During the Qin times most labor was from conscripts and convicts.In the Ming times, the huge work force was an army itself. There were over 200 hundred offenses that brought the horrible sentence of working o the Great Wall, you work for life or for perpetuity. The latter penalty means that not only the convict was punished, but his family, relatives, and neighbors. If the criminal as sentenced peroetually, it means his son would replace him upon his death. If there were no offspring available, they would take another relative or neighbor to work. These threats enforced a Confucian code.

Some recruitments were prisoners of war, convicts, soldiers, civilians, and farmers mainly made up the labor. Millions died building the walls. There are many stories speaking of there deceased loved ones and the men dying of starvation and diseases. Thousands of bodies were found in the foundation of the great wall, the bodies were even used to increase the thickness of the wall. There are many other legends that will go on and on for generations.