40 sites · 18 provinces
City walls, passes, watchtowers and naval bases, including the Great Wall in several of its forms.
40 of them here, grouped by region. 21 carry a UNESCO listing. Chinese addresses are given as they are written, which is the form to show a driver. See all seven kinds, or the background on four walls built against four enemies.
13 sites
North China (华北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Jiankou Great Wall (箭扣长城)UNESCOAn unrestored stretch of Ming wall, crumbling and steep enough to need hands as well as feet. For experienced hikers and photographers; there are no railings and no rescue.(北京 怀柔区 八道河乡) | Ming | 4-6h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Juyongguan Pass (居庸关)UNESCOA 1345 Yuan-dynasty stone arch carved with six extinct and living scripts, the only surviving multi-lingual Yuan monument, set in a gorge where Ming Great Wall, China’s first self-built railway and a modern highway run side by side.(北京 昌平区 南口镇居庸关村，216 省道旁，距市区约 50km) | 2-3h · Best Apr-May, Sep-Oct | |
| Simatai Great Wall (司马台长城)UNESCOThe only Great Wall section left in its original Ming Dynasty condition, unrestored, crumbling, and authentic, and the only section open to walk at night.(北京 密云区 古北口镇) | Ming | 3h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| The Great Wall (Badaling / Mutianyu) (长城（八达岭 / 慕田峪）)UNESCODescribed as the largest construction project in human history, 21,000 km of wall built and rebuilt over 2,000 years. Badaling is the restored, accessible stretch; Mutianyu is the same wall with fewer people.(北京 延庆区（八达岭） 怀柔区（慕田峪）) | Ming | 3-4h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Laoniuwan Great Wall (老牛湾长城（长城与黄河第一次握手）)UNESCOWhere the Great Wall first meets the Yellow River, a 1467 Ming fortress with a 1636 watchtower perched on a 100-meter cliff above the river’s first bend into Shanxi.(山西 忻州 偏关县 万家寨镇老牛湾村) | Ming | 2-3h · Best May-Oct |
| Niangzi Pass (娘子关)UNESCOThe only Great Wall pass named after a woman, Princess Pingyang, sister of Emperor Taizong of Tang, who stationed her all-female army here, a dramatic pass in the Taihang Mountains with waterfalls and streams.(山西 阳泉 平定 娘子关镇) | Warring States / Ming | 1.5-2h · Best Apr-Oct |
| Pingxingguan Pass (平型关（1937 年八路军首战大捷）)Where the Eighth Route Army won China’s first major victory against Japan in 1937, a Ming-dynasty pass above a narrow gorge where 1,000 Japanese troops and 100 trucks were ambushed, breaking the myth of Japanese invincibility.(山西 大同 灵丘县 白崖台乡（与忻州繁峙县交界）) | Ming (pass) / Modern (battlefield) | 2-3h · Best May-Oct |
| Pingyao City Wall (平遥城墙（1997 世遗·明清县城活化石）)UNESCOChina’s most complete Ming-Qing city wall, a 6.2km brick circuit with 72 watchtowers and 3,000 crenellations (symbolizing Confucius’ 72 disciples and 3,000 students), core of the 1997 UNESCO World Heritage city.(山西 晋中 平遥县 古城街道（平遥古城核心）) | Ming (principal) / Qing (repairs) | Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Shahukou Pass (杀虎口（走西口的核心通道）)The legendary “West Gate” of China’s great 19th-century migration wave, where Shanxi merchants walked to Inner Mongolia, and a name change from “Kill the Hu” to “Kill the Tiger” records an empire’s ethnic policy shift.(山西 朔州 右玉县 杀虎口旅游区（晋蒙交界处）) | Ming-Qing | 2h · Best May-Oct |
| Yanmen Pass (雁门关)UNESCOKnown as the first pass under heaven, and the pass through which the northern campaigns ran: Wei Qing and Huo Qubing marched out this way against the Xiongnu, and the Yang family generals fought here.(山西 忻州 代县 雁门山) | Warring States / Ming | 2-3h · Best Apr-Oct |
