The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century‚ BC;‚ these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall.‚ Especially famous is the wall built 220‚206‚ BC by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty (1368‚1644).

Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor.

The Great Wall stretches from Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850‚ km (5,500‚ mi).‚ This is made up of 6,259‚ km (3,889‚ mi) sections of actual wall, 359‚ km (223‚ mi) of trenches and 2,232‚ km (1,387‚ mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196‚ km (13,171‚ mi).