The great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is one of the most ancient architectural monuments of China and a symbol of the power of Chinese civilization..Probably, in the world there is not one civilized person who would not hear about the "eighth wonder of the world" - the Great Wall of China..It stretches from the Liaodong Bay north-east of Beijing through North China to the Gobi Desert .There are several opinions about its exact length, but what can be said for sure is that it stretches over a distance of more than two thousand kilometers, and if we take into account the other ramparts that depart from it, in total all 6000-6500 km ±$ br >.

Construction of the Great Wall of China

According to the official version, the construction of the Great Wall began in the 220's BC by order of the ruler Qin Shi-huandi and was called upon to protect the north-western border of the country from the raids of nomadic peoples. The construction of the great wall lasted hundreds of years and ceased only after the establishment of the rule of the Qing dynasty.

To get inside the state, it was necessary to pass through its checkpoints, which were closed at night and under no circumstances opened until the morning. It is rumored that even the emperor of China somehow had to wait for the dawn to get to his state.

The wall was built three times, for 2700 years. The prisoners were prisoners of war, prisoners and peasants, who were torn from their families and sent to the northern regions. When the wall was erected, approximately two million people died, and their remains were walled in at its base. Therefore, the people of the Great Wall of China are still often called the Chinese "Wailing Wall".

The Great Wall has a height of 6 to 10 meters and a width of 5.5 to 6.5 meters. At different parts of the wall, watchtowers, casemates and signal towers have been built, and fortresses have been built at the main mountain passes.

1 Legends and stories
2 Excursions to the wall: Badaling
3 Excursions to the wall: Mutian
4 Excursions to the wall: Simatay
5 Excursions to the wall: Ginshalin
6 Other popular wall pieces are
7 We also recommend

Legends and stories

To build the Great Wall of China took a lot of workforce .According to Chinese legend, the husband of a girl named Meng Jiangyu immediately after the wedding was sent to build the Great Wall .A young wife held for three years, and her husband never returned home..To carry him warm clothes, she set off on a long and dangerous path to the wall .Having reached the outpost of Shanhaiguan, Meng Jiangyu learned that her husband died from unbearable work and was buried under the wall .The young woman sobbed bitterly, and then there was a sudden collapse of a large section of the wall, revealing the corpse of her beloved husband .Chinese people perpetuated in memory the memory of the hard work of the wall builders .

During the construction of the wall, several conditions had to be fulfilled at once. For example, each of the towers of the wall must have been in the zone of visibility of the two neighboring walls. Messages between them were transmitted by smoke, drum or fire (in the dark). The width of the wall, 5, 5 meters, was also specially calculated. In those days it allowed marching in a row to five infantrymen or galloping alongside five cavalrymen. Today, its average height is nine meters, and the height of the sentinel towers is twelve.

Excursions to the wall: Badaling

Each guest of China finds it necessary to visit the Great Wall .Millions of visitors pass through its stones every year .The most visited site of the Great Wall is located in the vicinity of the Badalin Mountain (Bādálǐng), 60 kilometers from Beijing, which was reconstructed in 1957 .The length of the wall in this place is about 50 kilometers .Input: Y45; Opening hours 6-22 in the summer, 7-18 in the winter .The ticket includes a 15-minute film about the construction of a wall in the circular amphitheater Circle Vision Theater (9-17 .45) and a visit to the Great Wall Museum (9-16: 00) .By the way, you can get to Badalan by bus 919 (Y5-10 depending on the number of stops along the way), which departs every 10 minutes from the ancient Deshengmen gate, 500 m east of Jishuitan subway station .Keep in mind, the last bus from Badalona goes to 18 .30 .

You can rent a taxi for the whole day (8 hours) and a maximum of 4 passengers, which will cost Y400 and more.

In addition, there are so-called tourist routes: Line C (Y80 round-trip, includes the cost of visiting the wall, from 6.30 to 22); Line A, which also makes a stop at the Ming Tombs, Y140 including all entrance tickets and lunch, from 6.30 to 22.

Secrets of the Great Wall of China (in English)

Excursions to the wall: Mutian

The second most popular site of the wall is called Mutiani and is 90 kilometers north of Beijing..It is open to visitors from 6:30 to 18:00, and the entrance here costs a bit less - 35 yuan .This part of the wall is in a fairly mountainous area, so in order to climb it, you will have to use the cable car, which will take another 50 yuan for a round-trip ticket or 35 one way .In order to go down, there is another way - more cheerful and cheaper .Under the cable car passes an iron trench, along which you can roll down in a special capsule .

