World’s longest graveyard: The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is called Cháng Chéng in Chinese, meaning ‘long wall’ or ‘endless wall’. It is also famously referred to as the ‘Ten-Thousand-Li Wall’ in historical records. A treasury of countless Chinese legends, it resembles from the sky the world’s largest mythical dragon coiled around its beloved land. Stretching 21,196 kilometers, its tail appears to guard China itself. Winding through mountains, rivers, and deserts along the border, it snakes across the landscape like a serpent. Over the centuries, folklore surrounding the wall has repeatedly invoked this mythical ‘dragon’. According to legend, a giant dragon determined the wall’s route. Following its divine footprints, this wonder of the world was constructed. The beginning and end of the Great Wall were shaped like the head and tail of a dragon. From Jiayuguan City in the Gansu desert in the west, it stretches all the way to the Bohai Sea at Shanhaiguan in Hebei province in the east, where it appears as though the dragon is drinking water. This section is known as the ‘Head of the Dragon’. In Chinese belief, it is the ‘First Pass Under Heaven’, the first gateway to the heavens.

There is no end to the folklore surrounding the Great Wall of China. Passed down through generations, the brutal stories of its construction still send chills through local communities. Beneath its grandeur lies another name—the ‘world’s longest graveyard’. Legends say that more than one million laborers lost their lives during its construction, which spanned over 2,500 years. Many were reportedly buried within the wall itself. Archaeologists have found human bones during excavations of collapsed sections, lending weight to these accounts. Workers were subjected to brutal treatment by imperial officials.

According to popular legend, during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (221–207 BC), a woman named Meng Jiang Nu lost her husband while he was forced to work on the wall. Imperial soldiers had conscripted him as a free laborer. The couple had married for love. During a freezing winter in China, she set out with food and warm clothes upon hearing of her husband’s condition. When she arrived, she learned that he had already died. Overwhelmed with grief and anger toward the emperor, she collapsed in tears. It is said she sat for months at the section of the wall where her husband had worked, mourning his death. Her tears caused a large section of the wall to collapse, revealing her husband’s body. This story remains one of China’s four most well-known folk legends.

It is also said that the Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon or outer space. In reality, it is not visible to the naked eye from space. The Great Wall is not only a monument but also a symbol of bravery. Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong shared this belief. At a public gathering, he once said, “A Chinese who has climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.” Temples can also be found along various sections of the wall, where the Chinese honor their great historical figures.

A wonder of architecture

A review of the history of this world wonder, the Great Wall, reveals yet another marvel of Chinese architectural ingenuity. As early as 500 to 800 years before the birth of Christ, the engineers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang had already mastered the techniques of wall construction.

Nearly the entire length of this vast structure was built using earth and stone. It also stands as the world’s largest military infrastructure and the largest man-made structure ever built. Its masonry work, too, reflects remarkable innovation. The emperor’s builders used sticky rice in the concrete mixture—an early breakthrough in construction science.

A study published in 2010 in the Accounts of Chemical Research journal of Zhejiang University revealed this historic finding. According to the research, sticky rice was mixed into the mortar, making it both water-resistant and earthquake-resistant. In its early phase under Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the wall was constructed using earth, wood, and stone. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), lime, bricks, and stone were used instead.

Today, parts of the wall are being damaged by various acts of sabotage, while some sections have also been destroyed during reconstruction efforts. Due to the absence of a complete survey, the exact extent of preservation remains unknown. It is estimated that nearly 30 percent of the original wall has already been lost.

The structure has also been steadily eroded due to the theft of its bricks for house construction. Bricks inscribed with Chinese characters have reportedly been sold for around five US dollars, or 30 yuan each.

Frontier fortress

Although the Great Wall of China has now become one of the world’s major tourist attractions, it originally served as a frontier fortress marking the emperors’ territorial boundaries. Border guards patrolled the wall, working in coordinated groups. Maintaining communication between these units was therefore essential.

Watchtowers and signal towers were built on hilltops and other elevated points, allowing rapid transmission of alerts and danger signals. These systems made it easy to detect warnings sent from the towers. At one time, regular military patrols moved along the wall. On the 20 to 26 feet-high sections (depending on location), up to ten soldiers would walk side by side on top of the wall, along with five to six horses. Secret military supply convoys also used this route.

Myths surrounding the wall’s length are widely circulated in global tourism discourse. It is said that walking 40 to 45 kilometers a day would still take 17 to 18 months to reach the other end of the structure.

