GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Wan-li Ch'ang-ch'eng, or (Pinyin) Wanli Changcheng ("10,000 Li Long Wall"), extensive bulwark erected in ancient China. It is one of the largest building-construction projects ever carried out, running (with all its branches) about 4,500 miles (7,300 km) east to west from Shan-hai Pass near Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli) to Chia-y Pass (in modern Kansu province). Without its branches and other secondary sections, the wall extends for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km), often tracing the crestlines 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. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on earth. The Great Wall was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. Additional reading Daniel Schwartz, The Great Wall of China (1990), collects 159 duotone photographs and essays by Jorge Luis Borges and Luo Zhewen. Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth (1990), examines why and when the wall was actually built.