The Great Wall of China features prominently in Western popular imagination. Most of us have grown up with the idea that this ancient wall is so large that it is the only human-made structure that can be seen on the moon, and with the naked eye. So pervasive is this idea that it appeared in the 1932 edition of Robert Ripley’s “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” Neil Armstrong says he is frequently asked if he saw the Great Wall of China. Did Armstrong see it? If not, where did the idea originate?
- Thomas Dowson
- Last Checked and/or Updated 18 January 2023
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- China
As a child, like many, I was captivated by the idea that the Great Wall of China is the only structure made by humans that can be seen from space. So you can imagine my disappointment to learn that this is in fact a myth. A myth that was conclusively debunked by China’s very own astronaut, Yang Liwei.
The Wall may stretch for hundreds of kilometres but it is only 9 m in width at its widest. It was made using rock that is very difficult to see from space because it is generally the same colour as the surrounding landscape (look at the photograph above). Certainly with a naked eye. Apparently it would look something like a human hair at even 3 km above the earth’s surface.
It is thought certain photographs taken by a Chinese Commander on the International Space Station do show sections of the Wall. It could be that the conditions were jut perfect, the angle of the sun, the fact the section was surrounded by snow, were such that enhanced the visibility. Not all, however, accept that the Wall is visible. NASA has published these in article published on the NASA Website in September 2005. Another interesting article was published in Scientific American (2008).
The NASA article suggests this urban legend about the visibility of the Great Wall of China goes back to at least 1938. In fact it goes back much further, to the mid 18th century.
The English antiquarian William Stukeley is quoted in a letter he wrote in 1754 and published in his “The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley” (1887), as saying:
“This mighty wall [he was referring to Hadrian’s Wall] of four score miles in length is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the Moon.“
Stukeley’s comment is the earliest known written record of the myth. A myth that has been around long before humans set foot on the moon. And a myth that has been debunked by many, including those who have in fact set foot on the moon.
The myth aside, it still is an impressive structure. I am always taken by photographs that show the wall snaking across the landscape along the crests of mountains, for miles and miles. And here is another myth, the wall is not one single wall, but a number of different walls that have been built at different times, and joined together. The oldest wall was created in the third century BC out of compacted earth – remains of which are still standing today albeit somewhat weather beaten. That wall we are more familiar with is much more recent having been built in the Ming Dynasty as a result of new threats from the Mongols from the north. After its final phase of construction the wall was 20,000 kilometres long.
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