http://www.bangkokpost.net/topstories/tops...s.php?id=119988

A Wonder-ful World

Lisbon, Portugal (Agencies)

It's not just a Great Wall - China's marvel has been proclaimed as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Angkor Wat of Cambodia did not make the cut.

Along with the Great Wall of China the new 7 Wonders are:

- India's Taj Mahal

- Rome's Colosseum

- the ancient site of Petra in Jordan

- Peru's Machu Picchu

- Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer

- Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid

The pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, were assured of retaining their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete.

All seven new wonders, including the latter thhree architectural marvels from Latin America, were chosen in a global poll released early on Sunday, Thailand time.

About 100 million votes were cast by the Internet and cellphone text messages, said New7Wonders, the nonprofit organisation that conducted the poll.

The seven beat out 14 other nominated landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island in the Pacific, the Statue of Liberty, the Acropolis and Russia's Kremlin and Australia's Sydney Opera House.

The Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House were near the bottom of the list from the start.

Also among the losing candidates were Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.

The campaign to name new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. Almost 200 nominations came in, and the list was narrowed to the 21 most-voted by the start of 2006. Organisers admit there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite.

covered in depth in this thread in the same forum

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