How Old is the Great Wall

Written by Matteo Updated Mar. 15, 2024

The Great Wall has a history of 2, 243 years. The Ming Dynasty mostly built the Great Wall we see today. However, Which dynasty began building the Great Wall first? You'll know after reading this article.

When Was the Great Wall of China Finished?

The construction of the Great Wall lasted for over 2,000 years. Starting from the pre-Qin period, more than 20 states and dynasties built or repaired the Great Wall sections. Among them, the Qin, Han, and Ming dynasties built the Great Wall, which spanned 5,000 kilometers.

How Long Would it Take to Walk the Great Wall?

The Great Wall of China is 21,196 kilometers long in total. It is an impossible task to walk the entire Great Wall on foot because the Great Wall is distributed in different areas and is not continuous. An ordinary person walks 10 kilometers a day. Excluding the time for rest and meals, he can only walk 3,650 kilometers in a year. It takes 6 years to walk the entire Great Wall.

Timeline of the Great Wall

The construction of the Great Wall began as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and continued until the Qing Dynasty, spanning over 2,000 years in total. It is distributed in the northern and central parts of China.

Pre-qin Period (211 BC)

In ancient China, states fought for land control during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. To protect their territories from enemy attacks, they constructed the Great Wall along their national borders. However, the Great Wall was relatively short in length during that era.

Due to the constant war at that time, the main function of the Great Wall was for defense. The main states that built the Great Wall at that time included Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, Qi, and so on.

Qin Dynasty (211-207 BC)

In 214 BC, shortly after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, there were foreign invaders. After defeating the invaders, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, decided to demolish the discontinuous sections of the Great Wall and connect the northern walls of Zhao, Yan, and Qin, while extending the connected sections further.

The construction of the Great Wall took five years and was announced complete in 210 BC, creating a Great Wall for ten hundred that stretched from Lintao (Dixing, Gansu Province) to Liaodong (East of the Liaoning Province).

Han Dynasty (BC 202 - 220 AD)

During the Han Dynasty, the Great Wall was constructed many times. Han Wu Di extended the Great Wall from Lintao to the west to Yumenguan and built numerous beacon towers, resulting in a total length of 4,700 kilometers.

Subsequently, two parallel outer walls were built on the foundation of the existing Great Wall, adding over 1,300 meters in length. The total length of the Han Great Wall reached 6,000 kilometers, making it one of the longest in Chinese history.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

During the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall underwent 20 large-scale constructions and was built into a wall that stretched from Jiaoyuguan in Gansu to Hushan in Liaodong (Dandong City, Liaoning Province), with a total length of 8851.8 kilometers.

The materials mainly used for the construction of the Great Wall were bricks, stones, earth, and lime, significantly enhancing its defensive strength and durability. The Great Wall was primarily built along 9 towns on the border, which constitutes much of the Great Wall we see today.

Features of the Great Wall in Different Dynasties

1. Pre-Qin Dynasty: the city ramparts and walls, which were mainly built by various states to defend against foreign enemies, formed a sporadic defense system.

2. Qin Dynasty: after Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he ordered to connect the walls of various states and built the Great Wall to defend against the invasion of the nomadic peoples in the north. The Great Wall was built with earth, stones, bricks, and other materials.

3. Han Dynasty: the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty was repaired and reinforced based on the Qin Great Wall, and more beacon towers, passes and other facilities were added to strengthen its defensive function.

4. Ming Dynasty: the Ming Great Wall was the largest and best-preserved Great Wall in Chinese history. It adopted a brick-stone structure and built many magnificent passes, castles, and beacon towers.