According to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news reports, China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping came to the conclusion, after two years of research, that the Great Wall of China, much of which was built during the Ming Dynasty, reached a length of 8851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles). This exceeded previous estimations.  

In the most recent archeological surveys of the Great Wall, two new sections of the Wall were found in Beijing, as well as historical sites related to the Great Wall in 498 places.

The Great Wall, a part of the world’s great cultural heritage, was built between 1368 B.C. and 1644 B.C., with the eastern end in Hushan, Liaoning Province and the western end in Jiaguguan, Gansu Province. It passes through Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces.  

It includes man-made walls of 6,259 kilometers (3,889 miles), trenches of 359 kilometers (223 miles), and natural defense barriers of 2,232 kilometers (1,387 miles).  
Since the beginning of 2007, China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping have used modern photography methods and remote sensing technology to determine the dimensions of the Great Wall based on existing sections.

However, China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage reports that the Great Wall’s preservation is in a troubled state. Out of the nearly 2,000 kilometers of sections of the wall that have deteriorated in the face of climate extremes, less than ten percent are well-preserved.

Read original article in Chinese.