The Great Wall

The last tourist sight, on the last day in China, was without doubt the most worthwhile and interesting. The Great Wall of China was every bit as amazing as I had expected and worth fighting the crowds of Chinese tourists in order to see it! Even knowing that much of the wall as seen by tourists like myself has been recently rebuilt, the original completions of over 2,000 years ago are simply incredible to contemplate.

The Olympic slogan, "One World One Dream" is posted where all will see, I liked the perspective in this photo with the Chinese flag.

The Great Wall is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. Since the 5th century BC, several walls have been built that were referred to as the Great Wall. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220?206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has recently concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 miles). The wall was built using peasant labor.