The Great Wall

You cannot think of China and not think of the Great Wall. We were all taught in school that the Great Wall is the largest man-made construction visible from space. We know it is old. We hear it is many thousands of kilometres in length.

These facts do NOTHING to prepare you for actually seeing it. The statistics, the guide's blurb about it being used to stop the Mongel hoards, the dates of construction all become fuzzy and impossible to process when you see the wall itself. It's huge. It stretches as far as the eye can see and it crosses the most challenging of landscapes.

WOW is a word that does not do it justice.

   

I travelled from Beijing with a tour group including Kirsten from Germany, Jan from the Netherlands and Scott from Canada. As with all Chinese trips, we did not go straight to the wall. We went straight to a government endorsed Jade factory instead (and a government endorsed silk factory on the way back.) I resisted buying anything, despite the professional sales pitches about good luck charms, historic souvenirs, 100% jade bargains and the massive health benefits of wearing jade. I am adhering to a 'no-buy' policy, based on three simple facts: 1) I have to watch my spending, 2) I am the world's worst haggler and 3) I have to carry it around the world!

Eventually, after a detour to the tomb of a Ming Dynasty Emperor (which was rather scenic), we arrived at the town of Badaling, where the Chinese government have recently installed a cable car to take local and international tourists half way up the mountainside (650m), to a point on the wall where they can choose to walk up or down. I choose up. Being a Saturday, I was not alone. 

                                        

 

    

After an hour of vertigo inducing climbing, I had reached 1,300m and the views into the distance were mind boggling. So was the steepness of the steps and the sheer slopes of the wall path itself. Huge lengths of the wall are simply polished expanses of stone, buffed by the tread of millions of feet. I had to hold on to the hand-rail many times to help pull myself up or to stop myself from sliding down. Fortunately, the majority of the Chinese tourists who had decided to climb the Wall on the same day as me, were far behind, struggling to walk in their heals and fashionable shoes and puff their cigarettes and eat at the same time. Only the healthiest few (and a larger number of Europeans) had walked to the point I had. My smile belies the fact that actually I was dreading the return back down to the cable car!

                  

                   

I have heard that the Great Wall is the number one tourist attraction in China, a fact that does not surprise me. It is certainly a most remarkable feat of engineering and an absolute 'must-see'. Even though I visited on a Saturday, Badaling was not too busy, though others have told me that in tourist seasons, weekends are best avoided. 

Now for those of you who have enjoyed learning new information from my blogs (though I cannot gaurantee it is all 100% accurate) the following may be of interest.

Great Wall facts that I can recall from my guide (whose name was Bruce Lee!):

Two types of tower dominate the wall, placed alternately every 500m. Watch towers serve as observation points and signalling stations, whilst the larger guard towers were home to soldiers, weapons and resources.

At the highest point, the wall is 2,800m above sea level. During the centuries, many separate sections of wall have been built, though three lengths dominate: one 5,000km in length, one 6,000km and the third 10,000km.

The Chinese have a second name for the Great Wall - they call it the 'longest cemetery,' in reference to the thousands of forced labourers who died during it's construction and were simply buried where they died. Men were forced to work on the wall from the age of 16 until they reached the age of 55.

Internet Great Wall Factoids (if you are an anorak like me and are still interested):

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire from invasion.

Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC. They were later joined together, made bigger and stronger and are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall.

Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced (though the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty - 14th Century onwards.)

Other purposes of the Great Wall have included: border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. It was also used as a transportation corridor.

The main Great Wall line stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.

A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi).

The Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built by humans. In places it is 9m wide and 8m high.

  

While some parts of the wall have been preserved or renovated, other parts have been vandalised or destroyed to make way for construction. Due to erosion, there is a section of the Great Wall that may disappear in the next 20 years. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), many bricks of the Great Wall were taken away to use in building homes, farms or reservoirs.

The labor force to build the Great Wall included soldiers, forcibly recruited peasants, convicts and war prisoners. It is estimated that more than one million people died during construction.

Rumours that astronauts can see the Great Wall of China from the Moon with the naked eye are untrue, as it cannot be seen from space without aid.

It was classified as one of the world's great national and historical sites by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in 1987.