when did the construction of the great wall of china start
History of the Great Wall of China
One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem , dated from the seventh century BC , recorded in the Classic of Poetry . The poem tells of a king , now identified as King Xuan ( r . 827 -- 782 BC ) of the Western Zhou dynasty ( 1046 -- 771 BC ) , who commanded General Nan Zhong ( 南仲 ) to build a wall in the northern regions to fend off the Xianyun . The Xianyun , whose base of power was in the Ordos region , were regarded as part of the charioteering Rong tribes , and their attacks aimed at the early Zhou capital region of Haojing were probably the reason for King Xuan 's response . Nan Zhong 's campaign was recorded as a great victory . However , only a few years later in 771 BC another branch of the Rong people , the Quanrong , responded to a summons by the renegade Marquess of Shen by over-running the Zhou defences and laying waste to the capital . The cataclysmic event killed King Xuan 's successor King You ( 795 -- 771 BC ) , forced the court to move the capital east to Chengzhou ( 成 周 , later known as Luoyang ) a year later , and thus ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty ( 770 -- 256 BC ) . Most importantly , the fall of Western Zhou redistributed power to the states that had acknowledged Zhou 's nominal rulership . The rule of the Eastern Zhou dynasty was marked by bloody interstate anarchy . With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another , many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders . Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu 's wall of 656 BC , 1,400 metres ( 4,600 feet ) of which were excavated in southern Henan province in the modern era . The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC , and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi . The State of Wei built two walls , the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC , with the extant western wall found in Hancheng , Shaanxi . Even non-Chinese peoples built walls , such as the Di state of Zhongshan and the Yiqu Rong ( 義 渠 ) , whose walls were intended to defend against the State of Qin . 
One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem , dated from the seventh century BC , recorded in the Classic of Poetry . The poem tells of a king , now identified as King Xuan ( r . 827 -- 782 BC ) of the Western Zhou dynasty ( 1046 -- 771 BC ) , who commanded General Nan Zhong ( 南仲 ) to build a wall in the northern regions to fend off the Xianyun . The Xianyun , whose base of power was in the Ordos region , were regarded as part of the charioteering Rong tribes , and their attacks aimed at the early Zhou capital region of Haojing were probably the reason for King Xuan 's response . Nan Zhong 's campaign was recorded as a great victory . However , only a few years later in 771 BC another branch of the Rong people , the Quanrong , responded to a summons by the renegade Marquess of Shen by over-running the Zhou defences and laying waste to the capital . The cataclysmic event killed King Xuan 's successor King You ( 795 -- 771 BC ) , forced the court to move the capital east to Chengzhou ( 成 周 , later known as Luoyang ) a year later , and thus ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty ( 770 -- 256 BC ) . Most importantly , the fall of Western Zhou redistributed power to the states that had acknowledged Zhou 's nominal rulership . The rule of the Eastern Zhou dynasty was marked by bloody interstate anarchy . With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another , many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders . Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu 's wall of 656 BC , 1,400 metres ( 4,600 feet ) of which were excavated in southern Henan province in the modern era . The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC , and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi . The State of Wei built two walls , the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC , with the extant western wall found in Hancheng , Shaanxi . Even non-Chinese peoples built walls , such as the Di state of Zhongshan and the Yiqu Rong ( 義 渠 ) , whose walls were intended to defend against the State of Qin .
One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem, dated from the seventh century BC. However,  the State of Wei built two walls, the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC.
One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem , dated from the seventh century BC , recorded in the Classic of Poetry . The State of Wei built two walls , the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC , with the extant western wall found in Hancheng , Shaanxi .
With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another , many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders. Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu 's wall of 656 BC. The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC , and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi .
With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another , many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders . Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu 's wall of 656 BC , 1,400 metres ( 4,600 feet ) of which were excavated in southern Henan province in the modern era . The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC , and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi .