The Great Wall of China

For any average traveler who visits China for the first time, the Great Wall is always an indispensable fixture on the itinerary. Without it, a trip to China would be incomplete. The reason is simple: it is one of China’s most important cultural and historical symbols. It is also one of the best known ancient constructions in the world. The massive project stretches from Shanghaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, a distance of over 6,300 kilometers, covering eight provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.  

The Great Wall was first built as a defense line against nomadic incursions. Its military and strategic importance was unmatched by any other projects in ancient China. The construction of the wall began around the 7th-4th century BC during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). At that time, feudal states built walls for self-defense against the invasion of nomadic tribes. In 221 BC, after unifying China, Qinshihuang, the first emperor of China, had the walls linked up, reinforced and extended to form the Great Wall. During succeeding dynasties in later years, renovations were made in line with local geographic conditions, creating many enchanting sights. It was listed by UNESCO as its World Heritage in 1987. 

The Great Wall Related News and Reports

• Great Wall ruins discovered in NE China's Jilin Province, archaeologists say

US President Obama at Great Wall (Afternoon of Nov. 18, 2009)

• Blind woman conquers Great Wall - A deaf and blind woman has managed to walk part of the Great Wall of China in memory of her late husband. (BBC)
• Beijing Badaling Great Wall upgraded
  According to the Beijing Badaling Special Administrative Region Office, scenic upgrading work of the Great Wall has already started.
  
  The upgrades will include eight major projects, covering the protective development of Chadao ancient town, the reconstruction of public service facilities, and the improvement of traffic.
  
  After the upgrades, Chadao ancient town will become an historic town integrating travel, leisure, artistic creation, and folk arts display together with characteristics of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
  
  All the projects are reportedly to be completed before the 2009 National Day on October 1.
  
  Badaling Great Wall is the top brand for China's tourism. So far, about 150 million tourists have visited the famous Badaling. (China Hospitality News July 7, 2009)
   
• Inner Mongolia to launch Great Wall protection project - HOHHOT, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will set hand to preserve and protect its local section of the Great Wall, the first such kind of move in the local history, said the regional government on Sunday. Preservation and protection will go to a 2-km-long section that locates in the Beibao Village, Qingshuihe County, which was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368 A.D. to 1644), government official told Xinhua. Like any other architectural site in the world, the Great Wall is at risk of damage caused by natural and human activities. In some sections, its bricks and dirt have even been used as construction materials. According to the official, preservers has finished field survey earlier, and the project is expected to be finished in two or three years. The Great Wall, which was listed as the United Nations World Heritage Site in 1987, was first built in the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) to defend China against invasion by northern nomadic tribes. The northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region owns 15,000-km-long Great Wall built in different dynasties, accounting for one third of the country's total. The section that built in Ming Dynasty stretches about 1,100 km.
• China's Wall becoming less and less Great Aug. 29, 2007
  Sand storms in northwest China are reducing sections of Great Wall to mounds of dirt and may cause them to disappear in about 20 years, state media said on Wednesday. (Click title for full coverage.)
• 80 percent of foreign tourists prefer Great Wall
  By People's Daily Online June 11, 2007 - Which places of historical interest and scenic beauty in Beijing do foreigners prefer? Recently, Feng Huiling, vice-president of the Renmin University of China (RUC) announced research findings at a joint meeting held by the Beijing Social Sciences Association and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission. The research shows that 80 percent of foreign tourists prefer to visit the Great Wall. Within a large project about the Beijing Olympic Games, Feng Huilin supervised a large scale overseas investigation conducted on the "subject rank of the Beijing Olympics, and the national, cultural image of China." The investigation included socially affluent politicians and entrepreneurs from more than fifty countries, and almost 3,000 foreign media reports were consulted for this research. In terms of China's cultural specifics, the overseas population is most interested in food culture, approximately thirty-six percent of those surveyed. Of all the places of historical interest and scenic beauty, the Great Wall is the preferred destination for the overseas population, 80.8 percent of those interviewed. Following the Great Wall in popularity are the Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. In the traditional arts field, the overseas population is more interested in Chinese characters, making up 35.9 percent of those surveyed.
• The Wall, Unplugged
  Considering that it was constructed for the purpose of keeping foreigners out of China, it's ironic that the Great Wall has become China's number one attraction for visitors from abroad.

  If you've only done the chairlift at Badaling, however, you can hardly count yourself as a Wall veteran. Indeed, speak to any tourist visiting Beijing, and you may well get the impression that there are only three parts of the Great Wall to be seen in the country. Backpackers are especially quick to make fun of the Badaling and Mutianyu crowd, and speak in hushed tones of the "real" wall at Simatai. (Click for full report.)

