In my article about the new Seven Wonders of the World, I made mention of the highly admired Great Wall of China which happens to be in the list. As the declaration ceremony fast approaches, I have decided to feature a post dedicated to the Great Wall of China.
By far, this icon has become one of mankind’s most extensive constructions which continue to attract tourists from around. With a rich historical and cultural background, the Great Wall of China has become one of the leading vacation travel destinations in the world. But then again, you may be curious to know why the Great Wall of China was built. Something about the Great Wall of China is that, you need to see and climb it to truly appreciate its beauty.
Dating back to some two thousand years ago, the Great Wall of China was built as a key to protect the agricultural lands from invasion and to keep the nation’s people from vacating the empire. Originally built out of stone, wood, grass and earth, the construction of the great wall began in the early seventh century B.C when the earliest regional kingdoms were built solely for their own defensive military needs. The different watch towers across the wall were used by the army as a warning system. The time warning system during this period used the fire and smoke signals to declare night time and day time respectively. This enabled reliable communication to be relayed from one tower to the other. Progressively, more sections were added to the construction of the wall as the different kingdoms flourished. It was later during the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) that unified China made the wall a whole entity; the wall was built, repaired and further renovated to link the old sections which were previously built to the new ones.
Over the next 1700 years, the Great Wall of China was enhanced and enlarged which gradually became a world renowned manmade wonder.
Additional facts about the Great Wall of China are:
• It is the travel icon of China and a world renowned tourist destination.
• It is a beautifully structured photogenic symbol with imposing watchtowers winding up and down steep hills, cliffs, plateaus and deserts from across the east coast to Xinjiang in the northwest of China.
• It was built by over a million people who happened to be peasants, prisoners and soldiers and thousands of them died in the process.
• It used to be called the Ten Thousand Li Wall which referred to the wall’s length. (1 li equals half a kilometer or one third of a mile).
• It was during the Qin (pronounced as “chin”) dynasty that the modern word “China” was derived.
• The sections in the eastern part of China were built out of bricks and stones while in the western sections of wall were made out of less durable materials – earth and grass.
• The watch towers on the wall served as a deployment zone between one another.
Now that the Great Wall has become what it is today, it has four popular sections where you can visit when you travel to china. These are the Badaling section, Mutianyu section, Simatai section and Shixiaguan section, all of which serve different purposes for scholars, tourists and researchers on a great wall tour. The best month to visit the Great Wall of China is between May and October when weather allows for great visiting periods.

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