The Great Wall of China is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It was built over centuries, and the primary idea was to make a wall as a defense against attacks. Its construction began in the 5th century BC and lasted until the 17th century.

The most famous parts of the wall were built between the 15th and 17th centuries, during the Ming Dynasty, when the wall took on the recognizable shape we often see in photographs today. When the entire wall was connected it was calculated to stretch a total of 8851 kilometers, with an average height of 15 meters and a width of 7 meters.

In the meantime, "UNESCO" listed it as a world cultural heritage and to this day it remains one of the most fascinating buildings made by human hands.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 玩车中国🇨🇳 (@travel2china88)

A legend associated with the construction

Of course, many legends are associated with the construction of this wall. From generation to generation, the story of the noble and brave girl was told Meng Jiang Nu, who fell in love and married Fan Xiliang.

Although Meng wanted to hide her husband from the Chinese authorities who at the time were looking for labor for the construction of the wall, Fan was still hired. Meng hadn't heard any news about her lover for over a year, so she decided to visit him. On the long journey that lasted two years, she faced many natural obstacles, but she finally reached the part of the wall where her Fan worked.

Unfortunately, she had come such a long way to discover that Fan had died of exhaustion. When she heard this, Meng could not contain her grief and cried for three days. Legend has it that because of so much crying, Meng's tears brought down that part of the wall.

The legend of Meng and Fan reminds us how many people lost their lives in the construction of this wall, working in difficult and impossible conditions. Some historians claim that nearly two million workers built the wall, and that many died from malnutrition, fatigue, or accidents.

There are gruesome stories that everyone who died during the construction of the wall was walled in the Great Wall of China and became an integral part of today's tourist attraction, which is visited by millions of tourists from all over the world every year.