The UNESCO World Heritage Site in China that includes the ancient defensive fortification known as the Great Wall is The Great Wall.
The Great Wall is a vast system of walls, passes, watchtowers, and fortifications built and rebuilt over many centuries. Earlier walls existed before the Qin dynasty, but Qin Shi Huang connected several defensive sections after unifying China in the third century BCE. Later dynasties, especially the Ming dynasty, constructed many of the masonry and brick sections most familiar today.
The UNESCO property was inscribed in 1987. It is not one continuous wall from a single period; rather, it represents a long history of frontier defense and state building across northern China. Popular estimates of the entire Ming-era system are often confused with the length of all wall sections from every period.
The Great Wall is also frequently described as visible from the Moon, but that claim is a myth. Its cultural importance comes from its scale, engineering, historical layers, and relationship to the landscapes it crosses.