Less is more is definitely not the principle behind the Great Wall of China. Not content with being the world`s largest manmade structure, the mammoth landmark has? just got even bigger!

΄The first formal measurement of the Wall, built to fend off invaders between 475 BC and 1644 AD, has shown that it`s more than twice as long as previous estimates. Stretched out along the Equator, the Wall would in fact go halfway round the globe.

Xinhua agency reports that partial results of the survey announced back in 2009 put the wall systems built during the Ming Dynasty at 8,851 kilometers long.

Archeologists then worked to establish the length of the pre-Ming Dynasty wall systems across the country.

China`s State Administration of Cultural Heritage has now finally announced that the wall in fact stretches for 21,196 kilometers. This figure includes the Ming and pre-Ming stretches of the Great Wall.

The archaeological survey reportedly took five years to carry out. Visible from space, the Great Wall of China was put on UNESCO`s World Heritage list in 1987. Many of the walls are in bad shape, according to Xinhua. In some sections, only 8% of the walls from the Ming Dynasty are in good condition.
sections: Culture