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Great Wall
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The Great Wall is at the top of the "New Seven Wonders of the World" list.
China's more than 5,000-km-long engineering and architectural marvel1 is followed by the pink-colored ruins of Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, and the Taj Mahal in India.
A private Swiss foundation launched a worldwide poll in January to choose the new top seven wonders from 21 sites. A jury short-listed the 21 from the original 77 selected by the foundation. Nearly 100 million votes were cast before the results were declared in the Portuguese3 capital of Lisbon on Saturday night.
The top contenders that lost out are the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, the Stonehenge in Britain, Angkor Vat2 in Cambodia, the statues on Easter Island and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The private campaign was the brainchild of Swiss filmmaker and museum curator Bernard Weber, who said his initiative seeks to recreate the popularity of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Only one of the original seven wonders, the Pyramids of Egypt, can still be seen. The others, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria were all stories.
"The real cultural and historical value of a world heritage site should not be determined4 by online voting but by what they mean to human beings," said a netizen on popular portal www.sina.com.cn.
China Great Wall Society's Deputy Secretary Zhang Ji welcomed the results. The Great Wall's name on the list could help preservation5 efforts, he said.
Han Guowei, a society official, addressed the gathering6 in Lisbon and appreciated the efforts of the organizers and people who voted for the Great Wall. He welcomed friends from across the world to experience the "eternity7 and greatness" of the Great Wall.
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长城跻身“世界新七大奇迹”之首！
除中国的万里长城外，粉红色的约旦佩特拉古城、巴西里约热内卢的基督像、秘鲁的马丘比丘印加遗址、墨西哥的奇琴伊察玛雅城邦遗址、意大利的古罗马斗兽场和印度的泰姬陵也入选“世界新七大奇迹”。
今年1月，瑞士一个民间基金会发起了一项面向全球的“世界新七大奇迹”评选活动，入围的21个世界名胜古迹是评委会从基金会筛选出的77个古迹中评选出来的。此次评选活动共收到近1亿张选票，评选结果于上周六晚在葡萄牙的首都里斯本揭晓。
希腊的雅典卫城、英国的巨石阵、柬埔寨的吴哥窟、复活节岛巨人像和巴黎的埃菲尔铁塔等几大热门侯选古迹未能入选。
这一民间评选活动的想法是瑞士电影制作人、博物馆馆长伯纳德·韦伯提出的，他说他的初衷是想重振世界七大奇迹的人气。
在原先的七大奇迹中，除埃及金字塔依然屹立在地球上之外，巴比伦的“空中花园”、希腊奥林匹亚的宙斯神像、月亮女神阿尔特弥斯的神庙、摩索拉斯陵墓、罗得岛太阳神铜像和亚历山大灯塔其它几大奇迹都已被毁坏。
新浪网一位网友称：“一个世界文化遗址真正的文化和历史价值不应该由网友投票来决定，而应由它对人类的意义来决定。”
中国长城学会的副秘书长张骥对评选结果表示欢迎。他说，长城入选“世界新七大奇迹”有助于保护长城工作的开展。
中国长城学会官员韩国威在里斯本的揭晓仪式上发表了讲话。他对主办方和为长城投票的人们所做出的努力表示了感谢。同时，他还欢迎世界各地的朋友来长城亲自感受它的“不朽与伟大”。
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