| Dajingmen Gate (大境门（万里长城第一门）)UNESCOThe only gate on the Great Wall named “men” rather than “guan”, a Qing-era trading gateway where the Wall turned from battlefield to Silk Road caravan route.(河北 张家口 桥西区 明德北路大境门景区) | Ming-Qing | 1-1.5h · Best May-Oct |
| Jinshanling Great Wall (金山岭长城)UNESCOThe photographers’ Great Wall, recorded as the most intact stretch of Ming wall, with inscribed bricks and complete defences, and a tenth of Badaling’s crowds.(河北 承德 滦平 巴克什营镇) | Ming | 3-4h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Shanhaiguan Pass (First Pass Under Heaven) (山海关（天下第一关）)UNESCOThe eastern gate of the Great Wall where mountains meet the sea, the only pass where the wall plunges into the Bohai Gulf, and the exact spot where Wu Sangui let the Qing army in during 1644.(河北 秦皇岛 山海关区 东大街 1 号（天下第一关）；老龙头位于关城南约 4km 渤海之滨；角山长城位于关城北约 3km) | Ming | Best Apr-May, Sep-Oct |
1 site
Northeast China (东北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Xingcheng City Wall (Ningyuan Garrison City) (兴城城墙（宁远卫城·袁崇焕宁远大捷）)China’s only intact Ming-dynasty garrison city, a square 3.2km wall where Yuan Chonghuan used European cannons to defeat Nurhaci’s 130,000 troops in 1626, wounding the Later Jin founder who died months later.(辽宁 葫芦岛 兴城市 古城街道（宁远卫城）) | Ming (principal) / Qing (repairs) | 2h · Best May-Jun, Sep-Oct |
8 sites
East China (华东)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Liugong Island Beiyang Navy Base (Jiawu War Memorial) (刘公岛甲午战争纪念地（北洋海军提督署）)The birth and death of China’s first modern navy, ranked as Asia’s largest fleet in 1888 and annihilated here in 1895, ending the Self-Strengthening Movement and reshaping East Asia.(山东 威海 环翠区 刘公岛（威海湾内，距市区 2.1 海里）) | Qing (Guangxu period) | Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Penglai Water Fortress (Beiwo City) (蓬莱水城（备倭城）)Listed as China’s best-preserved ancient naval base, a 650-year-old artificial harbour with sea gate, breakwater and fortress walls, where Qi Jiguang trained his anti-pirate fleet in the sixteenth century.(山东 烟台 蓬莱区 迎宾路 59 号（丹崖山东麓，蓬莱阁景区内）) | Ming (preceded by Song) | Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Qi Great Wall (齐长城遗址（中国现存最早的长城）)Recorded as China’s oldest surviving Great Wall, built 400 years before the First Emperor’s, a 2,700-year-old ridge of earth and stone crossing the Tai mountains from the Yellow Sea to the Yellow River.(山东（济南长清—青岛黄岛，横贯鲁中）；核心参观段：济南 莱芜区 雪野街道锦阳关) | Eastern Zhou (Spring & Autumn / Warring States) | 2h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Nanjing Ming City Wall (南京明城墙)Recorded as the longest ancient city wall on earth, 25 km of it surviving, with every brick stamped with its maker’s name as a 600-year-old quality control system, and a barbican gate listed as China’s largest.(江苏 南京 秦淮区 玄武区等) | Ming | 2-4h · Best Mar-Nov |
| Ganzhou Song Dynasty City Wall (赣州宋城墙)China’s only surviving Northern Song brick city wall, 3.6km of 960-year-old masonry where every brick bears a dated inscription, standing above the confluence of two rivers that form the Ganjiang.(江西 赣州 章贡区 建春门至八境台沿章贡两江段) | Northern Song (repaired Ming-Qing) | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Taizhou Prefecture City Wall (Jiangnan Great Wall) (台州府城墙（江南八达岭·戚继光抗倭与空心敌台）)The “Jiangnan Great Wall”, a 1,600-year-old mountain-river city wall where Qi Jiguang invented the hollow watchtower in the 1550s, a design he later took north to build the Great Wall at Badaling and Jinshanling.(浙江 台州 临海市 古城街道北山路揽胜门广场) | Ming-Qing (principal) / Eastern Jin (founding) | Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Fujian Tulou (Earthen Buildings) (福建土楼)UNESCOCircular rammed-earth houses up to 73 m across with walls one to two metres thick, each built to hold a whole clan. UNESCO-listed in 2008. The Four Dishes One Soup cluster and the 288-room round tulou are the set pieces.(福建 龙岩永定区 漳州南靖县 华安县（分布于闽西南山区，世遗 46 座核心楼）) | Ming-Qing | Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Nov |
