In the vast stretch of land in north China, there is an ancient wall winding along thousands of miles from east to west. It is imposing and majestic, like a huge dragon winding its way over the spacious high mountains and lofty hills. It is the Great Wall, the greatest architectural project in the history of human civilization and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Mutianyu Great Wall

According to research, the construction of the Great Wall started in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period around the 7th century B.C. At that time, feudatory nations built tall walls that run tens or hundreds of thousands of meters for the aim of defense. This fortification is called Changcheng or Changyuan meaning the Great Wall because they were very long.

Around the 4th century, three kingdoms including Yan, Zhao and Qin built the Great Wall to prevent the invasion of nomads from their north and the final Great Wall was built on this basis under the order of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, who sent General Meng Tian, with the Prince Fusu as the military supervisor and a troop of 300,000 people to finish the greatest building project in ancient times. The Great Wall was later expanded in the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, the Northern Qi and Northern Wei Dynasties, Liao, Jin and Ming Dynasties, etc. The Ming Great Wall demonstrated a great progress and development in construction engineering technology and defense equipment, and the Ming dynasty is the prime time of the Great Wall building technology. When it entered into the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi decided not to build defense wall but adopt the Policy of Conciliation to treat national minorities, rendering an end to the history of the Great Wall’s construction.