Great Wall of China Overview
 

Built by a succession of Chinese dynasties, the Great Wall of China is an architectural marvel. Initially constructed more than 2,000 years ago to hold back Mongol invaders, today it remains a compelling visit.  The wall was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1987 and has attracted millions of visitors since.

Great Wall of China Map     Beijing Great Wall Map

 

 

 

This was the wall that defended the Chinese Empire. It protected a proud people, took years to build and cost the lives of hundreds in its construction. Great Wall walking is truly the best way to appreciate such a colossal feat of engineering; by trekking its sections, the story of the Great Wall of China comes alive!

 

Fortunately, for visitors to Beijing, eight sections of the wall are within travelling distance. Short Beijing Great Wall tours are possible in Jinshaling, Simatai, Gubeikou, Mutianyu, Jiankou, Huangyaguan and Shanhaiguan.

 

The steeper parts of the wall do require a good level of fitness, although walkers can choose which section best suits their ability. If the more mountainous sections are not of your liking, they are still worth a visit, even if it is just to appreciate their scale.

 

Typically, Great Wall hiking trips, as day trips, begin with either a taxi or bus journey to the start point. Thanks to its shape, there is little fear of ever getting lost; routes are commonly 'out-and-back'. However, it is recommended to make an early start; the wall is understandably a popular tourist site. Perhaps first decide how long you want to walk for, how far it is to your embarkation point, and when you hope to return. Often sections are easily accomplished in a short period, and this way you will have more time to enjoy the experience.

 

Organising a Great Wall adventure yourself may sound like a good idea, but take care. Without decent Mandarin skills and local knowledge, it is easy to underestimate the difficulty of communicating and the distances involved.

 

As well as the popular 'out-and-back' option, you could instead arrange to be dropped off and picked up at a different place. More intrepid wanderers should perhaps try the section between Simatai and Jinshanling, which is a fascinating route.

 

For walkers wanting to see the less well-preserved sections, longer trips are available. However, tourists sometimes underestimate just how far the Great Wall of China stretches: If you want to visit Jiayuguan, you will need additional flights and connections, as it is more than 5,000km from Beijing.

 

Whichever you choose, you can be sure of two things: The Great Wall of China is worth the visit, and the best way to enjoy your trip, is to go Great Wall on foot.

 
 

 

 

The Great Wall of China is the largest defense construction on earth, and the subject of the most mythology. It’s built in the northern part of China in ancient times to prevent the Han Chinese from attacking by nomads like the Huns and Mogolians. The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the western Gobi desert. The Great Wall does not work as a defense system anymore, and is becoming a popular travellers site now. It was listed as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1987.

 

The Great Wall was not built in a time, it’s the efforts of thousands of Chinese in many dynasties. These walls stretch over many thousands of miles in total, and stand in various stages of disrepair or restoration.

The origin of the wall can date back to 7^th century BC when there were many ducal states fighting against each other. Each ducal states or kingdoms built their own city walls to protect themsevels.

 

In 221 BC, the King of Qin Kingdom conquered the other states and unified the whole country as Qin Empire, and the King became Emperor Qinshihuang (First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty). Emperor Qinshihuang ordered to link all city walls in different palces up, and the Qin Dynasty Great Wall came into being. Little of the Qing Dynasty wall remains.

 

Later dynasties sometimes restored and rebuilt along a line established by their predecessors. The Han Dyansty (206 BC-220 AD) was the second climax to repair the wall since it’s threatened by the Huns in the north at that time. The wall was reconstructed and maintained through the dynasty for almost 400 years. The later Sui, Nothern and Jin dynasties all repaired, restored or expanded sections of the wall to defend themselves.

 

The Great Wall was revived again during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) following the collapse of Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep Mongolians out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. The Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of stone and bricks instead of rammed earth. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong.

When the Ming was defeated by Manchurian in 1644, the Great Wall lost its function as defense project as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) controled both the outside and inside of the wall. Most of sections of the Great Wall we see today were from the Ming Dynasty.

 

No one knows the exact length of Great Wall of China as it’s a discontinuous network of wall segments built by different dynasties. The Chinese call it “Ten-Thousand-Li-Wall” (Wan Li Chang Cheng).

