Three characteristics of the Great Wall include the materials made to construct the wall, the wall’s size, and the wall’s symbolism.

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states. It is the longest structure humans have ever built. It is about 21,196 kilometers long, 9.1 metres (30 feet) wide and 15 metres high.

The Great Wall is not a continuous line: there are side walls, circular walls, parallel walls, and sections with no wall (high mountains or rivers form a barrier instead). In the Qin Dynasty (221—206 BC), glutinous rice flour was used to bind the Great Wall bricks.

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But, after the Wall was built, the nomadic tribes could no longer raid and intrude into northern China. The Great Wall protected China’s economic development and cultural progress, safeguarding trading routes such as the Silk Road, and securing the transmission of information and transportation in northern China.

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Beacon towers, also called watch towers or guard towers, are built throughout or alongside the Great Wall of China to watch enemies and pass military messages.

When the soldiers found the enemies moving closer, they would burn the firewood piece by piece to send military signals with fire or smoke, which could warn the troops. They usually used smoke in the day time and fire at night.

The Great Wall of China was built as a military defensive line to defend the invasions from some northern nomadic nations. Apart from the function of defense, the wall also boosted the economy, as well as promoted the culture exchange and national integration of different nations at its two sides.

Construction Time For All of the Walls If all the fortified walls that were built by the different dynasties and kingdoms around northern China are included, the total length would exceed 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles). All these walls together were completed over a period of 22 centuries.

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