Chinese Walls and Fortifications

Chinese walls and fortifications are defensive structures that protected cities, routes, passes, and frontier regions across different periods of Chinese history. Chinese fortification design combined walls, towers, gates, earthworks, and strategic relationships with terrain, using rammed earth, brick, or stone. Great Wall of China, Xi'an City Wall Xi'an, and Jiayu Pass Jiayuguan illustrate contrasting scales of defensive planning and construction.