How long is the world's longest city wall? The answer is 35.267 kilometers, confirmed Chinese archeologists yesterday in east China's Jiangsu Province.
The answer is based on a two-month scientific measurement of the ancient city wall, which winds through Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu, and the national capital of 10 dynasties.
The finding was announced at a press conference by Yang Xinhua, deputy director of the city's cultural relics office.
"The result is reliable and it lays a foundation for our next step to design a detailed protection plan for the city wall," said Yang. He said modern means, such as satellite photography, telemetry and geographical information systems, were used in this measurement.
The existing length of the city wall, built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) over 600 years ago, is 25.091 kilometers, still exceeding the famous walls of Beijing and Paris by 0.776 kilometers and 3.67 kilometers respectively, said Yang.
The wall section ranges in height from 14 to 26 meters, 14 meters thick at the bottom and 2.6 to 19.75 meters thick at the top, said Yang.
The wall was first built in 473 BC and extended several times.
The first emperor of the imperial Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, built the largest section of the city wall, which took more than 20 years.
(Xinhua)