By At a glance: Great Wall of China
- Location
- Northern China (Jinshanling section shown), China
- Built
- 7th century BCE – 1644 CE (most visible parts Ming, 1368–1644)
- Type
- Fortification system · Defence
- Style
- Chinese military architecture
- Commissioned by
- Many states and dynasties, notably Qin, Han and Ming
- Architects & builders
- Not recorded; Ming general Qi Jiguang rebuilt key eastern sections
- Materials
- Rammed earth, stone, fired brick with lime mortar
- Size
- All walls together about 21,196 km (2012 national survey)
- UNESCO
- The Great Wall (1987)
Great Wall: what it is
Early walls were built by rival states during the Warring States period. After Qin Shi Huang unified China in 221 BCE, he linked and extended northern walls against nomadic peoples. The Han dynasty pushed walls far west along the Silk Road.
The wall's most famous form is Ming: after the Mongols were driven out in 1368, and especially after the 16th century, the Ming rebuilt the northern frontier in stone and brick with closely spaced towers.
Great Wall, then and now
Real images only: an earlier view and a recent photograph, each credited and linked to its original file. Switch between them or compare side by side.
Then · 1907Now · TodayMove across the image to compareGreat Wall: how it was designed
- 01
Built from what was there
Builders used local material: rammed earth and reed layers in the western deserts, stone in the mountains, and kiln-fired bricks with lime mortar around Beijing. The design adapted to the ground.
- 02
A system, not a line
The wall works with watchtowers, beacon towers, garrison forts and passes. Smoke by day and fire by night carried warnings along the line far faster than a rider.
- 03
Following the ridges
Ming sections climb the steepest ridgelines, making the wall harder to approach and giving towers long sight lines. Crenellations and loopholes face the outer side.
Construction timeline
The State of Chu and others build the earliest walls.
Qin Shi Huang links and extends northern walls after unifying China.
The Han dynasty extends walls west into the Gansu corridor.
The Ming dynasty rebuilds the wall in brick and stone, including Badaling, Mutianyu and Jinshanling.
Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage publishes a total length of 21,196.18 km for all wall sections.
How the design changed
Earth to brick
The visual change from long rammed-earth embankments to the crenellated brick wall of postcards took about 1,800 years, driven by better kilns and the Ming state's resources.
Restored in places, crumbling in others
Tourist sections near Beijing were heavily rebuilt from the 1950s on, while many remote sections are eroding. Some 'wild wall' is protected precisely by being left alone.
Who built it
Soldiers, conscripted peasants and convicts built most of the wall. Ming-era bricks are sometimes stamped with the name of the kiln or the unit that made them. The Ming general Qi Jiguang is credited with redesigning the eastern wall's towers in the 1560s–1580s.
Where it is
Northern China (Jinshanling section shown), China · 40.4314° N, 116.5644° E · Open in OpenStreetMap. Nearest in this guide: Forbidden City (59 km), Terracotta Army (930 km), Himeji Castle (1,709 km).
59 km930 km1,709 kmGreat WallDrag to pan, use + and − or double-click to zoom, and tap any pin for a preview.
Built around the same time
| Monument | Country | Built | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persepolis | Iran | c. 518 BCE – 330 BCE | 182 years later |
Great Wall: questions people ask
How long is the Great Wall of China?
China's 2012 national survey measured all historic wall sections at 21,196.18 km. The Ming wall alone is about 8,850 km.
When was the Great Wall of China built?
Over about 2,000 years, from the 7th century BCE to 1644 CE. The best-known brick sections were built by the Ming dynasty.
Can you see the Great Wall from space?
Not with the naked eye from the Moon, and only with great difficulty from low Earth orbit, because the wall is narrow and similar in colour to its surroundings.
Which section of the Great Wall is best to visit?
Near Beijing, Mutianyu and Jinshanling are restored but less crowded than Badaling; Jinshanling keeps more original Ming brickwork.
Sources & image credits
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — The Great Wall
- Wikipedia — Great Wall of China
- Bloomberg — China's Great Wall found to measure more than 20,000 kilometers (2012)
- Current photograph: The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling-edit.jpg by Severin.stalder, CC BY-SA 3.0 — original on Wikimedia Commons · licence.
- Historic image: Greatwall large.jpg by Herbert Ponting, Public domain — original on Wikimedia Commons.
- Coordinates from Wikidata. Images resized and converted to WebP; otherwise unaltered. Checked October 25, 2026.
More to wander into
- World monument · 1406–1420Forbidden CityTwenty-four emperors' palace, built on one perfect north–south axis.
- World monument · c. 2600–2560 BCEGreat Pyramid of GizaKhufu's tomb, the tallest structure on Earth for almost 4,000 years.
- World monument · c. 246–208 BCE; found 1974Terracotta ArmyEight thousand clay soldiers, mass-produced yet individual, once brightly painted.
- World monument · c. 11th–15th century CEGreat ZimbabweMortarless granite walls of an African kingdom, once falsely credited to outsiders.
- World monument · c. 113–125 CEPantheonThe largest unreinforced concrete dome on Earth, open to the sky for 1,900 years.
- World monument · 752 CE; hall rebuilt 1195 and 1709Tōdai-ji Great Buddha HallA giant bronze Buddha in a wooden hall rebuilt smaller after two fires.
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