Who Began Building the Great Wall of China

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In case you don’t already know this – the Great Wall of China was built over a period of over 2,000 years alongside the raise and the fall of tens of Chinese dynasties and hundreds of emperors.

Due to the amount of history involved, it is pretty impossible to attribute the building the Great Wall of China to one person. Even if we were to only list out the emperors who ordered the building of the Great Wall of China it would be a pretty daunting task. In fact, it is quite difficult to just trace back to the absolute origin of the Great Wall of China.

What we do know is that fortification wall building techniques were developed as far back as 8th century BC and early construction of fortification walls used for military defensive purposes began gaining popularity in 7th century BC. By 5th century BC, five out the seven major States (China was divided into seven States back then) all built extensive walls to defend their borders.

Even though, we don’t attribute the building of the Great Wall of China to any individual, some individuals certainly had a much larger role than others. Let’s take look at who they are!

Famous People Who Built the Great Wall of China

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One of the most famous person associated with building the Great Wall of China is the first emperor of China – Qin Shi Huang (aka Shi Huang Di, aka Qin Shi Huang Di, aka Ying Zheng). He is largely credited as one of the biggest contributors, if not the largest, to the construction of the Great Wall of China. So who was this guy and why did he want to build the Great Wall of China so badly?

By 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang had conquered all opposing States and crowned himself the emperor of the now unified China (remember before that China was divided into States?). In order to centralize his power he ordered the destruction of old fortification walls alongside the old States borders. At the same time, nomadic groups, most notably the Xiong Nu, in Northern China was a powerful threat to the newly found empire since they moved far more quickly than the Qin army as they domesticated and utilized horses. There were widespread looting on local farmer and residents that constantly destroyed crops and other resources.

In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang decided that he had enough of this and appointed General Meng Tian to lead an army of 300,000 to attack the Xiong Nu. The battle was a success and Qin took over some more land that belonged to the old States before the Xiong Nu took them over. He also found that the remaining Great Wall built by Yan, Zhao, and ex-Qin States were insufficient to keep the nomads out as they were disconnected and weak in some parts. Later that year, he ordered General Meng Tian to lead 500,000 people to connect and enhance those fortification walls. This massive wall that took 9 years to complete was later to be known as the Great Wall of China of the Qin Dynasty, which extended over 5000 kilometers.

Who Did the Actual Labor of the Great Wall of China?

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Who were those 500,000 people enlisted to build the Great Wall of China during the Qin Dynasty? They were soldiers from the Meng Tian army that defeated the Xiong Nu, captives of war, and people who had broken the law. Keep in mind that it had only been six years since Qin Shi Huang had unified China and defeated all opposing States when he began construction of the Great Wall of China, therefore, he had hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who were ‘captives of war’. Also because when Qin Shi Huang became emperor, he adopted a set of very strict centralized legal rules which had not existed before that time, he also had plenty of ‘criminals’ at his disposal.

What’s the fate of those 500,000 people sent to build the Great Wall of China you may wonder. Unfortunately, due to the harsh working conditions, few lived. It was estimated that between 100,000 to 300,000 people died building the Great Wall of China during the Qin Dynasty alone. With the Great Wall of China and the terra-cotta army tomb under his belt, Qin Shi Huang is thus infamously referred to as the greatest tyrant in Chinese history.

After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, many emperors from various dynasties continued to build, enhance, and extend the Great Wall of China. Construction projects were usually ordered by the emperor, lead by army generals, and built by soldiers since the wall was pretty much always used for military defensive purposes.

Other Great Wall of China Facts

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• Really, how long is the Great Wall of China?
• So exactly how long did it take to build the Great Wall of China?
• Can you tell me when was the Great Wall of China Built?
• Can you see Great Wall of China from Space?
• Last but not the least – if you’d like to visit the Great Wall of China in person, be sure to check out our current notable sites of the Great Wall of China section for some travel tips.