ft 3 in) in height, and 6 m (19 ft 8 in) across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 m (16 ft 5 in) across the top. Wangjing Lou(t望京樓,s望京楼,Wàngjīng Lóu) is one of Jinshanling's 67watchtowers, 980 m (3,220 ft) above sea level. Southeast of Jinshanling is theMutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for 2.25 km (1.40 mi). It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east. This section was one of the first to be renovated following the turmoil of theCultural Revolution.[55]
At the edge of the Bohai Gulf isShanhai Pass, considered the traditional end of the Great Wall and the "First PassUnder Heaven". The part of the wall inside Shanhai Pass that meets the sea is named the "Old Dragon Head". 3 km (2 mi) north of Shanhai Pass is Jiaoshan Great Wall (t焦山長城,s焦山长城,Jiāoshān Chángchéng), the site of the first mountain of the Great Wall.[56] 15 km (9 mi) northeast from Shanhaiguan isJiumenkou(t九門口,s九门口,Jiǔménkǒu), which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge.
In 2009, 180 km of previously unknown sections of the Ming wall concealed by hills, trenches and rivers were discovered with the help of infrared range finders andGPS devices.[57] In March and April 2015, nine sections with a total length of more than 10 km (6 mi), believed to be part of the Great Wall, were discovered along the border ofNingxia autonomous region and Gansu province.[58]
Characteristics
Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. During the Ming, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles,lime, and stone. 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 into rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outerbrims, and gateways of the wall.Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm (12 in) tall, and about 23 cm (9.1 in) wide. From the parapets, guards could survey the surrounding land.[59]
Sticky rice mortar, consisting of sticky rice soup mixed withslaked lime, was extensively used to hold bricks together;[60][61] no humanbones or body parts were ever incorporated into the mortar or any part of the wall, contrary to urban legend.[62][63] Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warngarrisons of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility. Wooden gates could be used as a trap against those going through. Barracks, stables, and armories were built near the wall's inner surface.[59]
Condition
A more rural portion of the Great Wall that stretches through the mountains, here seen in slight disrepair
While portions north ofBeijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even extensively renovated, in many other locations the wall is in disrepair. The wall sometimes provided a source of stones to build houses and roads.[64] Sections of the wall are also prone tograffiti andvandalism, while inscribed bricks were pilfered and sold on the market for up to 50renminbi.[65] Parts have been destroyed to make way for construction or mining.[66]
A 2012 report by theNational Cultural Heritage Administration states that 22% of the Ming Great Wall has disappeared, while 1,961 km (1,219 mi) of wall have vanished.[65] In 2007 it was estimated that more than 60 km (37 mi) of the wall inGansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion fromsandstorms. In some places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than 5 m (16 ft 5 in) to less than 2 m (6 ft 7 in). Various square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared. Many western sections of the wall areconstructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion.[67] In 2014 a portion of the wall near the border of Liaoning and Hebei province was repaired with concrete. The work has been much criticized.[68]
A section of the wall in Shanxi province was severely damaged in 2023 by construction workers, who widened an existing gap in the wall to make a shortcut for an excavator to pass through. Police described the act as causing "irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and to the safety of the cultural relics".[69]
Visibility from space
Variousfactoids in popular culture claim that the Great Wall can be seen (with the naked eye) from space, with questionable degrees of veracity.
From the Moon
The Great Wall of China cannot be seen by the naked human eye from theMoon which orbits around Earth at an average distance of 384,399 kilometres (238,854 mi).[70] Even though the myth is thoroughly debunked, it is still ingrained in popular culture.[71][72] The apparent width of the Great Wall as seen from the Moon would be the same as that of a human hair viewed from 3 km (2 mi) away.[73]
One of the earliest known references to the myth of the Great Wall's visibility from the Moon appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquaryWilliam Stukeley. Stukeley wrote that, "This mighty wall [Hadrian's Wall] of four score miles [130 km] in length is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon theterrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the Moon."[74] The claim was also mentioned byHenry Norman in 1895, writing "besides its age it enjoys the reputation of being the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the Moon."[75] The myth also appears in the 1932 strip ofRipley's Believe It or Not!.[76]
From low Earth orbit
Identical satellite images of a section of the Great Wall in northern Shanxi, running diagonally from lower left to upper right and not to be confused with the more prominent river running from upper left to lower right. In the image on the right, the Great Wall has been outlined in red. The region pictured is 12 km × 12 km (7 mi × 7 mi).
