The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China

The Longest Wall The longest wall in the world twists and turns across the continent of Asia. The Great Wall of China is one of the most amazing landmarks on our planet. It's also the biggest reason people visit China.

A Dragon Sleeps People built the walls that make up the Great Wall along China's northern border. They wanted to keep out enemies and protect China. Many people in China think of land as a living thing. They say the Great Wall is like a sleeping dragon. The wall is curved instead of straight to flow in harmony with the land.

The tail of the dragon is in a desert. The head is next to a sea. The dragon's body passes through many different types of land, including deserts, mountains, farmland, and beaches. Some parts are near Beijing (bay-ZHING), China's capital.

The Walls Many different walls make up the Great Wall. Some sections have broken and been fixed. Other sections have fallen apart.

In China, the wall's name means the “ Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li. " A li (LEE) is about one-half of a kilometer or one-third of a mile. People used to think the wall was ten thousand li long, which is about 5, 000 kilometers(3, 100 mi. ). Not long ago, scientists used new tools to measure the wall. They found out that the wall is more than four times that long when all the sections are added together!