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The new wonderful 7!
July 9, 2007
The Great Wall of China
The Chinese call the Great Wall -- which runs along the border of Mongolia from the Shanhai Pass to Lop Nur -- Wanli Changcheng which mean the long wall of 10,000 Li (a Chinese unit of length).
Some facts you probably did not know:
It is the longest man-made structure in the world measuring 4,000 miles. Mao Zedong once remarked, 'You are not a real man if you have not climbed the Great Wall.'
The Great Wall of China was built by the Ming dynasty to defend its borders from marauding Mongols.
The wall was not successful in keeping out the Manchus, who hailed from Manchuria, and mounted several invasions on the Ming empire. They finally infiltrated through the wall at the Shanhai Pass in 1644 by bribing a Ming general and took control of Beijing. Thus began the Quing rule of China
The wall is the biggest military installation on the planet. It amazingly scales lofty mountains and plunges back down into steep valleys.
The largest number of guards are posted at the Badaling portion of the wall to guard Beijing.
The Great Wall of China, it is claimed, is visible from spacecraft orbiting the earth.
Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images
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