Great Wall- China's national pride!

Beijing, July 9: The Great Wall leaps to the top of the new seven wonders of the world list has restored China's sense of national pride and eased frazzled nerves, state media said today.

The seven winners were announced in Lisbon after what is likely to be the biggest online poll at www.new7wonders.com involving 100 million voters.

The other winners are, Petra in Jordan, Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, Mexico's Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, the Colosseum in Rome and the Taj Mahal in India.

''The Swiss-orchestrated poll has been constantly testing our nationals' nerves ever since it was launched eight years ago,'' the China Daily said in an editorial.

The New7Wonders Foundation was set up in 2001 by Swiss-Canadian adventurer Bernard Weber.

''With the competition heating up last year, more and more Chinese were put on tenterhooks by the ever-changing results of the voting. At one stage when votes for the Great Wall lagged behind the top seven candidates, some even lashed out at the validity and fairness of the competition,'' the China Daily said.

''Now that the Great Wall has won, so has our national pride.'' The poll organisers say the contest was a chance to level the global cultural playing field and recognise the achievements of societies outside Europe and the Middle East.

Only one European site, the Colosseum, was picked. The Eiffel Tower and the Acropolis had also been contenders.

The ancient Greeks chose the original Seven Wonders but only one of those remains the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

The Great Wall snakes its way across more than 6,400 km and receives an estimated 10 million visitors a year, mostly to the mere 10 km opened to tourists at Badaling, the nearest stretch to Beijing.

The United Nations listed the wall as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Reuters>