The Great Wall of China,also known in China as the Great Wall of 10,000,is an ancient Chinese fortification built from the end of the 14th century until the beginning of the 17th century,during the Ming Dynasty,in order to protect China from raids by the Mongols and Turkic tribes.It was preceded by several walls built since the 3rd century BC against the raids of nomadic tribes coming from areas now in modern day Mongolia and Manchuria.The Wall stretches over a formidable 6,350 km (3,946 miles),from Shanhai Pass on the Bohai Gulf in the east,at the limit between China proper and Manchuria,to Lop Nur in the southeastern portion of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

　　The first major wall was built during the reign of the First Emperor,the main emperor of the short-lived Qin dynasty.This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor,but rather was created by the joining of several regional walls built by the Warring States.It was located much further north than the current Great Wall,and very little remains of it.A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history.The Great Wall that can still be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty,on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall that had been built before.The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people,who could scale the wall,but to insure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses or return easily with stolen property.

　　中國的長城,在中國也被稱為10000年的長城,是中國古代建造防御工事結束從14世紀到17世紀初,明朝期間,為了保護中國從蒙古和突厥部落的襲擊。它之前是幾個墻建自公元前3世紀游牧部落的襲擊來自現在在現代蒙古和滿洲地區。長城延伸一個強大的6350公里(3946英里),從山海關在渤海灣東部,在限制中國的滿洲,羅布泊新疆維吾爾自治區東南部的部分。

　　第一個主要墻建成第一個皇帝的統治期間,主要的短暫的秦朝的皇帝。這堵墻是不作為一個努力,而是由幾個地區的加入墻由戰國。這是位于比當前更北的長城,,仍然很少。北部邊境的防御墻是建立和維護由幾個王朝在中國歷史上不同時期。仍然可以看到今天的長城建于明朝,規模更大、更持久的材料(固體石用于墻的兩側和頂部)比任何以前建成的墻。墻上的主要目的并不是將人拒之門外,誰能規模墻上,而是確保外的墻上半游牧的人無法跨越的馬很容易與贓物或返回。