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Thursday 23 April 2015

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials. It was built across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against enemy attacks.


It was built over several thousands of years with several sections being built as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). After the Qin Dynasty (221BC - 206BC), the construction of the Great Wall became a very large project. The building of  the wall of Northern Qi (550-557), starting from Xiakou to Hengzhou, used 1,800,000 laborers. A section of Sui's (581 - 618) wall in Inner Mongolia  required more than 1,000,000 men to build.

The Western Han Dynasty used a lottery to pay for repairs to and expansion of the Great Wall.

The Great Wall of China is the longest structure humans have ever built. It is about 13,171 mile long, 30 feet wide and 50 feet high.

The length of the Great Wall of China is more than half the circumference of the Earth.

3.8 billion bricks were used to build the Great Wall of China.

The mortar used to bind the Great Wall’s stones was made with sticky rice.

The men who served as guards along the Great Wall of China in the Middle Ages were often born on the wall, grew up there, married there, died there, and were buried within it. Many of these guards never left the wall in their entire lives.

Nearly two-thirds of the Great Wall of China have been damaged or ruined.

Part of the Great Wall of China is submerged in the reservoir formed by the construction of the Panjiakou Dam in Hebei Province, and sometimes it re-emerges during droughts.

Chinese scientists believe that sticky rice soup, mixed in with the limestone mortar, may be the secret ingredient that keeps the Great Wall standing.

The section of the Great Wall of China that everyone visits, and you always see on TV, is only 500 years old.

It is a myth that you can see the Great Wall of China from space. In perfect conditions  it is just possible for astronauts in low Earth orbit (90-300 miles) to spot the wall if they have extremely good eyesight.

Sources .Travelchinaguide.comBumper Book for the Loo by Mitchell Symons

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