The Great Wall of China ( 长城/万里长城 ) is the greatest modern wonder of the World. It is the longest structure ever built by humans .The Great Wall of China stretches around 6300 kilometres (3915 miles) in length and if you measure the length of all the different sections of wall, the distance is more like 21,196 kilometres (13670 miles).The Great Wall is the building project with the longest duration and greatest cost in human lives, blood, sweat and tears.
The Great Wall starts from Laolongtou (old dragon's head in English) in the east and ends on the Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu in the west via the nine provinces or cities in northern China. It has a history of more than 2,000 years but some sections are now in ruins or have disappeared.Actually The Great Wall of China is not just a single wall but it is the series of several walls Built at different times by different Emperors. Main purpose for constructing the wall was protection against attacks and invasions from the north.
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| Fantastic View - The Great Wall of China |
Every one wants to see Twenty one thousand one Hundred Ninety Six Kilometre long the most famous monument "The Great Wall of China".But it is not going to easy to look from starting to end point.
Each year there are alot of people that visit the great wall of china. But the total is about 4 million each year. A one day pass is $17.
- The great wall of china has about 3,873,000,000 bricks! and weighs about 116,190,000,000 pounds!! Thats like 8,299,285 elephants! Thats really heavy.
- The Ming Emperor of China tried to say that this water is for dragon to drink by making this end in 66 feet inside the beach.
- Rather than being one long continuous wall, the Great Wall of China is made up of a number of different sections. These sections were built by various dynasties over a long period of time from stone and other materials.
- The widest section of the wall is around 9 metres (30 ft).
- The highest point of the wall is around 8 metres (26 ft)
- The first parts of the wall were built over 2000 years ago.
- A large number of workers have lost their lives while building the wall.
- Major rebuilding of the Great Wall of China took place during the Ming Dynasty that began in the 14th century. Construction during this time was strong due to the use of stone and brick.
- Earlier sections of the wall were made from stone, wood and compacted earth.
- Some of the well maintained areas of the wall, such as those near Beijing, are popular tourist destinations.
- While some parts of the wall have been preserved or renovated, other parts have been vandalised or destroyed to make way for construction.
HISTORY OF THE GREAT WALL
The history of the great wall of China began when fortifications built by various states and Warring States periods (475–221 bc) were connected by the Qin Shi Huang (first emperor of China) to protect his newly founded Qin dynasty against incursions by nomads from Inner Asia.
Later different policies were adopted towards northern frontier defense. The Han ,The Northeren Qi ,The Sui and The Ming were among those that rebuilt, re-manned, and expanded the Walls, although they rarely followed Qin's routes. The Han extended towards the west, The Qi built about 1,600 kilometres of new walls, while The Sui mobilised over a million men in their wall-building efforts.
The Tang , The Song , The Yuan and The Qing mostly did not build frontier walls, instead opting for other solutions to the Inner Asian threat like military campaigning and diplomacy.Although at several points throughout its history the Great Wall failed to stop enemies , including in 1644 when the Manchu Qing marched through the gates of Shanhai Pass and replaced the most ardent of the wall-building dynasties.
The Great Wall of China visible today largely dates from the Ming dynasty, as they rebuilt much of the wall in stone and brick, often extending its line through challenging terrain. Some sections remain in relatively good condition or have been renovated, while others have been damaged or destroyed for ideological reasons, deconstructed for their building materials or lost due to the ravages of time.For long an object of fascination for foreigners, the wall is now a revered national symbol and a popular tourist destination.
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| Tour Map and Details |
TOURISM AT THE GREAT WALL
Tourism in The Great wall of China has greatly expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of its reform and opening. The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are both fueling this travel boom. China has become one of the world's most-watched and hottest inbound and outbound tourist markets. The world is on the cusp of a sustained Chinese tourism boom.
China is the third most visited country in the world. The number of overseas tourists was 55.98 million in 2010. Foreign exchange income was 45.8 billion U.S. dollars, the world's fourth largest in 2010. The number of domestic tourist visits totaled 1.61 billion, with a total income of 777.1 billion yuan.
According to the WTO, in 2020, China will become the largest tourist country and among the largest for overseas travel. In terms of total outbound travel spending, China is expected to be the fastest growing in the world from 2006 all the way to 2015, jumping into the number two slot for total travel spending by 2015.
China's growing economy is also generating a surge in business travel. In China, the percentage of sales dependent on business travel is higher (38%) as compared to the US (21%) and 28% in the UK, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council's 2013 business travel forecast for the Asia-Pacific region.
China's tourism revenue reached $185 billion in 2009.
THE GREAT WAll FACTS
- How long is the Great Wall of China?
It seems quite a low estimate of its length, compared to modern estimates of8,850 km (5500 miles). These estimates include trenches and natural barriers like mountains rivers and lakes. Estimates of the length of actual wall come to over 6,200 km (3,900 miles). However, this includes many side branches that don't contribute to the west-to-east 'length'.
- Who Built the Great Wall, When and Why
Parts of the Great Wall were first built by princes and overlords in the Seventh Century BC as regional border defenses when China was divided into many small states.
After the unification of China in the beginning of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang (you must have heard of his Teracotta Army), linked the walls of the three states in the north (Qin, Zhao and Yan). This formed the first "Wan Li Chang Cheng" (ten thousand li Great Wall, li is a Chinese unit of length, 2 li = 1 km).
- Great People Visited the Great Wall
Over the years, dozens of world celebraties have left their foot steps on the Great Wall. Some examples are as follows:
- Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov former Joint Head of State of the USSR, visited the Great Wall in the company of Vice Premier Chen Yun on May 25, 1957.
- Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, visited the Great Wall on April 9, 1977.
- Fukuda Takeo, Former Prime Minister of Japan visited the Great Wall at Badaling on October 26, 1981.
- King Moshoeshoe Ⅱ of the Kingdom of Lesotho visited the Great Wall at Badaling on September 2, 1985
- Richard Nixon, former President Nixon of the United States, commented on the spectactle before him, "Only a great nation can build such a magnificent Great Wall," on February 24, 1972.
- U San Yu, former President of Burma, and his wife visited the Great Wall at Badaling on October 31, 1984.
- Abdou Diouf, former President of Senegal, visited the Great Wall at Badaling on July 6, 1984.
- Agatha Barbara, former President of Malta, visited the Great Wall at Badaling on August 25, 1985.
- Constantin Dascalescu, former Prime Minister of Romania, visited the Great Wall at Badaling on November 30, 1983.
- Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States, visited the Great Wall in 1984, and said, "What can you say except it's awe-inspiring? It is one of the great wonders of the world."
- Bill Clinton, former President of the United States, visited the Great Wall in 1998, and said, "It was great."
- George W. Bush, former President of the United States, visited the Great Wall in 2002.
- Barack Obama, President of the United States, visited the Great Wall in November 2009, and said, "It's majestic. It's magical. It reminds you of the sweep of history, and that our time here on Earth is not that long, so we better make the best of it."
- Best Time to Visit the Great Wall of China
Seasonal Scenery
- The Great Wall offers a timeless charm to tourists, but scenery varies with seasons. Visit it in different time you will get a quite different scene.
For Beijing Sections...
Most of the popular sections of the Great Wall are located around Beijing, so the following is written with Beijing's climate in mind, although temperatures are likely to be colder and rainfall more as the Great Wall is on the mountains.
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