World Wonder Destination 7: Shan-hai, China
The Great Wall of China
A long wall erected in ancient China. It is one of the largest building-construction projects ever carried out, running about 7,300 km east to west from Shan-hai Pass near Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli) to Chia-yü Pass (in modern Kansu province). Without its branches and other secondary sections, the wall extends for some 6,700 km, often tracing the crest lines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside. Large parts of the fortification date from the 7th through the 4th century BC. In the 3rd century BC Shih huang-ti, the first emperor of a united China, connected a number of existing defensive walls into a single system.