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It is commonly thought that the Great Wall is one long wall that runs along the mountains north of Beijing. In fact, the Great Wall winds its way across China covering over 5,500 miles (8,850km) and is made up of a number of interconnecting walls spanning China that different dynasties and warlords constructed over the years. The Great Wall that we think of is the Ming wall, constructed after 1368 but the "Great Wall" refers to the many sections of wall that were built over 2,000 years.
 
Early Beginnings:
In c656 B.C., the Chu State wall, called "The Rectangle Wall" was built to protect the Chus from strong neighbors to the north. This part of the wall resides in modern-day Henan province. This early wall actually connected small cities along the border of the Chu state.
Other states continued the practice of building walls on their borders to protect themselves from unwanted intruders until about 221 B.C when during the Qin Dynasty, the Great Wall, as we know it now, began to take its shape.
Qin Dynasty: the "First" Great Wall:
Qin Shi Huang unified China into a centralized feudal state. To protect his newly established state, Qin decided a large defense barricade was needed. He sent one million soldiers and laborers to work on the project that would last nine years. The new wall utilized existing walls built since the Chu State wall. The new, Great Wall, spanned northern China starting in modern-day Inner Mongolia. Little of this wall remains and was located much further north than the present-day (Ming era) wall.
Han Dynasty: the Great Wall is Extended:
During the subsequent Han Dynasty, 206 B.C. to A.D. 24), China saw battle with the Huns and the wall was extended using an existing network of older walls another 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) into western China, modern Gansu province. This period was the most intense building period and the longest stretch of wall ever built.
Northern and Southern Dynasties: More Walls Added to the Great Wall:
During this period, from A.D. 386-581, four dynasties built and added to the Great Wall. The Northern Wei (386-534) added about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of wall in Shanxi province. The Eastern Wei (534-550) only added an additional 75 kilometers (47 miles). The Northern Qi (550-577) dynasty saw the longest extension of the wall since Qin and Han times, about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles). And the Northern Zhou (557-581) dynastic ruler Emperor Jingdi renovated the Great Wall in 579.
Ming Dynasty: The Wall's Importance Reaches a New Height:
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall became an important line of defense again. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang began renovations at the outset of his reign. He assigned his son Zhu Di and one of his generals to repair the existing wall and build forts and watchtowers. The Great Wall for the Ming was ultimately a way to keep raiding Mongols from the north from invading and ransacking Beijing. For the next 200 years the wall was fortified ultimately covering 7,300 kilometers (4,536 miles).
The Wall Today:
The Ming wall construction is what remains today. It begins at Shanhai Pass in Hebei province and ends in the west at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu province at the edge of the Gobi Desert. There is not much to see in the last 500 kilometers (310 miles) as nothing remains but broken stones and rubble.
Beijing Great Wall Sites:
Jiangjun Pass
Simatai
Jinshanling
Hiking between Jinshanling and Simatai
Gubeikou
Baimaguan Pass
Beishicheng
Mutianyu
Jiankou
Dazhenyu
Hugnhuacheng
Xishuiyu
Juyongguan Pass
For more information, please visit Great Wall of China Guide.
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