What Secrets Is The Great Wall Of China Hiding?

There even used to be a
saying that the Wall is so long you can see it from space, and even
from the Moon. Silly, gullible humans. You can barely see it from a
plane, let alone the Moon! But enough about this, the wall still
holds countless secrets on the ground level, or even underground!
It’s a truly fascinating and dare I say it magical structure, so
let’s find out a few curious facts about the Great Wall of China!

1. The Walls Of Benin
>>> The Great Wall of China

The biggest man-made
structure on Earth, you say? Well, it’s only technically the longest
one whole thing but when talking about walls, nothing beats the Walls
of Benin in Nigeria. This series of walls surrounded the ancient city
of Benin, the nearest village, the village after that, and so on,
there were 500 villages inside the walls. Adding all these walls
together, we get the length of 16,000 kilometers (9,900 mi)!

2. The Wall Is Changing
the Local Flora

This ginormous stone
structure serves as an artificial divider not only of the land but
also plant life. The scientists have discovered that plants age
genetically different on both sides of the Wall. This of course, is
due to the pollination difficulties presented by the structure, in
particular, the wind pollination.

3. The Wall Could Have
Been A Highway

Back in 1930s, the Chinese
government wanted to turn the Great Wall into a highway, so they
could help people who lived deeper in the country. It was supposed to
be used for transporting food and military personnel first and
foremost. As you may imagine, the Wall Highway never happened.

4. The Wall Was Really
Built With Rice

It may sound weird but
sticky rice is much better than your usual mortar. It was in fact so
good that the Ming emperors would take away every last grain of rice
from the farmers to continue building the Wall. The sections of the
Rice Wall are still standing to this day, as no plants can penetrate
this tough mixture!

5. Tourists Are
Destroying The Wall

How many visitors are
eager to walk on the Wall, you’ll ask? Well over 10 million every
year! Aside from the expected wear-and-tear, there are people who
want to take a souvenir, or etch their signatures in the stone. Also,
do not get me started on all the litter these dum-dums leave behind.
And there’s nothing that the Chinese government can do here because
the Wall is just too damn huge.

6. The Wall Did Not
Work

After all the centuries of hard work, the China’s war with nomads, barbarians, Mongols, and other parties trying to get over the Great Wall China looked more like a one-handed sailor desperately trying to plug 10 holes in his boat at the same time. To make it more clear, the Wall just didn’t work. There were always people sneaking in or finding a weak/unsecured section and then destroying it. You know what they say “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. But at least the Chinese emperors got what they wanted, not that anyone else cared.