The Great Wall of China is a Chinese fortification built from 3rd century BC until the beginning of the 17th century, in order to protect the various dynasties from raids by Mongol, Turkic, and other nomadic tribes coming from areas in modern-day Mongolia and Manchuria. Several walls were built since the 3rd century BC, the most famous being the Great Wall built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (this was located much further north than the current Great Wall of China built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains).

The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,352 km (3,948 miles), from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Sea in the east, at the limit between China proper and Manchuria, to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Great Wall in the winter, near BeijingAlong most of its arc, it roughly delineates the border between North China and Inner Mongolia.

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