"the optics much better, rendering photographic evidence irrelevant to the issue of whether it is visible to the naked eye. 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 to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe with an eye to expansion. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and"
"Great Wall Marathon The Great Wall Marathon is an annual marathon race, traditionally held on the third Saturday of May along and on the Huangyaguan or Huangya Pass (Chinese: 黄崖关; Chinese: 黃崖關; Pinyin: Huángyáguān； Literally: ""Yellow Cliff Pass""), Tianjin section of the Great Wall of China East of Beijing. Since it first start in 1999, the race has grown to several hundred participants. A locally organized event offering a full selection of runs including a full marathon (42.2k), half marathon (21.1k), 10k, and 5k distances. Aside from the main marathon, a half marathon, 10 km and 5 km runs were"
"also held until 2012. 2013 marked the debut of an 8.5 km ""fun run"", replacing the 5 and 10 km distances. The course is much tougher than traditional marathons with participants challenged by 5,164 stone steps and many steep ascents and descents. The first and longest running international marathon whose course is entirely on the Great Wall of China. The course traverses through the Simatai (), a section of the Great Wall of China located in the north of Miyun County, 120 km northeast of Beijing, and Jinshanling (simplified Chinese: 金山岭; traditional Chinese: 金山嶺; pinyin: Jīnshānlǐng), a section of the"
"Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping County, 125 km northeast of Beijing. Considered as one of the most challenging adventure marathons due to the extreme course conditions. Containing more than 20,000 unrelenting stone steps, many vary in height from a few centimeters to over 40 cm in height, with many of the original sections little more than rubble, and no less than 30 km of running experience on one of the oldest and most recognizable structures in the world. A small portion of the Great Wall on the course has been restored, much of the"
"total length has been estimated at about 600 kilometers. Most of the wall is still able to be seen. Great Wall of Qi The Great Wall of Qi () is the oldest existing Great Wall in China. Construction of the wall started in 685 BC (during the Spring and Autumn period) by the state of Qi, to defend itself against an invasion by the Kingdom of Chu. The existing sections date back to 500 BC. Construction ended during the Warring States period. The wall stretches from the areas under the administration of the present-day city of Jinan to the present-day"
"Chinese Wall (Montana) The Chinese Wall is a large escarpment located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Montana. While definitions of the length of the wall vary (to up to forty miles) the part of the wall that is most well defined and continuous is about twelve miles long. The Chinese Wall makes up part of the Continental Divide, meaning water on the different sides of the wall flow into either the Atlantic Ocean (through the Gulf of Mexico) or the Pacific Ocean. The wall is most commonly accessed through Benchmark Trailhead. It normally takes hikers multiple days to"
"time of 1 hour 38 minutes 56 seconds. Saturday May 17, 2014: The fastest runners in the marathon were: The 2015 race was held on Saturday, 16 May. The Fastest Runners in the Marathon main event were: Men: China's Shen Jason won. His finish time was 3:41:40. Women: USA's Eleanor Fuqua Williamson won. Her finish time was 4:18:35. Great Wall Marathon The Great Wall Marathon is an annual marathon race, traditionally held on the third Saturday of May along and on the Huangyaguan or Huangya Pass (Chinese: 黄崖关; Chinese: 黃崖關; Pinyin: Huángyáguān； Literally: ""Yellow Cliff Pass""), Tianjin section of the"
"has withstood war and famine and the rise and fall of dynasties"". The Xi'an Wall is rectangular in shape and has a total length of , with almost all stretches subjected to some kind of restoration or rebuilding. Along the top of the wall is a walkway, which would typically take four hours to cover. It is built in the Chinese architecture style. As a defense fortification, it was constructed with a moat, drawbridges, watch towers, corner towers, parapet walls and gate towers. The wall is in height with a width of at the top and base width of ."
"Ming Great Wall The Ming Great Wall (明長城; ""Ming changcheng""), built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), forms the most visible parts of the Great Wall of China today. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure from Jiayu Pass in the west to the sea in Shanhai Pass, then looping over to terminate in Manchuria at the Hushan Great Wall. This is made up of sections of actual wall, of trenches and of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. While the Ming walls are generally referred to as ""Great Wall"" (""changcheng"") in"
"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 Ming, as rulers of China. 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."
