中文FrançaisDeutsch日本語Русский языкEspañolعربيEsperanto한국어BIG5
CHINA DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY
SiteMap Feedback
Travel Living in China Archaeology Film Learning Chinese Chinatown Suppliers
Home China International Business Government Education Environment Culture Women Books & Magazines Sports Health Entertainment
Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Hopes High that Chinese Astronauts Can View Great Wall
Adjust font size:  ZoomIn ZoomOut

On Monday a senior Chinese cultural heritage official expressed the hope that the country's astronauts could prove whether the Great Wall can be seen with the naked eye from space during their next mission.

Answering questions of netizens online at www.gov.cn, the government website, Tong Mingkang, vice director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said, "There's still no definite evidence to prove whether the Great Wall is visible from space.

"Many people including foreigners are interested in this question. The curator of the national museum of Egypt asked me the question recently," said Tong.

But it was really difficult to answer the poser because only a few astronauts have ever been to space, Tong said. "We hope Chinese astronauts may prove that during the next space mission," he commented. 

During China's initial manned space flight in 2003, Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut said he didn't see the Great Wall while in orbit and contradicted the popular belief that the structure was visible from space.

This later triggered a hot debate in China over whether a school textbook teaching that the Great Wall could be seen from space should be corrected.

Adding another twist, veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan insisted the Great Wall could be seen. Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon as commander of the Apollo 17 mission, said he had seen the Great Wall from the Earth's orbit although he couldn't do so while on the moon.

"In Earth's orbit at a height of 160 to 320 km the Great Wall of China is indeed visible to the naked eye," he was quoted as saying during an interview by a Singapore newspaper in March of 2004.

It's widely accepted that in the Earth's orbit, which is normally 300 to 400 km from the ground, only an object larger than 500 X 500 meters can be seen with the naked eye. The Great Wall, which is made up of sections approximately 10 meters wide, should be invisible from outer space scientists believe.

According to a report in China Daily on April 19, 2005, Chinese-American astronaut Leroy Chiao, who'd been on three space flights and was coming to the end of his six-month stint on the joint U.S.-Russian space station, provided the first photographic evidence of sections of the Great Wall using commercially available equipment.

The photos had been authenticated by Professor Wei Chengjie of the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the newspaper said.

However, Chiao was himself not certain. "It's hard to say whether or not I have seen it. That's because from our altitude I can't distinguish between the Wall and roads." He described his picture, taken on February 20, 2005 as a "region northwest of Beijing."

Work on the Great Wall started in the time of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC -206 BC) as a way to defend against invaders from the north. It was extended and rebuilt intermittently over the centuries.

The majority of the existing Great Wall winding west-to-east from the Jiayu Gate to the Yalu River in north China was built and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was included in the World Heritage List in 1987.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read

Related Stories
Disappearing Great Wall in China
Is Great Wall Visible from Space with Naked Eye?
China to Investigate Great Wall Through High-tech Means
Length of Great Wall to Be Known
At Last ... Length of Great Wall to Be Known
SiteMap | About Us | RSS | Newsletter | Feedback
SEARCH THIS SITE
Copyright ? China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved ????E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-88828000 京ICP證 040089號(hào)
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩AV高清无码| 欧美日韩国产综合草草| 国产亚洲视频在线观看网址| 18禁止看的免费污网站| 多女多p多杂交视频在线观看| 两腿之间的私密图片| 日韩一区二区三区精品| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦| 欧美性猛交xxxx88| 亚洲第一区视频在线观看| 男人把女人桶到爽| 冻千秋的堕落h污文冬妃| 美女视频黄a视频全免费网站色| 国产伦精品一区二区| 国产妇乱子伦视频免费| 国产精品久久久久久久网站| 69国产精品视频免费| 在线播放无码后入内射少妇| heyzo小向美奈子在线| 少妇人妻偷人精品视频| 中文天堂在线观看| 拍拍拍无挡免费视频网站| 久久人妻少妇嫩草AV| 日韩亚洲人成在线综合| 久久精品国产一区二区电影| 极品唯美女同互摸互添| 亚洲依依成人精品| 欧美性猛交xxxx乱大交高清| 亚洲日本香蕉视频| 欧美成人午夜精品免费福利| 亚洲欧美另类自拍| 欧美精品福利视频| 亚洲欧美日韩精品专区| 欧美电影一区二区三区| 亚洲欧美久久精品| 欧美日韩国产三级| 亚洲国产品综合人成综合网站 | 国产v亚洲v欧美v专区| 色综合色综合色综合色综合网 | 十分钟免费视频高清完整版www| 绿帽子巨物夺娇妻09|