 

It is said that the Qin Great Wall had a total length of more than 5000 kilometres and the Han Great Wall stretched more than 7000 kilometres, which is the longest ever. Little of the Qin and Han walls remains as the main building material were rammed earth. The Ming Great Wall meandered through 6000 kilometres from east to west with the construction of bricks and stone.

 

The Great Wall was made by hands only without any modern machines. Most of the artisans were criminals who were punished by the law. The wall stretches from east to west by mountains, valleys, rivers and deserts, thus the building material were from the local area. Rammed earth, sands, willow trees, stones and bricks were all used in different sections of the wall. The earlier Qin and Han walls were small and low, and the Ming Great Wall were much higer and stronger than before. Watch towers, beacon towers, passes, garisson towns, fortresses and barrier wall combined a effective defense system.

 

Soldiers were stationing on the wall to keep watching the enemy outside of the wall. When the enemy were approaching, they would deliver the message by beacon towers with smoking at daytime and lighting at night. Most of farmers near the present-day wall are decendants of those wall-watchers.

 

Many sections of the wall were restored in 1980s and travellers can visit these more easily.

 

Beijing: Sightseeing at Badaling, Juyongguan and Mutianyu sections; Hiking at Jinshanling, Simatai, Gubeikou, Mutianyu and Jiankou sections.

Tianjin: Sightseeing and hiking at Huangyaguan section

Shanghaiguan in the eastern end: Sightseeing and hiking at Shanghaiguan section

Gobi desert in the western end: Sightseeing and hiking at Jiayuguan section

 

Three Chinese walked the whole Great Wall between May 1984 and September 1985. They started the walking at Shanghaiguan in the east and competed at Jiayuguan in the west which is the Ming Great Wall. The adventure took 508 days on the Great Wall. Dong Yaohui, one of the three poineers, is now the vice-presiden of China Great Wall Society and a well-known Great Wall Expert.

 

In 1987 Englishman William Lindesay traveled 2,470 km alone along the route of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall between Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan, thus became the first foreigner who complete the who Great Wall. The experience led him to stay in China and carry out systematic and scholarly research of the wall. In 2001 Lindesay founded “International Friends of the Great Wall” (www.friendsofgreatwall.org) as a society in Hong Kong in order to “assist China’s cultural-relics protection authorities in the task of preserving the authenticity of the Great Wall.” His works includes Alone on the Great Wall and The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon’s Head.

 

Popular beliefs ranging from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’s cartoons from 1930s, which claimed that the Great Wall is "the mightiest work of man, the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon," to Richard Halliburton’s 1938 book Second Book of Marvels which makes a similar claim, have persisted, assuming urban legend status, and sometimes even appearing in school textbooks.

 

The Great Wall is a maximum 9 meter wide and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, metres for large telescopes) only an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings 70 miles or more in diameter would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km. The apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles away. Unsurprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed seeing the Great Wall from the moon.

 

A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low earth orbit, i.e., an altitude of as little as 100 miles (160 km). In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China.

 

There are several sections around Beijing you can do hiking, namely Jinshanling, Simatai, Gubeikou, Mutianyu, Jiankou and Huangyaguan. The most popular one is from Jinshanling to Simatai which will take 4 hours hiking on the wall, and is recommended by National Geographic Adventure Magzine.

 

It’s meaningless to say the exact weather on the wall. There are different sections of the wall far away from Beijing, and it depends on which section you are going to do. Generally speaking spring and autumn are comfortable. In summer rain and wind can occur on the wall at any time, because you are walking along high ridges, you are exposed to the elements. Please check the weather report three days before your departure.

 

Comfortable shoes or boots, water, snacks, sunscreen, sun-glasses, stick, pocket knife, first aid kit, lip balm, cap.

 

There are no facility on the path of the Great Wall, nor restaurants. At the entrance of each section, there are a few farmer’s restaurants offering local Chinese food. If you do a day-hiking and not stay overnight near the wall, you can prepare some snacks at the supermarkets before departure from Beijing.

 

Yes. Camping or sleeping on the wall is only allowed on certain sections of the wall which indicated by local authority.