Beijing - The Great Wall of China 长城

7/4/2014 Beijing, The Great Wall (长城)

Aaron:

people mountain people sea on the famous Great Wall

We went to the Great Wall in an early morning.

map shows walls built
in different dynasty
joined together

The Great Wall of China is a series of forts made of stone, brick, clay, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east to west line across the northern borders of China in order to protect the Chinese Empire against invasions. Several walls were being built as early as the 700 BC. They were later joined together and made bigger and stronger. The wall that was built between 220-206 B.C. is really  famous because it was built by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇). There isn’t a lot left standing. Since then, the Great Wall has been rebuilt and strengthened. The majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty. The actual walls are 6,259 km (3,889 miles)  long. Convert the length into Chinese measurement is over 10 thousand li. So the full name of the Great Wall in Chinese is 10 thousand long (wan li chang cheng 万里长城). It is like an enormous dragon resting on the mountain top guarding China.
 

Shanghai Gateway

The other purposes for the Great Wall have been border controls, on duty for goods transported along the Silk Road (丝绸之路), encouragement of trade and the control of immigration.

watch tower

The defenses of the Great Wall were strengthened by the construction of watch towers (烽火台), troop barracks, garrison station, signaling capabilities through smoke or fire. Their way of the fire signal is that there are lots of watch towers that light up flames to warn the enemies are coming. When the soldiers on the closest tower see it,  they light their fire and so on.

stairs

There isn’t much of the wall open to the public now. We went up on a huge set of stairs in different sizes, some are big, some are small. When we got to the top, we saw a  dead end. After taking some pictures, we walked back. It was a super hot day. Dad took us to see three watch towers while mom stay under the shades and had a rest.

model of the Great Wall

underground mini model of terracotta soldiers

Our final destination was the museum. I saw weapons, musical instruments, potteries, and money from the Qin and Ming Dynasty. There were models of 9 gateways on display. The 9 gateways connect China to outsider. They are Shanhai Gateway (山海关), Huangya Gateway (黄崖关), Juyong Gateway (居庸关), Zijing Gateway (紫荆关), Pingxing Gateway (平型关), Niangzi Gateway (娘子关), Yanmen Gateway (雁门关), Jiayu Gateway (嘉峪关), and Yumen Gateway (玉门关). Below the models, there was a map of the Badaling part of the Great Wall. At last, I saw an underground mini model of the Terracotta soldiers that I could walk on.

The Great Wall is an excellent landmark for China. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. I felt happy after going there.



an enormous dragon resting
on mountain top
guarding China

Gordon:

On a hot day, we went to the Great Wall. Did you know that the Great Wall is so long? It can cover the entire Northern part of China! There are 8 gateways. Nobody could break in.



ten thousand li long wall



my brother and me
on the Great Wall

my brother and me
on the Great Wall

At the top, there were words. I think it was the soldiers who built the wall. There are also lots of watch towers. When enemies attack, soldiers on the wall set up big fire for everybody to know. It was such a wonderful day.