The Great Wall of China (Chinese: wan li changcheng, “Ten Thousand-Mile Wall”) was, in Europe from the second half of the 16th century, known, marveled at, and described as “the world-famous Wall that divides the Empire of China from Great Tartary” [1. 1614] (Chinese world).
The much-quoted remark that the Great Wall is more imposing than all the Seven Wonders of the World put together derives from the Jesuit missiona…