The Great Wall of China

                “不到长城非好汉” 

“A man who has never climbed up the Great Wall is not a true man” 

This weekend, I went to the Great Wall of China (长城).  The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Construction of the Great Wall started during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States (770 BCE-221 BCE) period. Then during the Qin Dynasty, the fortifications by various states were all connected and became the Great Wall. The wall was designed to defend against the north and later dynasties kept expanding it. The current Great Wall of China dates back to approximately the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and runs from the Shanhai Pass (east) to Jiayu Pass (west). 

I went to the Mutianyu Great Wall. It is one of the best-preserved sections of the Great Wall as well as being very touristy. This section is beautiful as it is surrounded by mountain tops. There are also several watchtowers along this part of the wall. These watchtowers were used to send messages to other parts of the wall. If someone was attacking during the day, one of the watchtowers would send up a smoke signal. They did this by starting a fire and then putting it out which left only the smoke. During the night if someone was attacking, a watchtower would light a fire so that the other watchtowers would know and be ready. Some watchtowers have two stories while others just have one.  

We ended up climbing up about 136 flights of stairs to get to the top of the Wall. That was also the shortest climb though it didn’t feel like it at the time. Also, at Mutianyu, there was a cable car that could take you up and down from the Great Wall if you didn’t want to climb as well as a slide that you could take to go down the Wall.  

Nothing beats the view from the Great Wall though. Even if it was a pain to get to the top, once there it was stunning. It helps that we had clear skies which made for the perfect picture weather.  

再见! 

Until next week! 

马乐