Great Wall of ChinaSeveral sections of the Great Wall of China, a man-made
phenomenon that has become a symbol of Chinese civilisation, can be
viewed in the Beijing area. In Yanqing county in northwest Beijing
is the 600-year-old Badaling Fortification, representative of the
Ming dynasty sections of the Great Wall. Other sections can be seen
at Jinshanling, Mutianyu and Simatai. The Great Wall, stretching
4,000 miles (6,350km) long, was built in stages from the 7th
century BC onwards, snaking its way across the mountains and
valleys of five provinces in northern China as a mammoth defence
bulwark against the neighbouring Manchurian and Mongolian
peoples. |