China’s traditional name for the Great Wall, Wanli Changcheng, translates as the ten-thousand-li wall. One li is roughly half a kilometer, putting the name at around 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles). The actual measured length, confirmed by a national survey published in June 2012, is 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles). More than four times that, and the longest structure humans have ever built.
This massive structure was never one continuous wall. It consists of 10,051 separate sections, 29,510 individual buildings, and 2,211 fortifications, constructed by more than 20 dynasties over nearly 2,000 years. The stone-and-brick sections near Beijing are Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) construction. Earlier walls from the Qin (221–206 BCE) and Han (202 BCE–220 CE) eras were mostly rammed earth, and most of those have long since dissolved back into the ground.
Feature
Data
Total length (all dynasties)
21,196.18 km / 13,171 mi
Ming Dynasty Wall length
8,851.8 km / 5,500 mi
Qin Dynasty construction
221–206 BCE
Ming Dynasty construction
1368–1644
Total wall sections
10,051
Individual towers and buildings
29,510
Fortifications and passes
2,211
Provinces crossed
15
Easternmost point
Hushan, Liaoning Province
Westernmost point
Jiayuguan Pass, Gansu Province
Earliest construction
7th century BCE (Warring States)
UNESCO inscription
1987
The map below created by @the.world.in.maps puts those 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles) against Europe’s coastline. Placed along the Atlantic and Mediterranean shores, the Wall would stretch from northern Denmark all the way to Greece.
Interestingly, every kilometer of this was built without machinery. Workers moved millions of tons of stone and earth using hand tools and pack animals. On mountain sections where carts could not manage the gradient, materials went up by hand in baskets.
Many people still believe the famous claim that the Wall is “the only work built by human hands on this planet that can be seen from the moon.” This idea was once widely repeated (including in older UNESCO-related materials), but it is a myth. The Wall is 4 to 8 meters (13 to 26 feet) wide, roughly the width of a two-lane road, and from orbit it disappears into the surrounding terrain.
China’s own 2012 survey found that 22% of the Ming Wall, roughly 1,961 kilometers (1,219 miles), has already disappeared due to erosion, farming, and people removing bricks for local construction. In some places the height has dropped from over 5 meters (16 feet) to under 2 meters (6.5 feet) (Wikipedia). The length that makes the Wall so extraordinary is the same reason protecting it is nearly impossible. There is simply too much of it to watch all at once.
For those interested in the Great Wall of China, check out the following books and atlases available on Amazon:
