Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China - all my photos
One of the Wonders of the World, and apparently visible from space. This is the Great Wall of China. Building on the Great Wall started around the 7th century BC! The Wall, which was built in 220 BC to 206 BC was the first real wall. Very little of this wall still remains. Over the years, work on the Great Wall continued and much of the modern Wall was built around 1368 - 1644 by various dynasties.
Typical watch tower and wall

The main purpose of the wall was for defence along the boarder and was mainly built to keep the Mongolian raiders out. It was also used for boarder control as well as for tax purposes along the silk route. The wall is connected with various watch towers and barracks for the troops who were manning the wall.

The Wall is massive. It is not called the Great Wall because it is small! An archaeological survey has measured the entire wall with all its branches and found that the wall was 21 196 km long - not a small Wall at all!

The parts of the wall closest to Beijing have been restored and well looked after as this is a major tourist attraction. However, much of the wall is in disrepair.

I have has the privilege of going to the Great wall on three different occasions, and I must say, each trip has been a spacial experience. The wall is relatively close to Beijing, but it is still pretty much a day trip. There are a few different areas of the wall which are most frequently visited. One of the aspects of the wall which is really impressive is that it was not built of a flat plane. The wall is built on the hills and basically follows the line on the top of the hills. It was and amazing fortification and would have been very difficult to get through. Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227) was the only leader to successfully breach the Great Wall of China. This was the only time in the 2700 year history of the Great Wall. He managed to Breach the wall not only once, but a few times.



The main tourist sites to the Great wall from Beijing include the Badaling section, Mutianyu section, Juyong Pass and the Jinshanling section.

At the Mutianyu section, there is a cable car ride to the top of the mountain to reach the Great wall. There is an amazing slide rail ride to get down again. A must do. At the end of the ride, there are some Chinese worriers in traditional dress.  I saw the same guy there on two different occasions.

My first trip was to the Juyong Pass section, and the other two trips were to the Mutianyu section of the wall.

A visit to the Great wall, to any of the sections is a "must do" if you are ever in Beijing. It is about an 1 and half drive from Beijing and a trip to the Wall is a popular day trip and can easily be arranged by the concierge of most of the hotels.



Great air pollution in China  

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