The Great Wall has also been claimed to be visible fromlow Earth orbit (an altitude extending from 160 km (100 mi)).NASA states that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other human-made objects.[77]
Astronauts testifying to its visibility from space includeGene Cernan[a] andEd Lu;[b]Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, meanwhile stated that he had not been able to see it. In response, theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting of its visibility from an altitude of 160 and 320 km (100 and 200 mi);[73] the image was actually of a river in Beijing.[78]
Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from theInternational Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, theChina 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.[79][73]
^abcde中国长城保护报告 [Protection Report of the Great Wall of China].National Cultural Heritage Administration.
^The New York Times with introduction bySam Tanenhaus (2011).The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind.St. Martin's Press ofMacmillan Publishers. p. 1131.ISBN978-0-312-64302-7.Beginning as separate sections of fortification around the 7th century B.C.E and unified during the Qin Dynasty in the 3rd century B.C.E, this wall, built of earth and rubble with a facing of brick or stone, runs from east to west across China for over 4,000 miles.
^"Great Wall of China".Encyclopædia Britannica. October 21, 2023.Large parts of the fortification system date from the 7th through the 4th century BC. In the 3rd century BC Shihuangdi (Qin Shi Huang), 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 beShanhai Pass (Shanhaiguan) on the coast of the Bohai (Gulf of Zhili), and the wall's length – without its branches and other secondary sections – was thought to extend for some 6,690 km (4,160 mi).
^Waldron 1990, p. 202. Tan Daoji's exact quote: "So you would destroy your Great Wall of Ten ThousandLi!" (乃復壞汝萬里之長城) Note the use of theparticle之zhi that differentiates the quote from the modern name.
^歷代王朝修長城 (in Chinese). Chiculture.net. RetrievedOctober 24, 2010.
^古代长城 – 战争与和平的纽带 (in Chinese). Newsmth.net. RetrievedOctober 24, 2010.
^万里长城 (in Chinese). Newsmth.net. RetrievedOctober 24, 2010.
^Burbank, Jane; Cooper, Frederick (2010).Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 45.
^Elliott, Mark C. "The Limits of Tartary: Manchuria in Imperial and National Geographies".Journal of Asian Studies 59, no. 3 (2000): 603–646.
^"Part of the Great Wall of China".The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons.X:41. April 1853. RetrievedFebruary 29, 2016.
^"Jiaoshan Great Wall".TravelChinaGuide.com. RetrievedSeptember 15, 2010.Jiaoshan Great Wall is located about 3 km (2 mi) from Shanhaiguan ancient city. It is named after Jiaoshan Mountain, which is the highest peak to the north of Shanhai Pass and also the first mountain the Great Wall climbs up after Shanhai Pass. Therefore Jiaoshan Mountain is noted as "The first mountain of the Great Wall".
^Nanos, Janelle (November 12, 2010)."Slide Down the Great Wall of China".National Geographic. RetrievedJuly 6, 2022.[...] (in fact, there have been no bones, human or otherwise, found in the Wall, though a great number of workers did die while toiling to build it).
Edmonds, Richard Louis (1985).Northern Frontiers of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: A Comparative Study of Frontier Policy. University of Chicago, Department of Geography; Research Paper No. 213.ISBN978-0-89065-118-6.
Elliott, Mark C. (2001).The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press.ISBN978-0-8047-4684-7.
Evans, Thammy (2006).Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China. Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 3.ISBN978-1-84162-158-6.
Haw, Stephen G. (2006).Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the realm of Khubilai Khan. Volume 3 of Routledge studies in the early history of Asia. Psychology Press.ISBN978-0-415-34850-8.
Arnold, H. J. P., "The Great Wall: Is It or Isn't It?"Astronomy Now, 1995.
Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009):Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-13589-2.
Luo, Zewen, et al. and Baker, David, ed. (1981).The Great Wall. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Book Company (UK).ISBN0-07-070745-6
Man, John. (2008).The Great Wall. London: Bantam Press. 335 pages.ISBN978-0-593-05574-8.
Michaud, Roland and Sabrina (photographers), & Michel Jan,The Great Wall of China. Abbeville Press, 2001.ISBN0-7892-0736-2
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