The Badaling Great Wall, built in 1505, has a total length of 3,741 meters
and a tourist area of 19,000 square meters. The wall, built with high stone
slabs on the outside, is 7.8 meters high on average but reaches 8.4 meters in
some places. The wall base was built with more than 2,000 large, rectangular
slabs of granite stones. It is about 6.5 meters wide on average at its base and
5.7 meters wide on average on the ramparts. The wall is wide enough for five
horses to gallop through side-by-side or 10 people to advance
shoulder-to-shoulder. The outside of the wall is called rampart wall. The
rampart wall was built with bricks 1.7 meters high. Erected for defense
purposes, there are holes on the tips of the wall called "watch-holes" and
peepholes under the wall called "embrasures." Inside the wall are low,
one-meter-high walls called "parapets" that can be used as railings. There is a
scroll door not far from the inside wall and a stone ladder.
The wall is narrow on the top and broad on the bottom, forming an
adder-shaped structure. This type of construction helped the wall stands firmly
on the rise and fall ridges. The wall was built with 10-14 rectangular slabs of
stones around its exterior, filled with soil and stones in the middle, and paved
with square bricks and limestone on top. This particular structure makes the
wall tidy, beautiful and firm. There are also gutters with gargoyles to drain
rainwater from the parapet wall.
The landscape of the Badaling Great Wall changes every season, offering
numerous sceneries to enjoy. The valley is covered with greens during a sunlit
and enchanting spring scene. When rain falls from the mountain, the vista
appears vast and hazy. The sky in the autumn is high with an unsoiled
stratosphere, and the maple forest shimmers in golden hue. White snow covers the
whole landscape in the winter.
In 1961, the State Council decided that Badaling was a national, key,
protected, culture relic unit.
Culture
The Great Wall has long been a part of Chinese mythology and popular
symbolism, and in the 20th century it came to be regarded as a national symbol.
Many great, soul-stirring campaigns and historical events were inseparable from
the ancient walls. It is said that a considerable part of Chinese history
unfolded around the Great Wall.
Many celebrities, including numerous strategists and statesmen, sprang up in
famous battles at the Great Wall, which greatly enriched the cultural content of
the building. Great legends revolve around the construction of the Great Wall --
the most notable being the story of the collapse of a section of the Great Wall
caused by Meng Jiangnu's tears, which became widespread in folk songs and
traditional operas. Near the Shanhaiguan Pass stands Meng Jiangnu Temple with
her sculptured image that is highly worshiped by devout men and women.