"the western edge of the Yellow River loop at Yinchuan. Here the first major walls erected during the Ming dynasty cuts through the Ordos Desert to the eastern edge of the Yellow River loop. There at Piantou Pass ""Piāntóuguān"") in Xinzhou, Shanxi province, the Great Wall splits in two with the ""Outer Great Wall"" ""Wài Chǎngchéng"") extending along the Inner Mongolia border with Shanxi into Hebei province, and the ""inner Great Wall"" ""Nèi Chǎngchéng"") running southeast from Piantou Pass for some , passing through important passes like the Pingxing Pass and Yanmen Pass before joining the Outer Great Wall at"
"Great Wall of Qi The Great Wall of Qi () is the oldest existing Great Wall in China. Construction of the wall started in 685 BC (during the Spring and Autumn period) by the state of Qi, to defend itself against an invasion by the Kingdom of Chu. The existing sections date back to 500 BC. Construction ended during the Warring States period. The wall stretches from the areas under the administration of the present-day city of Jinan to the present-day city of Qingdao across the territories of the present-day cities of Tai'an, Zibo, Laiwu, Weifang, Linyi, and Rizhao. Its"
"The reason for this, according to ""The New Yorker"" journalist Peter Hessler, is that the Great Wall fits into neither the study of political institutions (favoured by Chinese historians) nor the excavation of tombs (favoured by Chinese archeologists). Some of the void left by academia is being filled by independent research from Great Wall enthusiasts such as ex-Xinhua reporter Cheng Dalin (成大林) and self-funded scholar David Spindler. History of the Great Wall of China The history of the Great Wall of China began when fortifications built by various states during the Spring and Autumn (771–476) and Warring States periods (475–221)"
"of what constitutes a ""Great Wall"" has not been agreed upon, making the full course of the Great Wall difficult to describe in its entirety, the course of the main Great Wall line following Ming constructions can be charted. The Jiayu Pass, located in Gansu province, is the western terminus of the Ming Great Wall. Although Han fortifications such as Yumen Pass and the Yang Pass exist further west, the extant walls leading to those passes are difficult to trace. From Jiayu Pass the wall travels discontinuously down the Hexi Corridor and into the deserts of Ningxia, where it enters"
"History of the Great Wall of China The history of the Great Wall of China began when fortifications built by various states during the Spring and Autumn (771–476) and Warring States periods (475–221) were connected by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, to protect his newly founded Qin dynasty (221–206) against incursions by nomads from Inner Asia. The walls were built of rammed earth, constructed using forced labour, and by 212 ran from Gansu to the coast of southern Manchuria. Later dynasties adopted different policies towards northern frontier defense. The Han (202 – 220), the Northern Qi (550–574),"
"the passengers. The last of the vertical mainlines was completed in 2009 and the last horizontal line opened in 2010. Eight Verticals Eight Horizontals In the past decade, China has been building an extensive high-speed rail grid that is overlaid onto the existing railway network. This grid is composed of eight high-speed rail corridors, four verticals and four horizontals with a total length of 12,000 km. Most of the new lines follow the routes of existing trunk lines and are designated for passenger travel only. Several sections of the national grid, especially along the southeast coastal corridor, were built to"
"to prepare for the race. The Great Wall of China Marathon course varies in height by around 200m (about 650 feet) between the start line and the highest point at East Tower 20. Stone guard towers are spread along the length of the wall, each some 200m to 300m apart. Stone steps and walkways, following the up and down contours of the ground, connect the towers. The effect this creates for runners is similar to interval training, with an effort required to climb up, followed by a recovery period coming down. Regular training on steps as part of your preparations"
"Underground Great Wall of China The Underground Great Wall of China ( ) is the informal name for the vast system of tunnels China uses to store and transport mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles. Due to the great secrecy surrounding the tunnels, not much information about them is publicly available; however, it is believed that the tunnels allow for mobile ICBMs to be shuttled around to different silos, and possibly stored in reinforced underground bunkers. This greatly enhances the ICBM's chance of survival in a direct nuclear strike, which enables their use in a second strike unlike ICBMs based in static"
"means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. The frontier walls built by different dynasties have multiple courses. Collectively, they stretch from Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, from present-day Sino-Russian border in the north to Qinghai in the south; along an arc that roughly delineates the edge of Mongolian steppe. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the walls built by the Ming dynasty measure . This is made up of sections of actual wall, of trenches and of"
"Hushan Great Wall The Hushan or Tiger Mountain Great Wall (), known to Koreans as Bakjak Fortress (Hangul :박작성 Hanja :泊汋城), is the most easterly known part of the Great Wall of China. About 600 metres of remains were excavated here in 1989. In 1992, a section of wall was renovated and opened to the public, forming a popular tourist attraction. The wall runs for about 1,200 metres over Hushan (Tiger Mountain). The wall starts 15 km northeast of Dandong city, directly beside the China–North Korea border. It then climbs steeply up to a height of 146.3 metres before descending"
"Great Wall. During the Ming dynasty, under the supervision of General Xu Da, construction of the present wall began, building over the previous wall. In 1404, a pass was built in the wall. In 1569, the Mutianyu Great Wall was rebuilt and till today most parts of it are well preserved. The Mutianyu Great Wall has the largest construction scale and best quality among all sections of Great Wall. Built mainly with granite, the wall is high and the top is metres wide. Compared with other sections of Great Wall, Mutianyu Great Wall possesses unique characteristics in its construction. Besides,"