In one of the booths of this funicular, Bill Clinton once went - this is even said on a special plate. Perhaps you will also be lucky to ride in the presidential booth.

The main advantage of this part of the wall is that it is located in a very picturesque place, and the people here are much less than in Badalina. After the fourteenth tower, they do not really exist at all, so if you want to make some beautiful photos, this place is the most suitable.

But be sure to keep in mind that this site consists mainly of stairs that go up and down, and the stairs on the stairs are uneven and of all sizes - this, incidentally, was done specifically to, if necessary, slow down the enemy, wall - and not all are able to enjoy a long walk on such a range of obstacles.

To get to the tower you can take the bus 916 to the final stop, and then transfer to the minibus to the wall. The stop is located 200 meters east of Dongzhimen station, the journey costs you from 11 yuan, and buses run from 6:00 to 19:00.

Excursions to the wall: Simatay

Simatay is located 110 kilometers to the north-east of Beijing and has a length of 4, 5 kilometers. The entrance costs 30 yuan, and it is open from 8:00 to 17:00. To climb the wall you will again need to ride a cable car - 50 yuan for a round trip ticket or 30 - one way.

Buses to Simataya depart from the same stop - Dongzhimen. There are two of them here - 970 (the first bus to the wall starts at 5:40, and the last one leaves at 6:30 pm) and 980 (the first one leaves later at 5:50 and the last one at 19:00) and just have to go to the final, and then change into a minibus.

On this site, visitors are even smaller, and physical training from them requires even greater .Here the wall rises along the mountains and descends the cliffs, and the watchtowers are closest to each other - there are 35 of them here, and the minimum distance between them is a little over 40 meters .The most beautiful of them is the Main Tower, decorated with carvings with images of mythical beings, and the highest one is the Tower of Beijing, the sixteenth under the account is .It lacks only a few meters to rise above the sea level for a kilometer, and the view from it, of course, opens just fantastic $ $ .

On this site there are two particularly amazing places - the Heavenly Bridge and the Heavenly Staircase. The Celestial Bridge in its upper part narrows to 30 centimeters (and it's terrible to imagine how fearless the Chinese soldiers in its time overcame it), and the Heavenly Stair so steeply rises that the angle of its ascent reaches 85 degrees - while it is also quite narrow and on there are no parapets at all. Tourists, however, do not let either the bridge or the stairs.

Excursions to the wall: Ginshalin

In the west of Simatay, 130 kilometers from Beijing, there is a site called Jinshalin. Entrance tickets here cost 40 yuan during the period from mid-November to mid-March, and 50 yuan for the rest of the time, and a cable car ride is also 50 yuan in both directions and 30 in one. The time of work is the same as on Simatae - from 8:00 to 17:00.

This is one of the least restored sections of the wall, accessible to tourists - there are usually fewer people here and, unfortunately, fewer places where visitors are allowed to.

The length of this section of the wall is 10, 5 kilometers, on which there are 24 watchtowers. All of them have different shapes and are fenced with additional walls of 2, 5 meters high - this was done so that, in case of attack, the soldiers could continue to attack the enemy while being safe even after he climbed onto the wall. ±$ br >

Near the tower, called Hudin, in the wall there are brick paintings of bricks, signed by hieroglyphs. On them you can find out the date of manufacturing of the brick and the subdivision that was engaged in the erection of each separate site.

In order to get to Ginshalin, you can use the same buses that go to Simatay - then you just need to take another minibus. In addition, if you are ready to get up early enough, you can also take the train number 6453, departing at 6:38 from the North Beijing railway station to the Gubeikou station, and there is already a little bus ride to the wall.

Other popular wall pieces are

Three sections of the Wall were built of purple marble. Two are in the city of Jian'an, one, under the name BayanYuy - in the mountains of Janisan. These parts of the Wall are famous as the most durable and most beautiful, but, unfortunately, not every tourist has access to them.

At the entrance to the restored part of the wall there is an inscription made personally by Mao Zedong: "If you have not visited the Great Wall of China - you are not a real Chinese."