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The Great
Wall
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The Great Wall is to the
northwest and north of Beijing, a huge,
serrated wall zigzags it's way to the east and west
along the undulating
mountains. This is the
Great Wall, which is said to be visible from the
moon.
The Great Wall was built
over 2,000 years ago, by Qin Shi Huangdi,
the first emperor of China during the Qin (Ch'in)
Dynasty (221 B.C. - 206
B.C.). In Chinese the Wall is called
"Wan-Li-Chang-Cheng" which
means 10,000-Li Long Wall (10,000 Li is 5,000 km).
After the state of Qin
unified China in 221 B.C., it joined the walls to
hold off the invaders from the Xiongnu tribes in the
north (the Huns).
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The Great Wall was renovated from time to time after the Qin Dynasty. A major
renovation started with the founding
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Dynasty in 1368, and took 200 years to complete. The wall we see today is
almost exactly the result of this effort.
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| With a total
length of over 6,400 kilometers, it extends to the jiayu Pass in Gansu Province
in the west and to the mouth of
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| the Yalu
River in Liaoning Province in the east. What lies north of Beijing is but a
small section of it.
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The Great Wall has become a pillar resource of China's travel industry, a
conclusion drawn by China's Great Wall
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Investigation Team after two months of inspection from August to
September this year. |
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The China Great Wall Investigation Team,
organized by China's Great Wall Society, started examinations from Hushan,
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| by the Yalu River,
Liaoning Province, in the east, moved through Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin,
Beijing, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia,
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| Gansu, to Jiayuguan
in the west, touring more than 9,000 km (5,590 miles) to complete the largest
ever onsite investigation
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| of the Great Wall
of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). |
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According to China's Great Wall Society, 15 million people from all over
the world have visited the Great Wall in recent |
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The Great Wall has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the
world. |
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The Badaling section of the Great Wall, located in Yanqing County, Beijing,
received over 60,000 people per day during
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the high season. Last year over 5
million tourists contributed 150 million yuan (US$18 million) to income through
entrance
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| tickets. Meanwhile, during the past
50 years, the Badaling section of the wall has welcomed more than 380 visiting
foreign |
| heads of state and prime ministers,
witnessing a series of important historical events in Chinese diplomatic
history.
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this sense, Badaling has become a symbol of China's policy of opening up to the
outside world, representing peace
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friendship. |
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After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese
government first restored and opened the
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| Juyongguan, Badaling and
Shanhaiguan sections of the wall, in order to promote tourism. Later other
sections of the wall
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| were repaired and opened, including
the Jiayuguan, Jinshanling, Mutianyu, Simatai, Jiumenkou, Huangyaguan,
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| Yumenguan and Yangguan sections,
along with additional structures such as Wei (a garrison town where troops were
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| stationed during the Ming Dynasty),
Suo (a garrison post pass), passes, blockhouses, watchtowers and signal towers. |
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| The Great
Wall's restoration not only re-demonstrates its historical greatness and
enhances its protection, but also adds
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| relevant services, providing
more conveniences for tourists. Today, in addition to the general sightseeing
tours, various
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| specific travel programs are
booming around the Great Wall, such as the Great Wall Marathon, the Great Wall
Summer
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School, the Great Wall Investigation and the Tour along the Great Wall among
others. |
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Apart from the well-known sections such as Badaling, Shanhaiguan and Jiayuguan,
some little known sections such as
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| the Hushan section in
Liaoning, the Baiyangyu and the Qingshanguan sections in Hebei, the
Shoukoubaozi,
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| the Deshengbao and the
Laoniuwan sections in Shanxi, the Yangjiacheng section and the Yulin section in
Shaanxi, the
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| Shandan and the Dunhuang
Tuhang sections in Gansu, are all now beginning to attract a large number of
tourists. |
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Meanwhile, there are still more sections of the Great Wall being repaired and
developed for tourists in the near future. |
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What's more, like a gigantic dragon's body, the Great Wall winds up and down
across deserts, grasslands, rivers and
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| mountains, so tourists
can appreciate these beautiful scenes while enjoying the magnificence of the
Great Wall. |
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