In Dandong, a view from a broken bridge

Visitors to Dandong, a picturesque city near the border between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), will discover peaceful landscapes and the opportunity to explore a recently discovered section of the Great Wall.

It was not until the early 1990s that historians and archaeologists in Liaoning province discovered remnants of the far northern reaches of the Great Wall at Hushan, or Tiger Mountain.

A 12-km drive from the center of Dandong takes visitors to Tiger Mountain, where stretches of the renovated wall rise from an imposing gate tower.

At the top of the mountain, three beacon towers on this restored section of the Great Wall overlook the Yalujiang River and the DPRK.

If they could view it from the sky, visitors would learn that this section of the Great Wall in Liaoning province appears to form the capital letter "M" on its path from Shanhaiguan Pass to the Yalu River.

The Hushan section was built in 1469 by a Ming Dynasty general named Han Bin to protect his people from the Nuzhen, an ancient tribe of northern China.

However, the wall could not withstand the forces of Nuzhen's successors, the Man people, who left the wall in ruins as they seized power from their rivals.

When archaeologists rediscovered the remains in the early 1990s, they also found towers and a military barracks.

Using other well-preserved parts of the Great Wall in Liaoning province, they painstakingly reconstructed the wall, completing a section 1.2 meters long by 2001.

Today, pastoral cottages can be seen from this restored section of the Great Wall.

Another popular destination is the aptly named Broken Bridge that crosses the Yalu River.

Built in 1911 by the Japanese, the bridge connecting China to the DPRK was bombed by U.S. forces in 1950 during the Korean War.

Only the half reaching into the DPRK was blown up, leaving the Chinese half intact.

Today the standing half-bridge is a popular spot for an evening stroll by local residents and tourists.

On the river below, Chinese tourist boats pass by, and Korean fishing boats sometimes can be seen through a telescope from the half-bridge.

Less than 100 meters away is the intact Sino-DPRK Friendship Bridge, on which trucks heading to the city of Sinuiju in the DPRK travel from time to time.

(China Daily 08/03/2009 page8)