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The Chinese worked on the Great Wall for over 1700 years. In
turn, each emperor who came to power added pieces of the wall to protect
their dynasties. But the wall was not a solid wall. It was a line
of disconnected barricades.
First
Emperor Qin wanted a much better barricade to protect his
people from the Mongol invaders to the north. He wanted a strong wall 30
feet wide and 50 feet high.
First
Emperor Qin used peasants, captured enemies, criminals, scholars,
and anyone else who irritated him, and put them all to work building
the Great Wall. Laborers were not paid for their work. It was slave
labor.
About 3000 people worked on the wall
during the Qin Dynasty. Rocks fell on people. Walls caved in.
Workers died of exhaustion and disease. Laborers were fed only
enough food to keep them alive. There is an old Chinese saying,
"Each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall's
construction.
This project continued long after
First Emperor Qin’s death. Building the wall was a project that
continued for many hundreds of years until the wall was over 3700
miles long. Most emperors used the same system that Qin used, forced
labor.
Today, the Great Wall still stands.
It can be seen from space, it’s that big!
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