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Great Wall of China

View on map:40.286691°N 116.063470°E

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Great Wall of China at Juyongguay
40.286618°N 116.061839°E

Great Wall of China at Juyongguay
40.287542°N 116.066400°E

Great Wall of China at Juyongguay
40.288033°N 116.059547°E

Great Wall of China at Juyongguay
40.287042°N 116.064997°E

The Great Wall of China at Juyongguay with Chinese soldiers as tourists.


Great Wall of China on a map

Great Wall of China in 1907

The Great Wall of China is a defensive wall built centuries ago as a barrier against outside groups. It runs along the northern border of China from east to west.

This wall, which is constructed of stone, wood, and mud, stretches 5,500 miles (8,850 km) from Shanhaiguan to Lop Lake. Initially it was constructed to keep intruders from the north out of China but later served as a border to control goods, duties, immigration, and emigration.

The wall started out as smaller sections built separately by the different warring pre Chinese states beginning in the 7th century BC. These most primitive sections were constructed primarily out of packed earth and gravel between wooden boards. Eventually with the unification of China under Qin Shi Huang’s rein in 221 BC, these individual sections were joined together only along China’s northern border. In order to consolidate his conquered lands, he destroyed the sections of the wall that separated the smaller states subdividing his territory. With the continual building of the wall along the northern border during the Qin Shi Huang’s dynasty, known as the Qin Dynasty, and during the subsequent dynasties of China, it grew to be the longest wall in the world.

Construction of the wall is not consistent throughout. Some areas are built of brick, some of cut stones, as well as other various materials. Sections of the wall have suffered destruction and erosion over time, in some cases vanishing completely, but the Chinese are continually rebuilding it trying to maintain this tremendous structure.


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Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.

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