China’s first defensive walls were built by rival kingdoms as early as the 7th century BC. Around 220 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China, had existing sections linked into a single defense system against invasions from the north—a work of which little remains today. Under the Han dynasty, the fortified frontier advanced westward, and rammed-earth sections from that period still survive in Gansu Province.
The Wall’s most familiar image is the work of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when, according to UNESCO, it became the largest military structure in the world. The Ming sections total 8,851.8 km: stone and brick predominate in the east, rammed earth in the west. At Badaling, the pass fortress was built in 1504, connected to the flanking walls and fitted with two gates, forming a defense in depth along the northern route to Beijing.
In 2012, a survey by China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration identified 43,721 elements—walls, trenches, towers, passes, and forts—across 15 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, with a combined length of 21,196.18 km. Since 2006, the conservation of the entire system has been governed by dedicated national legislation: the Regulations on the Protection of the Great Wall.
Badaling opened to visitors in 1958 and, in 1961, was included in China’s first list of cultural heritage sites under national protection. The Great Wall was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 and, on July 7, 2007, was announced in Lisbon as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
For UNESCO, the Wall holds incomparable symbolic significance in the history of China: built to protect the country from outside aggression, it was also meant to shield its culture from foreign customs. Because its construction exacted great suffering, it became a constant reference in Chinese literature—from Chen Lin’s “Soldier’s Ballad” (c. 200 AD) to the poems of Du Fu (712–770) and the popular novels of the Ming dynasty.
The Wall also lives on in the popular imagination. A Chinese saying quoted on Badaling’s own official website holds that “whoever has not reached the Great Wall is no hero,” and the idea echoes along this section: North Tower 8, where the cable car arrives, is known as Haohanpo, the “Heroes’ Slope.”
Badaling has also become a stage for Chinese diplomacy. Since the visit of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in October 1954—the first foreign leader received there—the section has welcomed more than 500 heads of state and government, among them Richard Nixon in 1972 and Queen Elizabeth II.
