The Great Wall
By chinadaily.com.cn
Updated: 2004-01-14 14:16

This is a Great Wall and only a great people with a great past could have a great wall and such a great people with such a great wall will surely have a great future.

Badaling

Badaling

The most commonly told fact about the Great Wall - that it is the one man-made structure visible from the moon - is perhaps the most impressive. But other statistics are close rivals. The wall was begun in the fifth century BC, continued until the sixteenth century and stretches some 6000km across China. Today's surviving sections, placed end to end, would link New York with Los Angeles, and if the bricks used to build it were made into a single wall 5m high and 1m thick, it would more than encircle the earth. Even at ground level, and along the small, most-visited section at Badaling, constantly overrun by Chinese and foreign tourists, Wan Li Changcheng (The Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li), is clearly China's most spectacular sight.

As the closest section of the wall to Beijing, Badaling is by far the most popular part of the site to visit and, perhaps for this reason some find it the most disappointing. The best time to visit is early morning, before the tour buses arrive. If you make it past the hoards and hustlers and make the climb itself, the views are quite spectacular. The Great Wall is a symbol of Chinese traditional culture and the pride of the Chinese nation. It's worth taking a hike and reflecting on this incredible feat of mankind.

Of course, if we take a look at history, the wall did not succeed in its main function; to keep out foreign invaders. Those who wanted to break through the fortifications all those years ago, found an alternative method. The Chinese Empire did not allow for human weakness. Attackers bribed their way past the wall where they had failed to break through with physical force.

Simatai

Simatai

A wilder and less crowded option is to go to the section known as Simatai. This section is much farther away, over 100 kilometers northeast of Beijing, so you will have to make a whole day of a trip to go there. You can also take a bus or rent out a taxi for the day, but if you do this, ask a Chinese friend for help so you don't get ripped off.
Simatai (daily 8am-4pm; ￡16), 110km northeast of the city, is the most unspoilt section of the Great Wall around Beijing, and, as it snakes across purple hills that resemble crumpled velvet from afar, with blue mountains in the distance, it's easily the most beautiful. Uncrowded, peaceful and semi-ruined, it fulfils the expectations of most visitors more than the other sections.

At the entrance, merely a booth in a car park, there is only a handful of souvenir stalls, and none near the wall itself, though a cable car is under construction, so no doubt Simatai's underdeveloped status will not last long.The only vendors around are local villagers. Make it understood from the outset that you are not interested in what they have to sell, otherwise it is quite likely that some poor kid with two cans of soft drink and a few postcards will follow you all afternoon.

Most of this section is unrenovated, dating back to the Ming dynasty, and sporting a few late innovations such as spaces for cannon, with its inner walls at right angles to the outer wall to thwart invaders who have already breached the first defence. From the small car park, a winding path takes you up to the wall and regularly spaced watchtowers allow you to measure your progress uphill along the ridge. The walk over the ruins is not an easy one, and gets increasingly precipitous after about the tenth watchtower, with sheer drops and steep angles. The views are sublime, though. After about the fourteenth tower (2hr), the wall peters out and the climb becomes quite dangerous, and there's no point going any farther.

Mutianyu

Mutianyu

Mutianyu Great Wall (daily 8am-4pm; ￡10), 90km northeast of the city, is more appealing to most travellers than Badaling as it's somewhat less developed. A two-kilometre section of the wall, well endowed with guard towers, built in 1368 and renovated in 1983, it passes along a ridge through some lush, undulating hills. From the entrance, steep steps lead up to the wall; most people turn left, which leads to the cable car (￡30, students ￡15) for an effortless trip down again. Turn right and you can walk along the wall for about 1km until you come to a barrier - unlike at Badaling, you can't get on to the unreconstructed sections. Mutianyu Great Wall Guesthouse (010/69626867; ￡¤100-150), situated in a reconstructed watchtower 500m before this barrier, is a good place for a quiet break.

To get to Mutianyu, minibuses leave from the street just south of the Great Hall of the People off Tian'anmen Square every morning (￡10) and include four photo stops along the way. You can buy tickets, and check on departure times, the day before from a ticket booth on the pavement. Otherwise there are minibuses from Dongzhimen bus station early every morning. Getting there on regular buses won't save you any money, and involves several changes. Returning to the city shouldn't be a hassle provided you don't leave it too late, as plenty of minibuses wait in the car park to take people back to Beijing. If you can't find a minibus back to Beijing, get one to Huairou, from where you can get a regular bus back to the capital - the last bus back from Huairou leaves at 6.30pm.

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