Badaling Great Wall
Badaling means "giving access
to every direction", the name itself suggests its
strategic importance. Badaling Great Wall lies in Yanqing
County, northwest of Beijing. It covers five counties
and one district, namely: Miyun, Huairou, Pinggu, Yanqing
and Changping County and Mentougou District.
Badaling Great Wall was the best preserved
part of the Ming Great Wall. Here, the wall averages
7.8 metres high, 6.5 metres wide of the base, and 5.8
metres at the top. The wall was designed to allow five
horsemen or ten soldiers to march side by side along
the wall. The flights of stairs up to the outer wall
are fairely widely spaced.
The wall could almost be considered
as a superhighway on the rough mountain terrain. On
the highway, news, men or even food could travel rapidly.
Suppose you were a solider 500 years ago in the Ming
Dynasty, when you found some enemies were about to invade
your country, in the daytime, they should start a heavy
smoke to tell the other soliders to get ready, when
seeing their signal, would start another smoke in the
distance, this signal would be relayed until finally
it reached the capital and the whole country would be
ready for the war. But what if the enemies invade the
country at night, as most invasion started, they should
light up beconfires to communicate military information
to the emperor at a very rapid speed.
Great Wall at BadalingFor every few
hundred metres, you can see a watchtower. Also, the
wall of this section was built of giant rocks and bricks
of similar size. It was faced with stone, and the inside
was filled with earth and rubber, therefore, Badaling
Great Wall was also regarded the strongest section of
the Ming Great Wall.
To experience the real splendor of
the Great Wall, you should not only see the Great Wall
and take pictures from down here, but also walk on it.
There're two entrances where you can climb the Badaling
Great Wall, most people, however, climb the Great Wall
from the right entrance because it is an easier way.
It takes about an hour to climb to the top of the raised
towers either way. From the top on the right looking
northwest, you can see the famous Guanting Reservoir;
The wall on the left is a little more steep, naturally,
less people climb the wall from this side.
Different people may have very different
preferences. Make your choice and start climbing now!
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