| Hulishan Fort (胡里山炮台)A Guinness-certified record holder as the world’s largest surviving nineteenth-century coastal gun, an 87-tonne Krupp 280 mm piece still in its 1894 emplacement, which damaged a Japanese destroyer in 1937.(福建 厦门 思明区 曾厝垵路 2 号（厦门岛东南端海滨）) | Qing (Guangxu period) | 1.5-2h · Best Oct-Apr |
4 sites
Central China (华中)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Han Hangu Pass (汉函谷关（丝路世遗·杨仆徙关）)UNESCOThe “First Pass Westward” on the Silk Road from Luoyang, a 2,100-year-old Han earthen foundation topped by a 1923 Republican-era tower, moved 300 li by a general who refused to be “a man outside the pass.”(河南 洛阳 新安县 城关镇东关村（函谷关路）) | Western Han (foundation) / Republican (tower) | 1-1.5h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Jingzhou City Wall (荆州城墙（南国完璧·明清砖城）)The best-preserved Ming-Qing brick city wall in southern China, 11.28km around with 5 hidden soldier-caves and bricks inscribed with 600-year-old maker’s names, an early quality-control system legible on every wall.(湖北 荆州 荆州区 荆州古城历史文化旅游区) | Qing (principal) / Ming (foundation) | Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Xiangyang City Wall (Furen City) (襄阳城墙（夫人城）)China’s widest moat (250m) on a 7,331m Ming-dynasty city wall where Kublai Khan’s forces laid siege for six years and deployed the counterweight trebuchet that broke the Song dynasty.(湖北 襄阳 襄城区 滨江大道北街（临汉门入口）) | Ming (foundations Han-Song) | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Laosicheng Tusi Site (老司城遗址)UNESCOUNESCO-listed in 2015 as the largest and best-preserved tusi capital ruins in China, an 800-year-old Tujia chieftain capital, where Peng Yinan led 5,000 tribesmen against Japanese pirates.(湖南 湘西土家族苗族自治州 永顺县 灵溪镇老司城村（永顺县城东约 19 公里）) | Song-Yuan-Ming (Peng clan tusi) | 2-3h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct |
2 sites
South China (华南)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Humen Forts (Opium War Fortifications) (虎门炮台旧址)The 1839 destruction pits, where 2.37 million jin of opium were destroyed, and the 1841 forts where Admiral Guan Tianpei died against the Royal Navy. China’s first modern coastal defence works.(广东 东莞 虎门镇 珠江口东岸（威远炮台、靖远炮台、沙角炮台等）) | Qing | Best Oct-Apr |
| Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (开平碉楼与村落)UNESCO1,833 fortified towers rising from rice paddies, a unique fusion of Greek columns, Roman arches and Islamic domes built by overseas Chinese in the 1920s, UNESCO-listed in 2007 and the filming location of “Let the Bullets Fly.”(广东 江门 开平市 塘口镇自力村、百合镇马降龙、蚬冈镇锦江里等（分布于开平全市）) | Late Qing-Republic of China | Best Oct-Apr |
4 sites
Southwest China (西南)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Jianmen Pass (剑门关（蜀道咽喉·天下雄关）)A 300 m gravelstone gorge forming a natural pass, a 300m gravelstone gorge where Zhuge Liang built plank roads in 229 AD, with original 3rd-century cliff holes still visible, immortalized by Li Bai’s “Hard is the Road to Shu.”(四川 广元 剑阁县 剑门关镇（剑门蜀道核心区）) | Three Kingdoms (founding) / Contemporary (tower) | 3-4h · Best Mar-Jun, Sep-Nov |
| Taoping Qiang Village (桃坪羌寨)A Qiang stone village built as one connected structure: houses linked by 31 covered passages, water channelled under every floor, and two watchtowers standing about ten storeys.(四川 阿坝藏族羌族自治州 理县 杂谷脑河畔（成都西北约 180 公里，米亚罗风景区途中）) | Ming-Qing (village origins Han dynasty) | 2-3h · Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Nov |