"Badaling Expressway The Badaling Expressway (Simplified Chinese: 八达岭高速公路, Traditional Chinese: 八達嶺高速公路, Hanyu Pinyin: Bādálíng Gāosù Gōnglù) is an expressway in the People's Republic of China which links urban Beijing to the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall of China. It continues toward Yanqing and leaves Beijing, becoming the Jingzhang Expressway. Starting north of Madian Overpass on the Northern 3rd Ring Road, it runs for approximately 50 kilometres in a direction toward Beijing's north-west. The Badaling Expressway gets its name from the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall. The expressway was constructed in January 1996 in three stages, culminating in the"
"Great Wall snaking over dramatic landscapes that tourists still see today. Wall construction continued until the demise of the Ming dynasty in 1644. In the decades that led to the fall of the Ming dynasty, the Ming court and the Great Wall itself had to deal with simultaneous internal rebellions and the Manchu invasions. In addition to their conquest of Liaodong, the Manchus had raided across the Great Wall for the first time in 1629, and again in 1634, 1638, and 1642. Meanwhile, the rebels led by warlord Li Zicheng had been gathering strength. In the early months of 1644,"
"of the Great Wall from the furthest point west at Jiayuguan to the ""First Gate Under Heaven"" at Shanhaiguan in the east. In exchange, he would promote unity between the U.S. and China. The Chinese government hoped that this would bolster tourism, which had dropped to all-time lows since the events of Tiananmen Square. Foster began his ride on May 9, 1990, wearing a red, white and blue helmet and uniform and riding a newly developed mountain bike in the same design. As he made his first tire tracks in the wall, Foster commented, ""Now I know how Neil Armstrong"
"largest and most intact pass, or entrance, of the Great Wall. Jiayuguan Pass was built in the early Ming dynasty, somewhere around the year 1372. It was built near an oasis that was then on the extreme western edge of China. Jiayuguan Pass was the first pass on the west end of the great wall so it earned the name “The First And Greatest Pass Under Heaven.” An extra brick is said to rest on a ledge over one of the gates. One legend holds that the official in charge asked the designer to calculate how many bricks would be"
"sections of the Great Wall of China. The Jiankou section of the wall was constructed in 1368 during the period of the Ming Dynasty. It is made of large light colored rocks which can be seen from a great distance. The Jiankou section has never been restored since its construction, with some sections having fallen into disrepair. This, along with its location along a mountain ridge bordered by jagged cliffs and steep drop-offs, makes this section potentially dangerous to climb, while at the same time a popular place for adventurous and experienced hikers and photographers. The section is more easily"
"of China. The pass is trapezoid-shaped with a perimeter of and an area of more than . The length of the city wall is and the height is . There are two gates: one on the east side of the pass and the other on the west side. On each gate there is a building. An inscription of ""Jiayuguan"" in Chinese is written on a tablet at the building at the west gate. The south and north sides of the pass are connected to the Great Wall. There is a turret on each corner of the pass. On the north"
"Dynasty and Liao Dynasty. The ""Moon Gate"" is a distinctive arched shaped door from the ruins of a watchtower. Guangwu Great Wall The Guangwu Great Wall () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Shanyin County, Shanxi. The section of the wall was integral to the defensive system built around the Yanmen Pass because nomadic invaders would first attack the Guangwu section since it was to the north and west of the pass. Nearby the Guangwu section are the present day inhabited villages of New Guangwu and Old Guangwu. New Guangwu was built during the Ming"
"Guangwu Great Wall The Guangwu Great Wall () is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Shanyin County, Shanxi. The section of the wall was integral to the defensive system built around the Yanmen Pass because nomadic invaders would first attack the Guangwu section since it was to the north and west of the pass. Nearby the Guangwu section are the present day inhabited villages of New Guangwu and Old Guangwu. New Guangwu was built during the Ming Dynasty on a site first occupied during the Warring States Period while Old Guangwu was built during the Song"
"reach the wall which is located about 18 miles from the earlier trailhead. The Continental Divide Trail passes directly below the wall. There is a camping ban in place directly along the wall to maintain the relatively fragile ecosystem from overuse. Chinese Wall (Montana) The Chinese Wall is a large escarpment located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Montana. While definitions of the length of the wall vary (to up to forty miles) the part of the wall that is most well defined and continuous is about twelve miles long. The Chinese Wall makes up part of the Continental"
"Jinshanling Jinshanling (), is a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping County, Hebei Province, 125 km northeast of Beijing. This section of the wall is connected with the Simatai section to the east. Some distance to the west lies the Mutianyu section. Jinshanling section of the wall was built from 1570 CE during the Ming Dynasty. The Jinshanling section of the Great Wall is 10.5 km long with 5 passes, 67 towers and 3 beacon towers. The initial section of the wall has been restored to original condition, but the condition of"
"Sihaiye in Beijing's Yanqing County. The sections of the Great Wall around Beijing municipality are especially famous: they were frequently renovated and are regularly visited by tourists today. The Badaling Great Wall near Zhangjiakou is the most famous stretch of the Wall, for this is the first section to be opened to the public in the People's Republic of China, as well as the showpiece stretch for foreign dignitaries. South of Badaling is the Juyong Pass; when used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall had many guards to defend China's capital Beijing. Made of"
"The pass had many different names during former Chinese dynasties. However, the name ""Juyongguan"" was used by more than three dynasties. It was first used in the Qin Dynasty when Emperor Qinshihuang ordered the building of the Great Wall. Juyongguan pass was connected to the Great Wall in the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. The present pass route was built in the Ming Dynasty and received much renovation later. It was a very important strategic place connecting the inner land and the area near the northern border of China. It was also used to defend the ancient city of Beijing."