• Investigation of the Great Wall made progress
  Chinanews July 7, 2006 - With four months of work, the Beijing Municipal Mapping Research Institute has recently finished the location work for 130 watch towers along the Great Wall and 10 important sites in its Beijing section. Archeologists have marked all these places on a map with a scale of 1: 10000. (Click for full report)
• Facelift of the Great Wall Halted
  CRI English, May 26, 2006 - The Great Wall is plagued by visitors who relentlessly carve their names on its surface.  A program to collect ideas from citizens about a facelift for the damaged surface of the Great Wall has ended recently. Organizers have received over 6,000 different plans on repairing the "disfigured" surface of the Great Wall, yet none of the ideas seems practical, causing the facelift project be stalled. The Vice-General Secretary of the China Great Wall Association, Zhang Ji, says the idea outreach program received over 6,000 different ideas aimed at repairing the nation's most famous symbol of pride, through letters, e-mails, and faxes. Some of the strange ideas include spray cleaning the Great Wall to remove its "scars" or selling replicas for visitors to carve their words into. Experts say the ideas from the public do not realistically address the problems. In any case, the event has been a good way to raise people's awareness about protecting the county's premier national treasure. The Great Wall is plagued by visitors who relentlessly carve their names on its surface. The most common phrase carved on The Great Wall is "I have visited the Great Wall."
• Walk Seven Days on the Great Wall
  Chinanews.cn Aug. 29, 2005 - Tourist resources in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province have been integrated on a larger regional basis and more new routes are launched recently to link the three places together. The new routes were presented at the recent tourist co-operation conference of six places, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei province in the mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. A seven-day walk on the Great Wall is perhaps one of the most attractive routes among them. The route will take tourists to the famous Badaling, Simatai section and the Juyongguan Pass in Beijing, as well as other good scenic sites, such as the Huangyaguang Great Wall in Tianjin, the Shangguan Great Wall, the Qing dynasty tomb, and the Shanghaiguan Pass in Hebei. Most of the new routes are around seven or eight days. Some tours focus on cities while others highlight historic sites such as the Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City in Beijing, the cultural street in Tianjin and the Baiyangdian Lake in Hebei Province.
• The Great Wall
• Hiking China's Wonder Wall
  Backpacker.com, USA - Rather than simply stare at the Great Wall, a determined hiker decided to get a different perspective... (full story)
• Development poses serious threat to Great Wall of China
  The Star, Malaysia, Sep. 16, 2004 - China's Great Wall has come under threat from modern life (Click for full coverage...)
• China in Your Hand
  Belfast Telegraph, UK,  Nov. 1, 2004 -  Follow the route of the Great Wall, and you'll see a whole country in miniature. From the tourist traps to the remote wild west, Simon Calder explores one of the world's most remarkable structures (full story)
• World Heritage List: The Great Wall -- UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
• Pop stars perform at Great Wall
  CNN.com Sep. 26, 2004 - BEIJING, China (AP) -- Alicia Keys, Nellie McKay and Cyndi Lauper brought modern pop music to an ancient setting, performing for thousands of Chinese fans at the foot of the Great Wall. (Click here for full story)
• Pictures from China: the Great Wall
• BBC News: The new section of Great Wall found... An 80-kilometre section of the Great Wall of China lost centuries beneath shifting sands is rediscovered.
• Discovery Online: Secrets of the Great Wall A look at the three different dynasties that built the Great Wall of China, with context of their places in history.
• Visible Earth: Great Wall of China Great Wall of China.
• BBC News: Another brick in the Great Wall China plans to have older stretches of the wall open to the public ...
• Walk the Great Wall of China: A Black & White Odyssey An interactive visual experience, see the Simatai section of the Great Wall of China.
• The Great Wall The Great Wall construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644),
  when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) explains why.
• Forgotten Wonders: The Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China. Text by: Marilyn Shea.
• All About the Great Wall of China All About the Great Wall of China. ... The Great Wall is one of the largest building construction projects ever completed. ...
• Great Wall of China Images of the greatest wall from space by NASA Radar.
• Construction of the Great Wall Begins Construction of the Great Wall Begins 221 BC. The Great Wall's construction was begun in 221 BC under the emperor Meng T'ien of the Qin Dynasty.
• Great Wall of China is crumbling
  Newkerala.com, India, June 8, 2004 - No more than 2,500 km remain of China's 6,300-km-long Great Wall that is dubbed as the world's largest cultural relic, according to an investigation report from the Chinese Academy of the Great Wall. Holding human activity responsible for the plight of the Great Wall, Dong Yaohui, secretary general of the academy, criticised short-sighted residents who dig out earth and bricks cheaply, Xinhua reports. In addition, some local governments tore down the wall, built or reinforced in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), for their new construction projects and some businessmen restored the wall illegally for tourism defying its original design...