China Built a Big, Beautiful Wall, Too. It Failed.

The Great Wall visited by tourists today is the handiwork of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was primarily constructed in the mid- to late 16th century. The common perception is that the wall was conceived as a single, massive infrastructure project to protect China’s tumultuous northern border from foreign invaders. The Great Wall was built to a great degree by default, by a political system too paralyzed by infighting to come up with anything better.