China Part 2 — The Great Wall

OK, so I wasn’t able to keep up with the real time posts in China again. However, again, we have a huge number of pictures, so there will be a number of posts.
Next stop on the itinerary was one of the main reasons we went to China, to visit the Great Wall of China, truly one of the wonders of the world.

For those who don’t know much about the Great Wall (other than it’s really long wall in China). It was built and rebuilt at various times throughout history. However, it was started back in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) when China was first unified by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, which makes the wall over 2,000 years old. They spent 10 years of forced labor and a massive human toll to build the original wall. This of course was very unpopular with the common people, since they were the ones sacrificing much and was one of the reasons that the Qin Dynasty was so short lived. However, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was when the wall took its modern form. During that time, over 100 years of effort went into making an impenetrable barrier, although it never really served as one. The idea was that at each guard house, sentries would light a fire to signal back to the capital Peking that an enemy was near (1 fire for 100 troops, 2 for 200 and 3 for 300 or more). As Gehghis Khan supposedly said, “The strength of a wall depends on the courage of those who defend it.” So, while it was never really impenetrable, it did serve a useful purpose of a convenient path to cross rough mountian terrain. Unfortunately, after the Ming Dynasty, the wall was largely forgotten and sections turned back into dust. Had not the tourism market resurrected it in the 20th century, the whole thing may have disappeared entirely. Now, there are several sections that have been restored to their original condition, as well as some that are in their more natural state. The place we chose to visit was called Mutianyu. It is a section 90 km northwest of Beijing and is about 2.5 km long. It was first built during the Northern Dynasties (386-581), but rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty. This section is between 7 and 8 meters high and 4-5 meters wide at the top.
Ok, enough description, here are our pictures of the Great Wall of China.



At the end of the wall, there was a rampart at the top of 400 stairs that offered a commanding and serene view of the surrounding area. Anna found this perch a very agreeable spot to watch the few other tourists climb the wall.






As you can see, after centuries of neglect, the wall has deteriorated quite significantly.





You can see one of the guard towers here.

There was even one hardy vendor who was willing to bring snacks and drinks up the mountain to hungry and thirsty tourists (with a little help from his friends here). Amazingly, the price was about the same as other places much further down.




After we finished exploring the wall (although we could have easily stayed and explored a couple more sections), our guide and driver were ready to take us to our next location. Let me take a couple sentences to say just how nice it was to have a personal escort throughout our time in China. Normally, as you probably figured out by now, we like to blaze our own trail and explore on our own. However, in China we decided to use a personal guide and driver. It made things so much easier. Between our everpresent Lonely Planet guidebook (which is our favorite travel companion) and our guide, every question we had was answered. 🙂 Plus, a driver was there to drop us off as close as possible and wisk us away when we finished.
Here they are, ready to head back to Beijing.

While China is certainly still a third world country, it has a couple unique traffic features. While not unique to China, they are certainly interesting to note (and not a bad idea for the US as well).



We also stopped by the Ming Tombs. This is the final resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming Dynasty Emperors. It had a very serene Sacred Road that led to the tomb.

However, perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the tour was a trip into Dingling. It’s the underground tomb of Emperor Wanli. You can see from this picture that people liked to throw money on his throne.

However, apparently, people didn’t feel the same way about his wife…

This is an interesting perspective looking back into the burial chambers.

After dinner, we came outside to this beautiful full rainbow.

The Great Wall was without question our favorite site to see in China. So, this was an outstanding day. 🙂
Not to worry, there will be several other posts of our China adventures.
–Jim