Yes it is！
Last month I went on a school trip to the Great Wall of China. The trip began at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning and involved a convoy of 10 buses travelling to the Great Wall. Now I should mention that the vast majority of students at BNU live on campus. I, on the other hand, live about a half hour bike ride away, which makes for an early Saturday morning. This also brings up a good point, that I have yet to formally introduce my school and classmates. Therefore the subject of my next post will be my school and classmates.
Now back to the Great Wall.There are a few different options when travelling to the Great Wall. You can go to one of four major ‘tourist’ locations near Beijing, each about 1 1/2 to 2 hours drive from the Wall: Juyong, Ba Da Ling, Mutianyu and Jin Shan Ling. Or you can hire a guide to take you to one of the more remote parts of the Wall. I have been to the Great Wall twice now. The first time was to Ba Da Ling, the second was to Juyong Guan. I can say that Juyong Guan is a much more pleasant experience: there are less people, less shops and in general it is much less touristy and more about the Wall. That being said, the Wall is an amazing sight and, regardless of which location you go to, you will be awestruck.
A quick note about going to a remote part of the Wall. It sounds very cool and probably is, as long as you have a good guide. But the Wall is very old and in some locations is in great disrepair. Climbing on these parts of the Wall causes even greater damage. So as cool as it may be, consideration should be given to those who will come after you?
So we arrived at the Great Wall at about 10:00 a.m., disembarked and began the climb up the mountain to get to the Great Wall.Yes, it is a bit of climb to get to get there. Once we reached the Wall, we continued our climb because the Wall rises and falls with the mountainous terrain. After about a 2 hour walk we reached the highest point, or at least the highest point we were prepared to go to that day. I looked out and tried to imagine what it must have felt like to guard this Wall all those centuries ago and what it must have felt like to see the barbarian hordes coming across the land. Then I realized I was looking the wrong way, and if I did see hordes it wouldn’t matter because they would be half way to Beijing by then. So I turned around. The view and the feel of the place was something I recommend everyone to experience at least once.
To wrap up, here is some basic information about the Great Wall.
The Great Wall was built between the 5th century BC and the 17th Century AD to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from attack. The majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty (a common theme in Beijing).
The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west and is made up of sections of wall and natural defences such as hills and rivers.There is no interpretation offered at this part of the Great Wall (I.e an audio tour) other than some display panels located at major points. The panels are written in both Chinese and English and provide some interesting context.
Great photos
Thanks!!
It is something you should see, one day.
Pretty cool James! So how effective was the wall actually? And do you know how long it took to build, how many people estimated? It’s a wonder of the world, isn’t it?
By the way – miss you guys very much and all the very best for 2010! When is the post re: New Year’s in Beijing coming, plus photos of the huge snow storm you just got? xxxooo
The concept of the wall was first conceived in the 5th century BC, to keep out the tribes from the north, most notably the Mongols and the Manchus. Many renditions of the wall have been built over time, with the most of the current wall having been built during the Ming Dynasty.
The wall was effective in keeping out the sporadic attacks from northern tribes, but in the end China was conquered by both the Mongols and the Manchus. But this had more to do with the strength (or lack their of) of the particular dynasties as apposed to the Wall it self.