Great Wall of China

This passage discusses how and why the Great Wall of China was constructed.

Lexile Level: 1020L

Categories: History People & Places

Building a tree house in your backyard can take a lot of time and work, but imagine building a brick wall 3,948 miles long! The Chinese needed a barrier to keep invaders out of their country, so they built the Great Wall of China. Today, the Great Wall still stands as the world's longest man-made wall. The Great Wall of China separates North China and Inner Mongolia. Building of the Great Wall took place from the 3rd century BC until the early 17th century. The wall protected many dynasties from raids. The emperors ordered many people to build the wall, and thousands of those people died doing so. The wall is made of rammed earth, limestone blocks, granite, and fired brick. Watchtowers were built along the wall so that tower guards could send smoke-signal warnings when invaders were nearby.