The Great Wall of China was originally built more than two thousand years ago. Initially it started out as a series of separate walls but they were eventually all joined together. It took hundreds of thousands of workers more than a decade to build the original wall which was largely made out of dirt. The purpose of the wall was to keep the nomads from what is now Mongolia out of China. In this respect the Great Wall was a pretty dismal failure. The Mongols were able to get past the wall pretty easily, in large part because of the small number of sentries that were being used to guard such a large wall.

While the Great Wall of China didn't do a great job of keeping the invaders out it did turn out to be useful for other purposes. The biggest one was its use as a highway. At a time when roads were virtually unknown traders could simply walk along the top of the wall to get where they were going. The Chinese would build a customs house right on the wall in order to collect taxes from these traders. The result is that the wall became an important part of the Silk Road.

The bricks and stones that currently make up the exterior of the wall were added during the Ming dynasty. This took more than a hundred years to complete and the work of hundreds of thousands of people. This did not make the wall any more effective at keeping out invaders as the country was conquered by the Manchu armies. After this there was little more construction done on the wall and it largely fell into disrepair. Over the last few years however sections of the wall have been restored more as a tourist site.

If you are going to visit the Great Wall of China you will likely visit one of the areas that has been restored, this is where the Chinese government tries to send the tourists. There are some people who will attempt to visit the areas that have not been repaired but they are not all that easy to reach. In addition the government will sometimes fine people for going to those areas, they want the tourists at the restored sections.

The best way to visit the Great Wall of China is to go with a tour group. This will greatly simplify the process of getting there. If you are going to use a tour you want to make sure that you know what is included. Many tours will include other nearby sights as part of the package. This can be a great option but you have to be aware that many tours also include destinations that you don't want to go to. These would include visits to places like jade shops and Chinese medicine doctors. These stops are clearly intended to get you to buy something, they are best avoided so make sure that you find out what your tour includes.