A common yet difficult question to answer. Actually, no body really knows. Almost every publication – serious book, tourist guide, magazine article, newspaper report – gives a different figure. First, the very term “The Great Wall” is misleading as it assumes that there is only one such defensive structure, when in fact there are many, built by different dynasties. All are related in purpose, but they follow different routes and were built during different times and strictly speaking should be considered different national defence projects. . I have written extensively about this subject in my books. Let it be said that if all the original Great Walls of China were added up we would arrive at a figure of more than 50,000 km. If we take just the Ming Dynasty Great Wall – originally it measured approximately 6,700 km, based on the finding of the first accurate mapping project of the early 1700s after the Ming Wall was abandoned (in 1644). As for what remains of this Ming Wall, we will have to wait until 2009 when the results of a GPS survey of Wall remains is due to be released by China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Yes, so please look in the Services section of this website.

Of course when the weather is temperate and agreeable, i.e. spring and autumn, but as a friend of mine so aptly stated, every-time is the best time.

By seeing its symbol on the map of China, and then by thinking about it while at Hadrian’s Wall (the Roman-built Wall in northern England).

Yes, I work with the Beijing Administrative Bureau for Cultural Relics. It is the provincial-level government agency in Beijing responsible for preserving the ancient capital’s history. The society I founded and direct, International Friends of the Great Wall, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the bureau. The document identifies the problems facing the Great Wall and states the work we will jointly carry out to solve the problems.

I have always worked with UNESCO Beijing Office which has offered full moral support to my conservation initiatives. I also work with the New York- based World Monuments Fund after successfully co-operating with the Beijing Administrative Bureau for Cultural Relics to have the “Cultural Landscape of Great Wall, Beijing Region” listed by the World Monuments Watch on its 2002 and 2004 Listings of the World’s Most 100 Endangered Sites”

Because it’s the world’s largest building in terms of material volume.  Because its so extensive, stretching across North China. Because China’s is modernizing at breakneck speed and the encroachment of development is destroying the soul of the Wall. Because it is both famous yet neglected. Because there are 400 major archeological discoveries a year in China and therefore cultural relics-protection resources are stretched to the limit. Because….. the reasons go on and on. For more information please visit  http://www.friendsofgreatwall.org