Information about the Great Wall
The Great Wall is one of the largest building construction projects ever completed. It is constructed of masonry rocks and packed earth. It took approximately 10 years to complete. Every possible material available at the time was used from mud and reeds to the finest mortar bricks ever made. Much of it still remains intact centuries later.
Appearing as a long serpentine dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, and mountains. It stretches approximately 6,700 kilometers from east to west of China and crossing five provinces. The history of the Great Wall spans more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have even entirely disappeared. However, it is still one of the most sought attractions in the entire world owing to its majesty and historical significance.
The construction of the wall began during the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) and Warring States period (475-221 BC) during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty as a defensive fortification by the three states: Yan, Zhao and Qin. It began as independent walls for these different states when it was first built to defend their own territories. It did not become the "Great" wall until the Qin Dynasty.
Ying Zheng, the ruler of the Qin state crushed the other rival states. He founded the first centralized and unified dynasty in Chinese history. He declared himself Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. The word Qin pronounced "chin" is the source of the name China. Thus began the reign of the first emperor of China and the beginning of the Great Wall. To consolidate the country and ward off invasion by ethnic minority tribes in the north, he had the walls linked and extended, giving rise to the 5,000-kilometer-long Qin Great Wall. The construction continued for centuries and employed the work of millions. The later dynasties from Han (206 BC - AD 220) to Ming (1368-1644) kept building and improving the wall, extending it more than 1,000 kilometers to today's scale.
Many people are familiar with the claim that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space or from the moon with the naked eye. This is simply not true. From a low orbit of the earth, many artificial objects are visible. The Great Wall of China can certainly be seen from space, but it is not unique in that regard. When leaving the earth's orbit and acquiring an altitude of more than a few thousand miles, no man-made objects are visible at all. Furthermore, from the moon, even the continents are barely visible.
Badaling Section of the Great Wall
The Badaling section of the wall is located about 70 kilometers northwest from the city center of Beijing. The function of this section in history was to protect the Juyongguan Pass, along with the Guan'guo gorge. The total length of the Badaling section has an average height of 8 meters, the highest part is 15 meters. The top at 6.5 meters wide will permit five horses to be ridden abreast.
Badaling was the earliest section to be open to tourists among all the parts of the Great Wall. It was authentically restored and in 1957 was open officially to tourists. 130 million tourists from China and abroad have visited this section of the wall. Badaling shows the Great Wall as it would have looked originally. It stretches for 4.8 kilometers along rolling mountains and has 19 strategically located watchtowers.
This section of the wall was made by huge bar stones. Some of the stones are 2 meters high with a weight of 100 kilograms. Inside the wall is made of mud and stone block. The top floor is paved with square bricks which made the floor very orderly and smooth. On the highest place signal fire platforms were set to send warning signals in ancient China. One fire with smoke means the enemy is about 100 men, two fires 500 men, 3 fires more than 1000 men. This way the persons who were warned were able to know the state of the enemy.
As we set off for the day to see our first section of the Great Wall we were very excited. We were soon faced with disappointment as we were driving into thicker and thicker smog. It was blowing in an eastward direction from Beijing and towards the Badaling section of the wall. We could hardly see the mountains on each side of the road. We had already been in Beijing for quite a few days. We had some very clear days while we were there. We should have taken the opportunity to see the wall then, but we thought we would leave it until the end. The best for last attitude I guess. Now we only had a few days left and would have to take what ever viewing weather was given to us. We arrived at the bus stop and continued to walk up the road to the entrance. Surprise, a Great Wall Starbucks. Is there no where this company will not build? Well might as well stop in for a drink first. If you think a Great Wall Starbucks is tacky, you should see the set up they have put on part of the wall. Down below a section of the wall you can take a set of stairs to where you can get a photo taken. They have camels adorned with decorations and medieval costumes you can put on. China seems to cheese up a lot of incredible sites with this sort of thing. There's also a bob sled/ roller coaster ride that goes from a section of the wall to the parking lot.
We went through the entrance and started up with the hoards of people to get on the wall. This is the most touristy and visited section. It is chock full of vendors trying to sell you souvenirs as you make the climb. On a clear day, it does provide beautiful views of the wall meandering through the mountains, but you have to be prepared to rub shoulders with the mobs along the way. We tried to enjoy it the best we could, but the smog was so bad that we could only see about 200 feet of the wall ahead at any given time. We had to laugh at women climbing up and down steep sections in their high heels. It seems Chinese women like to be fashionable in all circumstances, even hiking the Great Wall. They were slipping and twisting their ankles as their feet would collapse to one side. Some of the wall parts are really steep, it takes your breath away as you hike up step after step. After walking for about 2 hours we decided to take a break and sit for a while. The smog was about the same, we were going to decide whether to keep going or turn back. We ate some snacks we brought with us and sat for about 45 minutes. To our surprise the smog actually got worse. We couldn't see anything in front of us. We decided to go back, there was no purpose in continuing onwards. We had a few days left and planned to try out some other sections of the wall, hopefully the views would be better.
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