height of great wall of china in meters
Great Wall of China One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes in Jinshanling. There it runs 11 km (7 mi) long, ranges from 5 to 8 m (16 ft 5 in to 26 ft 3 in) in height, and 6 m (19 ft 8 in) across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 m (16 ft 5 in) across the top. Wangjinglou (t 望京樓, s 望京楼, Wàngjīng Lóu) is one of Jinshanling's 67 watchtowers, 980 m (3,220 ft) above sea level. Southeast of Jinshanling is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for 2.25 km (1.40 mi). It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east. This section was one of the first to be renovated following the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.[51]
Great Wall of China 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).[4] 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.[4] Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi).[5] Today, the Great Wall is generally recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history.[6]
History of the Great Wall of China One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem, dated from the seventh century BC, recorded in the Classic of Poetry. The poem tells of a king, now identified as King Xuan (r.  827 – 782 BC) of the Western Zhou dynasty (1046 – 771 BC), who commanded General Nan Zhong (南仲) to build a wall in the northern regions to fend off the Xianyun.[22] The Xianyun, whose base of power was in the Ordos region, were regarded as part of the charioteering Rong tribes,[23] and their attacks aimed at the early Zhou capital region of Haojing were probably the reason for King Xuan's response.[22] Nan Zhong's campaign was recorded as a great victory. However, only a few years later in 771 BC another branch of the Rong people, the Quanrong, responded to a summons by the renegade Marquess of Shen by over-running the Zhou defences and laying waste to the capital. The cataclysmic event killed King Xuan's successor King You (795–771 BC), forced the court to move the capital east to Chengzhou (成周, later known as Luoyang) a year later, and thus ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 BC). Most importantly, the fall of Western Zhou redistributed power to the states that had acknowledged Zhou's nominal rulership. The rule of the Eastern Zhou dynasty was marked by bloody interstate anarchy. With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another, many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders. Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu's wall of 656 BC, 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) of which were excavated in southern Henan province in the modern era. However the Chu border fortifications consisted of many individual mountain fortresses; they do not constitute to a lengthy, single wall. The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC, and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi. The State of Wei built two walls, the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC, with the extant western wall found in Hancheng, Shaanxi.[24] Even non-Chinese peoples built walls, such as the Di state of Zhongshan and the Yiqu Rong, whose walls were intended to defend against the State of Qin.[25]
History of the Great Wall of China One of the first mentions of a wall built against northern invaders is found in a poem, dated from the seventh century BC, recorded in the Classic of Poetry. The poem tells of a king, now identified as King Xuan (r.  827 – 782 BC) of the Western Zhou dynasty (1046 – 771 BC), who commanded General Nan Zhong (南仲) to build a wall in the northern regions to fend off the Xianyun.[22] The Xianyun, whose base of power was in the Ordos region, were regarded as part of the charioteering Rong tribes,[23] and their attacks aimed at the early Zhou capital region of Haojing were probably the reason for King Xuan's response.[22] Nan Zhong's campaign was recorded as a great victory. However, only a few years later in 771 BC another branch of the Rong people, the Quanrong, responded to a summons by the renegade Marquess of Shen by over-running the Zhou defences and laying waste to the capital. The cataclysmic event killed King Xuan's successor King You (795–771 BC), forced the court to move the capital east to Chengzhou (成周, later known as Luoyang) a year later, and thus ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770–256 BC). Most importantly, the fall of Western Zhou redistributed power to the states that had acknowledged Zhou's nominal rulership. The rule of the Eastern Zhou dynasty was marked by bloody interstate anarchy. With smaller states being annexed and larger states waging constant war upon one another, many rulers came to feel the need to erect walls to protect their borders. Of the earliest textual reference to such a wall was the State of Chu's wall of 656 BC, 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) of which were excavated in southern Henan province in the modern era. The State of Qi also had fortified borders up by the 7th century BC, and the extant portions in Shandong province had been christened the Great Wall of Qi. The State of Wei built two walls, the western one completed in 361 BC and the eastern in 356 BC, with the extant western wall found in Hancheng, Shaanxi.[24] Even non-Chinese peoples built walls, such as the Di state of Zhongshan and the Yiqu Rong (義渠), whose walls were intended to defend against the State of Qin.[25]