The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC, with selective stretches later joined by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
The Ming dynasty Great Wall at Jinshanling
Part of the Great Wall of China (April 1853, X, p. 41)
The Great Wall in 1907
Great Wall of Han dynasty near Yumenguan
Li, also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The li has varied considerably over time but was usually about one third of an English mile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer. This is then divided into 1,500 chi or "Chinese feet".
A section of the Song-era Anping Bridge in Fujian. The bridge is commonly known as the "Five-Li Bridge" due to its length.