Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Interesting and Amazing Facts About the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is one of the most popular landmarks in the world. It is one of china’s most visited tourist attraction. This fascinating wall is regarded as one of the “Wonders of the Medieval World". This UNESCO World Heritage Site receives millions of tourist every year.



1.      The Chinese people have built walls about 50,000 km in the last 2,000 years. The planet’s circumference is approximately 40,000 km.  These walls can circumnavigate the Earth 1.25 times.

2.      Approximately one million people were buried in the Great Wall during the lengthy period of its construction which is why it is regarded as the “longest cemetery in the world”.

3.      The Great Wall is the longest man-made structure and the claim that it is the only visible man-made object from the moon under favorable viewing condition has been debunked many times.

4.      The mortar used in the construction of the Great Wall was made of rice flour not human bones as commonly believed.

5.      The wheelbarrow was invented by the Chinese and was extensively used during the construction of the Great Wall.

6.      The numerous watchtowers of the Great Wall are amazingly spectacular. They were built at regular intervals and are up to 40 feet in height. These impressive structures represent tremendous diversity of architectural styles.

7.      The Great Wall is the site of many battles in Chinese History. The last battle fought at the Great Wall was during the Sino-Japanese War in 1938. Bullet marks are still visible in the Wall at Gubeikou.

8.      More than one million laborers worked in the construction of the Great Wall. Most of them were peasants, prisoners and soldiers.

9.      One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes. It runs 11 kilometers in length, ranges from 5 to 8 meters in height, and 6 meters across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters across the top.

10.  The entire Great Wall is 8,851.8 km in length and is made up of 6,259.6 km of actual wall, 359.7 km trenches and 2,232.5 km natural defensive barriers like rivers and hills.

11.   The length of Great Wall is equivalent to the flight distance from Denver Airport to Melo Airport or from Haycock Airport to Sukkor Airport.

12.   The height of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world is 8,850 meters. The length of the Great Wall is equivalent to 1,000 Mt. Everest.  




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