The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is an ancient series of walls and fortifications located in northern China, built around 500 years ago. Estimates of its length vary from 1,500 to 5,000 miles, but an archaeological survey carried out in 2012 by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage suggested the wall is more than double than that length: some 13,000 miles – or 21,000km – long…

How much do you know about the Great Wall of China? Why was it built, are there bodies buried in it, and can you really see the Wall from outer space? John Man, author of The Great Wall of China, separates facts from fiction…

It was Robert Ripley, the American illustrator who made a fortune with his cartoon feature Believe It Or Not!, who called the Great Wall “The mightiest work of man – the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the Moon”. This statement was, of course, founded on no evidence at all, since it was made 30 years before anyone had been in space.

Did you know?

Sections of the Great Wall owe their longevity to a rather unusual mortar – glutinous rice flour. Just as strong and waterproof as cement, this ‘sticky rice’ sealed the bricks so tightly that weeds are unable to grow between them