The construction of the segments that later made up the Great Wall began during the Spring and Autumn Period and lasted into the Warring States Period (770-221 BC). Many feudal states built hundreds of li of wall fortifications as boundaries. These unlinked walls were the embryonic form of the Great Wall. In 221 BC, Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered the walls of the Qin, Zhao and Yan kingdoms in the north to be linked up and reinforced, after he united China. As one of the most magnificent ancient military defense works in the world, the Great Wall was listed in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 1987.

The Great Wall is one of the oldest and greatest constructions in the world. Its construction work lasted for over 2,000 years. The best preserved and the most magnificent remains today were done in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was during the Ming Dynasty that the Wall took on its present form.

At that time, it stretched some 6,700 km from the Yalujiang River in the east to Jiayuguan Pass in the west through 11 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. In the latter part of 1950s, some sections of the Great Wall, reconstructed for many times, have become the most famous tourist sites in the world.