THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

No one really knows exactly who built the Great Wall of China but some people believe that ordinary people of ancient China, others say slaves built the wall. But experts have found the most credible answer. Soldiers, ordinary people, and slaves all built the wall. During the Qin Dynasty, 20% of the country’s population were forced to build it. Many people died during its construction, due to the heavy work, a short time deadline and difficult conditions.

 

The Great Wall is a wonder that the ancient Chinese laboring people created. At that time, there were no machines. All the work depended on manpower. Those millions of people worked among the continuous mountains and steep cliffs. They worked facing dangers and many of them lost their lives. 

 

Soldiers made up the main construction group. This was the case with the building of the wall of Northern Qi. Also, during the Qin Dynasty, 300,000 soldiers were redirected to build the wall after General Meng Tian conquered the Huns. A section of Sui's wall in Inner Mongolia  required more than 1,000,000 men to build. Besides the first 300,000 soldiers, Qin's wall required another 500,000 common people to complete the work. Criminals were forced into labor as punishment. During the day, they were ordered to take turns patrolling the wall, while at night, building and extending the wall. They were required to serve four years of hard labor according to laws at that time.

 

Sometimes, all the men in the nation were forced to construct. During the Wei-Jin and Southern-Northern dynasties, even children had to join this project. The Great Wall construction led to a large number of deaths and injuries. For those who lost sons or husbands, life would become much harder.