Great Wall of Chin - Northern China

Information about the Great Wall of China

Chinese Name: 长城/万里长城
Chinese Pinyin: Cháng Chéng/Wàn Lǐ Cháng Chéng
Length: 8,851.8 km (5,500 miles)
Construction Period: About 2,000 years from the Warring States Period (476 BC - 221 BC) to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)


The Great Wall of China is one of, if not the best thing to see while in Beijing. This cultural icon isn't important centrally to Beijing, but serves as a national icon for all of China. The wall can serve many different purposes for many different people. Because of the wall's ability to transform the present into the past, the immense history its very present lends, and flexibility of options, the Great Wall simply reigns supreme.

The Great Wall is one of the most remarkable works of man. "It is," says Dr. Williams, "the only artificial structure which would arrest attention in a hasty survey of the globe." It has been estimated that there is more than seventy times as much material in the wall as there is in the Great Pyramid of Cheops, and that it represents more labor than 100,000 miles of ordinary railroad. It was begun in 214 and finished in 204 B.C. It is twenty-five feet wide at base, and from fifteen to thirty feet high. Towers forty feet high rise at irregular intervals. In some places it is a mere earthen rampart; in others it is faced with brick; and then again it is composed of stone throughout.


*One of my friends who`s been to the Great Wall of China told me that you won`t know how amazing the Great Wall of China is unless you`re there. In front of it. I wanna go here and for once in my life, forget all the problems in life or life itself, and enjoy the beauty of nature. Even though I`m not sure yet if I wanna go here by myself or with someone else(perhaps a lover).

If you`ve ever been to the Great Wall of China, tell me about your experience and recommendations. :)