As the largest man-made structure in the world, the Great Wall of China is one of the most iconic and popular heritage sites in the world. Over 10 million people visit each year—but not everyone has the opportunity to see the Great Wall first-hand.
Below are photos and videos taken today March 27, 2023, freelance reporter, Ronda Luke, who is in Beijing, China, courtesy of the China International Press Communication Center (CIPCC).
Here are a few things you should know about the Great Wall of China.
1. The complete length is approximately 20,000 kilometers
The official length of the Great Wall is 21,196.18km, about one and a half times the distance from Los Angeles to Singapore — currently one of the longest flights in the world! Walking the full distance would take you approximately 17 months.
2. It took over 2,000 years to construct The Great Wall as we know it today
It was built over the course of five dynasties. The first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, took the remnants of ancient fortifications, walls, and earthworks and linked them into a unified wall around 220 BC. Because of climate conditions and human activities, a third of this UNESCO World Heritage site— approximately 2,000km — has already disappeared. Still, many sections of the wall are being restored as we speak.
3. It’s not just a wall — it’s a whole defense structure
The Great Wall is not a single-structured wall. It includes beacon towers, barriers, barracks, garrison stations, and fortresses along the walls. Together, they form an integrated defense system.
“Walk the Great Wall of China” includes a feature on the western starting point of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty. Tragically, all that remains today is a lonely earthen mound.
4-Constructions of the wall
According to the Travel China Guide, some 20 states and dynasties contributed to the construction of the Great Wall of China over the course of many millennia.
According to History.com, Qin Shi Huang had a labor force of nearly 300,000 soldiers, commoners, and prisoners. Hundreds of thousands of men died while working on the wall, which required them to carry heavy materials on their backs up to the top of the ridgelines.
Much of the work on the oldest sections of the Great Wall was done by hand, though primitive technology — wheel barrows, ropes, basket-and-pulley-systems, and horse or oxen-drawn carts.
This wall was designed to keep chinese out of the neighboring lands. The steep and inaccessible parts of the wall are on the Chinese side. The steps and walkways are on the other side. This may not be the great wall of China after all..
Who were the first Dominicans to visit China?
Name the year of the visit .
There are Dominicans pictured on the wall of China almost 40 years ago.
keep this new to stictly local news please and thank you, does this wall affects our economy? if yall cant get good news write an article on a local hero or something.
China is a great civilization..Guess there are myriad other wonders we do not know of.The people are smart, they are hard working and militarily, they cant be pushed around by any country on the planet.
Interesting information and beautiful photographs but I would rather the DNO reporter inform us of the present day grass-roots situation in China.
Was she was allowed to observe the other side to the coin?
@Roger Burnett
Why do you hate the good news about China?
Is it that western media has poised your mind with false information?
Oops
spoilt not poised.
I can assure you that it is not the western media that has, in your words “poisoned my mind”. It is what I sadly see happening before my eyes right here in Dominica.
And I am not afraid to comment or respond in my own name. If you were to do the same, it might enable me to see China in a kindlier light.
@ Hmmmmmm
Interesting, but i fully agree with you. China is indeed a great nation, and is getting greater. A humongous threat to the USA, that is still stuck in Cold War mentality, and of course having a burning desire to maintain its world’s hegemony. That’s the main reason why we have so many wars on the planet. So many of the things western media spew about China, i often take them in critically…I have NO issues with China, absolutely NONE, except that i admire it’s development. In Dominica a large section of the population have everything bad to say about China. But which of the two countries is more evil? China or the USA? America by an extremely long way…!
Not just China, he hates good news about anything or anyone with which Skerrit is associated. Your typical sour grapes story.
What an experience… I had the pleasure of visiting in 2011 and I have to visit China again