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| Great Wall Laborer Statue |
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.
According to historical data, the labor force was made up of three groups: soldiers, common people and criminals. Since the Qin Dynasty (221BC - 206BC), the construction of the Great Wall had been a very large project. The Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered millions of people to finish this project.
Soldiers made up the main construction group. This was the case with the building of the wall of Northern Qi (550-557). Also, during the Qin Dynasty, 300,000 soldiers were redirected to build the wall after General Meng Tian conquered the Huns. Still, it took nine years to finish the work. In order to take care of the soldiers and make them feel settled, the court even arranged for widows to marry them.
Millions of common people were called up to build the wall. Northern Qi's wall, starting from Xiakou to Hengzhou, used 1,800,000 laborers. A section of Sui's (581 - 618) 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.
It's a big burden for ordinary people to build the Great Wall. Sometimes, all the men in the nation were forced to construct. For instance, during the Wei-Jin and Southern-Northern dynasties (around 265-589), even children had to join this project. As a result, no men were engaged in farming, women were frightened to have a boy, and widowers dared not to marry a woman. Also 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.
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Travelers' Voices on Labor Force of Great Wall
1.
Oct. 29,2009 22:19 Reply
Mrs.Finnagin(Canada) said:
What resources were needed in building the Great Wall? Such as: money, labor, manpower, and materials.
Thank You!
Oct. 31,2009 21:38
Mr.Sir replied:
Yes, the four you mentioned are all needed. Besides, stones and rocks are basicly needed.
2.
Feb. 12,2009 21:31 Reply
Mr.hunter(USA) said:
around one million people
Mar. 4,2009 22:07
Mr.Info replied:
Well 2 to 3 million died from building it so it took more than that to build it.
Oct. 30,2009 16:46
Mr.Flake(America) replied:
Hi, i need to know if you think or know that some people tried to commit suicide, and if so, how?
3.
Feb. 8,2009 20:52 Reply
Ms.Sue(USA) said:
Hmm... so did people really get buried in the wall?
Apr. 11,2009 01:03
Mr.Bernard replied:
Yes, when people died, the dead bodies were just put into the root of the wall in a hasty to save funerary time and expense.
Oct. 21,2009 19:39
Mr.antonio(us) replied:
no
Oct. 29,2009 03:13
Mr.micheal(Australia) replied:
this is not true, this was studdied at school and we were told that people were thrown into the wall
4.
Oct. 28,2009 12:44 Reply
Mr.ovoo said:
No, people were not buried in the wall since decomposing bodies would have weakened the wall's structure. They were burried in trenches at the foot of the wall.
5.
Oct. 21,2009 19:34 Reply
Mr.antonio(us) said:
did the commmon people get paid
Oct. 21,2009 20:11
Mr.Jay replied:
No, they got no paid. They were forced to do it.
6.
Oct. 11,2009 09:38 Reply
Mr.ask said:
What were the skills involved in building the great wall?
Oct. 11,2009 20:25
Mr.Great replied:
Not very advanced technology except some simple machineries were used such as rolling logs, crowbars and winding gears.
7.
Oct. 5,2009 12:42 Reply
Ms.Purple(USA) said:
how many people started first???
Oct. 8,2009 21:22
Mr.Jim replied:
Many laboring people but the exact number is unknown for there is no such a record.
8.
Sep. 17,2009 15:07 Reply
Ms.hk(USA) said:
How many people died building the great wall of china???
Sep. 19,2009 20:35
Mr.Wang replied:
Countless people died for building the great wall. No people added the accurate number.
9.
Aug. 23,2009 22:58 Reply
Ms.lolz:)0_o(Australia) said:
hi again
one more question.Were the builders forced to do their jobs and what kinds of injuries did they sustain by doing their jobs
sorry for the questions!
thanx
Aug. 24,2009 01:13
Mr.Elmer replied:
Yes, they were forced to do their jobs, and if they slowed down or stopped working, they would be beaten with cudgels, or lashed the back by supervisors' whips. Many people cannot bear the heavy work and died of exhaustation. Some fell off the deep cliffs and some were crushed by the huge stones. Very sad!
Aug. 24,2009 01:20
Ms.Lynn replied:
Of course no one was willing to do such a hard work. They were forced to do it! and there were watchman to check their work. They were beaten to death if they did poor work or delayed the time limit for building the wall.
10.
Aug. 23,2009 22:41 Reply
Ms.lolz:)0_o(Australia) said:
which type of workers were given which jobs
thanx
Aug. 23,2009 23:18
Ms.Vivian replied:
Well, stronger men were asked to carry the bricks or stones to the mountains, and skilled workers such as bricklayers and carpenters were ordered to build the wall or made the supplementary building materials. They all lived a hard and miserable life.