Great Wall Sections

Great Wall stretches for about 4,500 miles (7,300 km) east to west from Shanhaiguan Pass near Bo Hai (Gulf of Bohai) to Jiayuguan Pass (in Gansu province) traversing Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu.  According to the latest reserch, the total length of the wall is 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 miles), and 43,721 sites of walls, beacon towers and other facilities are found along the wall.

The earliest walls appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period (770 BC - 221 BC), when each state built beacon towers and connected them with walls to prevent invaders. After the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified the whole country, he ordered the construction of the wall on the base of the previous ones. The wall stretched more than 10,000 li (3,106 miles) from Linzhao (currently Linzhao County in Gansu Province) in the west to Liaodong (located in today's Liaoyang City of Liaoning Province) in the east. That is also how the "Ten Thousand Li Great Wall" comes from. In the following two thousand years, the walls were renovated and rebuilt many times in the Han (206 BC - 220 AD), Jin (256 - 420), Northern Wei (386 - 543), Eastern Wei (534 - 550), Western Wei (535 - 557), Northern Qi (550 - 577), Northern Zhou (557 - 581), Sui (581 - 618), Tang (618 - 907), Song (960 - 1127 ), Liao (916 - 1125), Jin (1115 - 1234), Yuan (1271 - 1368), Ming and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties, especially in the Han, Jin and Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), so the walls we can see today are mostly built in the Ming Dynasty. But some earlier sections still can be found, such as the Han Dynasty Great Wall in Dunhuang, Gansu Province.

Each section has its own feature due to the distinct geography and climate conditions. For example, the walls in Gansu Province and Shaanxi Province were built of loess, which is the local specialty in the Loess Plateau; the Jiumenkou section in Liaoning Province stretches along the Jiujiang River and strides over the river; Badaling in Beijing roiling along the mountain ranges to make the mountains a natural barrier.

China Great Wall Map

 Beijing Great Wall: Badaling, Mutianyu, Simatai, Jinshanling, Juyongguan Pass,  Jiankou, Huanghuacheng, Gubeikou, Shuiguan 
 Gansu: Jiayuguan Pass, Yumenguan Pass, Yangguan Pass, Dunhuang Great Wall, Overhanging 
 Hebei: Shanhaiguan Pass, First Pass under Heaven, Laolongtou, Temple of Meng Jiangnü, Xifengkou Gateway, Zijingguan Pass 
 Inner Mongolia
 Liaoning: Hushan, Jiumenkou   
 Ningxia
 Shaanxi: Zhenbeitai Tower, Yulin Great Wall 
 Shanxi:  Yanmenguan Pass, Niangziguan, Pianguan
 Tianjin: Huangyaguan Pass, Taipingzhai