Despite being known as the Great Wall of China, the entire country is not enclosed by it. The wall spans border areas across only 15 of China’s 34 provinces, along with several autonomous regions.

Construction method

The contribution of the finest engineers of the time to the largest structure in human history is truly commendable. Their methods remain instructive even today. Only a civilization like ancient China could construct such an extensive wall using relatively simple tools.

The tools included shovels, spades, hammers, chisels, and picks. One group built wooden frames, another filled them with earth and stone, while a third group compacted the material to harden it. The outer layer consisted of fired clay or bricks, which made the wall nearly impenetrable.

However, soil was not available everywhere. In such cases, ancient engineers demonstrated remarkable skill. One example is the desert regions, where transporting tons of earth for construction seemed impossible. Yet the Chinese still made it work. Steep mountains, dense forests, and rivers could not obstruct their defensive system.

History of construction

The construction of the wall began with the aim of protecting the northern frontier states and kingdoms of historic China. Starting from the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, this frontier fortress gradually evolved—over the course of around 20 dynasties—into what is now known as the Great Wall of China. At the time, it was built primarily to defend against the frequent raids of nomadic groups from the Eurasian steppes.

The Great Wall is, in fact, a collection of multiple fortifications. It was constructed across various dynasties, including Qin, Zhao, Qi, Yan, Jin, Sui, Tang, Liao, and Qing, among others—nearly 20 dynasties in total contributed to its formation. In 221 BC, after Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state defeated his final rivals and unified China, he established the Qin dynasty. To strengthen central rule, he ordered the destruction of earlier regional walls that had divided the states.

However, attacks from the Xiongnu in the north continued. To defend the empire, the emperor ordered the remaining fortifications to be linked and expanded into a unified defensive wall. He appointed General Meng Tian to lead the construction along the northern frontier with an army of over one million soldiers. Thus began the massive construction project of the Great Wall. Procuring raw materials at the time was extremely difficult, and construction relied heavily on locally available resources.

In the 14th century, under the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall experienced a revival. After suffering defeat in the Tumu Crisis, the Ming rulers became more focused on border defense. They were effectively compelled to restart large-scale construction along the northern frontier. This time, however, they built stronger sections using stone and bricks instead of rammed earth. Nearly 25 watchtowers were constructed along the wall.

Even then, Mongol invasions could not be fully stopped, and they continued to launch regular attacks, causing further damage to the structure. Restoration efforts demanded significant financial and labor resources from the Ming state.

After the end of the Second Opium War in 1860, China’s borders were opened to foreigners. This allowed merchants and visitors to learn about the Great Wall for the first time. Until then, it had little global recognition. Gradually, it became a major center of attraction for tourists and gained immense popularity in the 19th century.

A hidden 18-kilometer section of the wall was rediscovered in 2009.

Current condition

At present, many sections of the wall have been destroyed. However, a large portion remains preserved in the northern part of Beijing and around major tourist areas. Some sections have also undergone restoration over time.

In 2014, sections of the wall near the border of Liaoning and Hebei provinces were renovated using concrete, a move that drew significant criticism at the time. According to data released in 2012 by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage, about 22 percent of the Ming Dynasty-era sections of the wall—nearly 2,000 kilometers—have been completely destroyed.

In the Gansu province section, around 60 kilometers of the wall are expected to disappear within the next 20 years.

Construction laborers

Construction of the wall continued day and night. The main force behind the project was the soldiers. Another major labor group consisted of ordinary people who were forcibly recruited. Masons, stone cutters, bricklayers, and carpenters were brought in from across the country.

Due to a shortage of male workers, women were also compelled to join the work. Convicted criminals were assigned to forced labor as a form of punishment by the royal court. Their heads were shaved and they were kept in chains.

They guarded the wall during the day in shifts, while construction and expansion work continued at night. During the Qin Dynasty, around 300,000 soldiers and 500,000 civilians were involved in the project—about 20 percent of the country’s total population. The Northern Wei Dynasty employed around 100,000 people. The Northern Qi Dynasty mobilized 1.8 million workers for its project, while the Sui Dynasty recruited approximately one million laborers.

These figures show that every dynasty involved in the construction of the Great Wall relied on massive forced labor.

During the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, around 130,000 people died, representing an estimated mortality rate of about 10 percent. Most died due to disease, overwork, or structural collapses. Based on this rate, it is estimated that the total number of deaths throughout history may have exceeded one million.