Topic Battle

Construction began during the 7th century BC under various warring states, with the most famous sections built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The structure has endured earthquakes, invasions, erosion, and centuries of neglect. Approximately 30% of the Ming-era wall has disappeared entirely, with sections crumbling at an alarming rate. UNESCO estimates that without intervention, large portions may vanish within decades. Stone and mortar, it transpires, are rather less patient than fur and claws.

Visible from space remains a persistent myth, but the wall's actual achievements require no exaggeration. It receives approximately 10 million visitors annually, generates billions in tourism revenue, and serves as China's most recognisable symbol internationally. The structure appears on currency, in countless films, and represents humanity's collective capacity for monumental determination. It is, quite literally, a wonder of the world.

Construction consumed resources that defy modern accounting. Estimates suggest 400,000 workers died during construction. The Ming sections alone required approximately 180 million cubic metres of material. Annual maintenance costs exceed $60 million, with restoration of single sections costing upwards of $1 million per kilometre. The wall is essentially a permanent energy sink, demanding resources in perpetuity.

The wall offers sections ranging from fully restored tourist destinations with cable cars and restaurants, to crumbling remote stretches requiring serious hiking. The Badaling section alone features shopping centres, museums, and bear enclosures. Visitors can walk upon history itself, touching stones placed by workers centuries before modern nations existed. The experience, whilst crowded, delivers genuine awe.

Building a 21,196-kilometre fortification across mountains, deserts, and grasslands using pre-industrial technology seems equally improbable. That disparate dynasties across two millennia maintained this project represents unprecedented organisational continuity. That substantial portions still stand despite earthquakes and invasions compounds the improbability. Yet humans build impossible things routinely; sloths simply exist impossibly.