The Great Wall literally means “long wall of million miles” in Chinese. There are actually two Great Walls, one completed in the Qu Dynasty (221 – 207 B.C.) and one built in the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644).http://www.badaling.gov.cn/language/info_en.asp?id=49

Construction of ramparts, beacon towers and defensive walls started as far back as the 9th century B.C. when China was in a kind of feudal state with a number of vassals paying homage to the kings of the Zhou Dynasty. In the 7th century B.C., all stronger vassals in the north had built their own ramparts because they were frequently fighting with each other under the declining Zhou emperors.http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/ancient_china/zhou.html

When Qu Shi Huang united China in 221 B.C., he ordered to build and link up the defensive walls of tamped earth, stones and wood. The Qu Great Wall (the outer wall) starts from Gansu Province in the west, going through Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Nei Mongol, Hebei and Liaoning until Ya Lu River. It is more than 5000 km long. The dynasties following Qu also repaired and rebuilt the Qu Great Wall for their own defensive purposes at various periods of time in the next thousand years. http://www.sach.gov.cn/tabid/187/InfoID/7810/Default.aspx

The brick-faced wall as seen today was built and repaired in the Ming Dynasty, mainly for defending the Mongols of the previous Yuan Dynasty as well as Dadan, Waci, Nczhen and Tufan living in the northwestern part of the Ming territory. The Ming Great Wall (the inner wall) also passes through the same provinces as the Qu Great Wall except Nei Mongol, stretching for more than 8800 km in length. The wall was strengthened with granite work, redesigned watch towers and canons along the wall. Divided into nine defensive areas, the Ming Great Wall was estimated to have more than 970,000 soldiers stationed. There are about 100 passes and tens of thousands of watch towers and beacons. The construction lasted for more than 200 years.http://www.cnwh.org/cnsites/nwlcc/wlcc1.htm

Major attractions along the inner and outer Great Wall are scattered in more than 20 locations, in more than ten towns and six provinces. Famous sites along the Great Wall include:

Shanhaiguan ‒ near the city of Qinhuangdao in Hebei Provincehttp://www.shg.com.cn/english.php

Jiumeikou ‒ 15 km from the Shanhaiguan Pass near Suizhong of Liaoning Provincehttp://www.jmknyl.com/webpage/english.html

Badaling Great Wall ‒ about 60 km to the northwest of Beijinghttp://www.badaling.gov.cn/language/info_en.asp?id=50

Jiayuguan ‒ near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu Provincehttp://www.jygcc.com.cn/english/web/index.htm

Yanmenguan ‒ in Daixian County of Shanxi Provincehttp://www.cnwh.org/cnsites/nwlcc/wlcc1.htm

Jinshanling Great Wall ‒ in Luanping County of Hebei Provincehttp://www.cdchangcheng.com/

Entrance fee and public transportation:

Shanhaiguan: RMB 40 Public Transportation: Take bus 25 or 33 from Qinhuangdao

Jiumeikou: RMB 90 Public Transportation: Take a bus from Qinhuangdao or Shanhaiguan or a train from Shanhaiguan to Suizhong, followed by a bus to Jiumeikouhttp://www.sz0429.com/cha/?abc=szrxky

Badaling Great Wall: RMB 45 (Adult); RMB 1.2 (Child) Public Transportation: Take bus 919 or train from Beijing to Badaling

Jiayuguan: RMB 50 Public Transportation: Take a train to Jiayuguan City, followed by a day tour bus to Jiayuguan

Yanmenguan: RMB 35 Public Transportation: Take a train from Taiyuan to Daixian County, followed by a bus to Yanmenguanhttp://www.daixian.gov.cn/Detail.aspx?typeid=58

Jinshanling Great Wall: RMB 50 (peak season); RMB 40 (low season) Public Transportation: Take a train from Beijing to Gubeikou, followed by a minibus to Jinshanling