The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China

As soon as man figured out how to say “mine” the idea of protecting that which was yours was soon to follow. Thousands of years later, the first line of defence against the unwanted visitor is still the humble wall. Not exactly the work of genius but the best ideas are often the simplest ones.
The Great Wall of China is not the first wall to be built, although parts of it were constructed a good while back, perhaps as early as 500 years B.C. The Great Wall is also not likely to be the last wall, the highest wall or the strongest wall ever to be built. It is, without a shadow of a doubt the longest wall and will remain as such for the foreseeable future.

China, for the geographically challenged, is not a small place. A long, long time ago, various states in the land began to build walls to keep unwelcome fellows out. Emperor Qin Shihuang had a big idea and decided to connect the dots. His vision was realised and all the little walls (which were actually quite big walls) became one Great Wall. The barrier stretches out along the northern border of China and is a couple hundred clicks shy of 9000 kilometres. As mentioned, China, not so small.

The wall averages around 10 metres wide which was burly enough to keep malevolent types on the other side of the line, excluding David Copperfield, apparently. Ten metres is the just short of the width of a tennis court or as long as two and a half cars. No need to call the Mythbusters, it is actually fairly obvious that it can not be seen from space. In fact, very few man made structures can be seen from space. The Great Wall is certainly expansive and impressive, enough so to win a spot on the list of modern day Wonders of the World, but would be as easy to spot as a single human hair from 20 football fields away.

Who erected this lengthy partition? History is made by those who write it. Someone lost the textbook on this one. It is likely that it was built by soldiers, prisoners and regular citizens. Modern day construction sites are dangerous places. Imagine what perils were faced over 200 years ago. Estimates for on the job fatalities are as high as one million.

Visitors need not be concerned though, tourists are safe as, um, er, houses…

The key to visiting the snaking structure is to pick a few good spots or even hike a few days along the wall. It runs from Gansu Province all the way to the sea on the Eastern side of China. The wall runs mainly along mountain crests and as such offers some beautiful scenery. It ranges from 5 to 9 metres in height (about 3 storeys at most) and is made from bricks and stone on the outside and rubble on the inside.

Many watchtowers, in fact over 10,000 of them are built into the wall as well as a fair share of temples.

There are many legends concerning the wall. Some say a dragon marked the location of the wall out. You be the judge.