| Hailongtun Tusi Fortress (海龙屯)UNESCOChina’s Machu Picchu, a 700-year-old tusi mountain fortress on a cliff top, UNESCO-listed in 2015, with nine gate passes, a 36-step stone ladder and palace ruins, where the 700-year Yang clan tusi dynasty fell to 240,000 Ming troops in 1600.(贵州 遵义 汇川区 高坪镇龙岩山（遵义市区西北约 20 公里）) | Song-Ming (Yang clan tusi) | 3-4h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Diaoyu Fortress (Diaoyu Cheng) (钓鱼城遗址)The mountain fortress where the Mongol khan Möngke died in 1259, halting the Mongol invasion of Europe and Africa, called “the place where God’s whip was broken”, with 780-year-old Song walls, gates and a gunpowder foundry still intact.(重庆 合川区 东城半岛钓鱼山（嘉陵江、渠江、涪江三江汇流处）) | Southern Song | 3-4h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
8 sites
Northwest China (西北)
| Site | Period | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Han Great Wall (Dunhuang Segment) (敦煌汉长城)UNESCOThe “other Great Wall”, a 2,100-year-old Han-dynasty rampart built of sand layered with tamarisk and reed, preserved by desert salt, with original beacon towers and 2,000-year-old signal-fire fuel stacks still standing in place.(甘肃 酒泉 敦煌市 玉门关遗址区内，当谷燧段为核心点；西起湾窑墩（西湖自然保护区），沿疏勒河经玉门关向东延伸) | Han（Western Han） | 1-1.5h |
| Jiayuguan Pass (嘉峪关)UNESCOThe “First Pass Under Heaven” at the western end of the Great Wall, where the Silk Road left China for Central Asia, a lonely fortress standing in the Gobi Desert for 650 years.(甘肃 嘉峪关 峪泉镇) | Ming | 2-3h · Best May-Oct |
| Suoyang City Ruins (锁阳城遗址（丝路世遗·唐代瓜州城防）)UNESCOA perfectly preserved Tang-dynasty frontier city on the Silk Road, earthen walls, a Buddhist temple ruin, and a 1,400-year-old military irrigation system, all standing in the Gobi since the 7th century.(甘肃 酒泉 瓜州县 锁阳城镇东南戈壁（桥子乡南坝村）) | Han-Tang (Tang principal) | 2-3h · Best May-Jun, Sep-Oct |
| Yangguan Pass (阳关)The frontier post behind Wang Wei’s farewell poem, the one Chinese schoolchildren still learn: west of Yangguan there are no old friends. A lone Han beacon tower stands in the dunes, with 2,000-year-old potsherds and arrowheads scattered around it.(甘肃 酒泉 敦煌市 城西南约 70km 阳关镇（原南湖乡）古董滩，墩墩山烽燧为核心点) | Han（Western Han） | 1.5-2h |
| Yumen Pass (Jade Gate Pass) (玉门关)UNESCOA 2,100-year-old rammed-earth fort standing alone in the Gobi, the Jade Gate of the Silk Road and the subject of Wang Zhihuan’s line about the spring wind. Han bamboo slips were excavated on site.(甘肃 酒泉 敦煌市 城西北约 90km 戈壁，小方盘城为核心点) | Han（Western Han） | |
| Tongguan Pass (潼关故城（关中东大门·1960 年淹没的千年雄关）)The legendary eastern gate of Guanzhong where dynasties rose and fell, now a haunting ruin, largely submerged by the 1960 Sanmenxia Dam, with surviving Han-Qing wall fragments telling 1,800 years of warfare.(陕西 渭南 潼关县 秦东镇（秦晋豫三省交界，黄渭洛三河交汇处）) | Han-Qing (ruins) | 1.5-2h · Best Mar-May, Sep-Nov |
| Xi’an City Wall (西安城墙)Listed as the largest and most complete ancient city wall in China, 13.74 km around, wide enough to cycle on top, with views over a city that was capital to 13 dynasties.(陕西 西安 碑林区 明城墙范围) | Ming | Best Mar-Nov |
| Zhenbeitai Tower (镇北台)UNESCORecorded as the largest watchtower on the Great Wall, a 30-metre four-storey command post, beside a tribute and trade town where Chinese and Mongol merchants did business instead of fighting.(陕西 榆林 榆阳区 红山) | Ming | 1h · Best Apr-Oct |
Which of These Are Worth the Detour
Some of these sit inside cities and take two hours; others are a half day off the expressway and worth it only if the period interests you. Tell our local team your route and they will say which ones fit and which are better left.