The Great Wall, China

The Great Wall

"You are not a true man if you have not been to the Great Wall." So the saying goes in China. The Great Wall, it is said, is one of the few man-made objects on Earth visible from space.

From Shanhaiguan, northeast of Qinhuangdao City in Hebei Province on the nation's east coast, the Great Wall rises and falls with the contours of the mountains spanning westwards, only to end at Jiayuguan, southwest of Jiayuguan City in Gansu Province. The Great Wall was a daunting defensive project used as early as the 7th century B.C. Most of The Great Wall that we see today dates back to the Ming Dynasty. The best-preserved and most imposing section is that of Badaling in Beijing.

As one of the most magnificent ancient defense works, the Great Wall was included on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1987.