Henan province:Great Wall of the State of Chu, 'Father of the Great Wall'

Henan province is not located on the boundary between the agricultural and nomadic regions of ancient China, so there are no remnants of the east-west Great Wall built by the unified dynasties (the Qin, Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties).

Surviving to date are the Great Walls dating back to the states of Chu, Zhao and Wei in Henan province. Chu (11th century - 223 BC), Zhao (403-222 BC) and Wei (403-225 BC) were vassal states with independent sovereignty under the rule of the king of the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century - 256 BC). The total length of these defenses is more than 400 kilometers (including natural precipitous mountains and lost sections). Among all these sections, there are a total of 20 separate remains, such as castles, beacons, city sites and barracks.

The Great Wall of the State of Chu in Henan is considered to be one of the oldest in China, dating back to more than 2,600 years ago, and is known as the "father of the Great Wall" by archaeologists. In the absence of archaeological evidence, the existence of the Chu Great Wall had been questioned. After an archaeological survey team walked hundreds of kilometers to explore and research, the existence of the Great Wall of Chu has been proven, and the length of the remaining wall and the total length of the defense system have been measured.

The Great Wall of the State of Chu does not look like a continuous wall, but a series of intermittent rammed earthen walls and fortresses built according to the shape of the mountain. When the ridge is steep and dangerous enough, there is no need to build a wall.

The total length of the remnants of the Great Wall of the State of Chu is 30.51 kilometers. The length of disappeared sections due to gradual destruction over the years is 25.37 kilometers. The natural precipitous mountain sections are 81.34 kilometers long. Therefore, the whole length of the Chu Great Wall defense system is 137.22 kilometers.