China's Great Wall longer than previously thought

Just like the Pyramids, the Great Wall is an incredible achievement, especially because it was built on top of mountains and ridges and without the use of heavy equipment.

Let me guess.. it circles the Arctic and goes into the middle east so China now gets to claim those too?

It's a huge undertaking and kudo's to them.
I still believe the Romans kicked their asses for scale and ability but that's personal.

The Romans were great engineers and built a pretty kickass set of roads in Western Europe, but the Chinese built some pretty amazing stuff too, like the Grand Canal, over 1800 kms long when it was completed (only 1100 kms today), the world's longest city walls (33 km long), and of course the Great Wall.

In the end, both empires built a lot of amazing stuff for their citizens, most of which survives to this day, which is impressive as well. I doubt many of our 'modern' buildings would last more than a century or two.

Most modern buildings built within the last fifty years would probably not last more than another fifty years without regular maintenance.