Great Wall
The Great Wall, spanning 17 Chinese provinces, is one of humankind's most remarkable efforts.
Therefore it matches even 5 out of 6 criteria to be met for inclusion in the World Heritage List: a masterpiece of construction and a testimony to the civilizations of ancient China, with a huge symbolic significance.
Visit April 2004, November 2007
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I visited the Great Wall of China on two occasions: first in 2004 near Beijing and the second time in 2007 near Dunhuang in Gansu Province.
To make the first trip, I joined one of the daily 50 yuan tours that start from Qianmen. The guide started chattering (in Chinese of course) right from the start, and didn't stop for the first hour (without breathing, was my impression). Besides me, our group consisted of mainly male Chinese daytrippers. That gave them some interesting photomaterial - themselves and me on various parts of the Wall.
Our first Wall-stop was at Juyongguan. I was really happy when I got off the bus: so this is it! One of the most exciting moments in a travellers life. First impression: it's really very steep to walk to one of the watchtowers. And it's a really strange feeling to stand here: like the Taj Mahal, you're so familiar with its looks that you don't know what to think of it.
The other stop was at the infamous Badaling-site. Here it's all quite touristy, but not too bad this time of year. They also have a Great Wall-museum where they exhibit (among other not too interesting stuff) the Unesco World Heritage inscription document.
A very different experience is visiting one of the wall sections in the outer provinces. There are a few of them in Gansu. On a cold November morning I headed out for the Yumen-pass. Close to that monument of Silk Route fame is a stretch of the Great Wall dating from the Han dynasty. Desert, desert is about the only thing you see here for hundreds of kilometers. And then there´s the outline of a wall and a beacon tower. The wall here was made of loess and reed, which has preserved well.
More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery
Reviews
Stephen Brooker (UK):
I was lucky enough to spend a week, during which we saw no other European faces, walking various sections of the Ming Great Wall.
It is impresive, unfortunately most visitors only go to the, over restored, tourist traps of Badaling and Mutinayu, and so miss the best of the wall. If you can only visit one stretch, then go to the Jinshanling section and walk along it to Simitae. This stretch is also wonderful in that it has been nicely conserved rather than restored.
It is also worth considering that the label Great Wall is misleading. It would probably more accurate to talk of the Great Walls (plural) of China. It has been rebuilt on at least three occaisions; Qin, Han and Ming Dynasties, each of which essentially built a new wall, along a new route, often completely different. In addittion the wall is oftenm doubled or even trebled, and has spurs etc.
For this reason no one can give an accurate length for the wall.
Verdict: To get the best from the Wall, put on your hiking boots. |
| Date posted: April 2008 |
Rajeev Aloysius (Sri Lanka):
The Great Wall at Ba Da Ling is one of the most common tourist spots in China. The crowds are huge, with its own highway exit. You do get to see other, different parts of the wall on the road there or back, that are more beautiful, or unrestored and therefore more awe inspiring.
The climb is quite steep, but not too bad compared with other parts of the wall that we saw from the road. The more adventurous tourist should turn left at the first entrance after buying the ticket, and this has better views and better photo opportunities. There were some in our group that were staying at the Badaling Hotel in order to visit different parts of the wall all week, but I was not keen enough to do that! I took a Grayline Bus tour, and the Chinese lady guide spoke impeccable English. |
| Date posted: October 2005 |
Ada Mirela Tomescu (ROMANIA):
Interesting experience (!) because of totally different culture. For me hard to understand, but I respect diversity!. I was not prepared for meeting such colossal history and results, meaning changing into contemporary society… But how ugly would be our world if we all would be totally similar!. |
| Date posted: October 2005 |
Chi Cheung (canada & china):
It seems like you went to one of the very touristy portions of the great wall. The wall is thousands of kilometers long, you can go to one of the unrestored portions. Even near Beijing, there are parts that have been relatively unrestored since the Ming Dynasty. For instance, the Simitai is relatively untouched. You can walk along some amazing portions, and camp on the wall itself (or in the towers). |
| Date posted: October 2005 |
Paul Tanner (UK):
 WHS enthusiasts might be interested in details of the 2 “extremities” of the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan and Jiayagaun - called by the Chinese “First door under the heaven” and “Last door under the heaven” to indicate the passage away from/to the non-Chinese “barbarian” lands) respectively.
As indicated by other reviewers, the sections of the Great Wall around Beijing are very touristy and crowded (particularly with Chinese) and heavily restored. The Government has opened several locations to try to relieve the pressure from the “original” at Badaling and we have visited some of these on different visits. Each is certainly worth going to despite the carnival atmosphere.
The town of Shanhaiguan contains “The First Gate” but the true end/start of the wall is a few kms away on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It too is heavily restored but it is quite nice to literally see the wall going “into” the sea. This is seaside for the Chinese and it gets very crowded. We experienced a wonderful example of the need to “dot all the is and cross all the ts” (or whatever the equivalent is in Chinese characters) when our taxi driver from town explained that the price we had carefully negotiated was in fact only for 1 way! The Jinshan Guesthouse also holds our record as the dirtiest hotel in China. The uncaring, noodle slurping staff were quite happy to give us a bucket and mop for us to be the first people to clean our bathroom in weeks
Our preference as the most “atmospheric” location is at Jiayaguan. Not at the enormous reconstructed fort but a few kms away where the mud wall which extends from the fort ends in a mound above a ravine which drops down to a river – this is all that is left of the last watch tower on the wall. Beyond is desert as far as the eye can see. We took a delightful little 3 wheel taxi along dirt tracks and were virtually the only people there to sense the “end of the civilised world” (photo)
(Trivia Question :- Which is the “longest” WHS? Well the “length” of the Great Wall of China is stated generally as being around 6000kms although other estimates including all its many branches go as high as 50000kms! I have however had some difficulty in establishing just how far apart the 2 “traditional” extremities described above are (Some sources, however, extend the wall as far east as the Yalu river). Based on a great circle distance for 20 degrees of longitude at an average 40 degrees north these 2 points are around 2350 kms apart. The 2 furthest points of the Struve Geodetic Arc, newly inscribed in 2005, are stated as being 2820kms apart. So in terms of “straddling” the Earth’s surface it looks as if the Arc just gets it!) |
| Date posted: August 2005 |
Ben Pastore (USA):
Like many others before me, my visit to the Ba da ling portion of the Wall was a prepackaged, escorted trip including the mandatory tourist traps. That aside, it truly is a marvel of engineering if only to build on such rugged and inhospitable slopes. Supposedly Chairman Mao said "A real man climbs the Great Wall". Well, that may be true, but I say "A real man may climb the wall, but a smart man takes the tram and walks down." Seeing the beige ribbon stretch out to the horizon does make one appreciate why it belongs on the list. Going to China without seeing the Great Wall would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. You just have to do it. |
| Date posted: June 2005 |
Ivan ManDy (Philippines):
Im not sure if this is included in the List but I visited a miniature(and far less touristy) version of the Great Wall in the obscure Chinese city of Taizhou (half-way down south of big brother Beijing!). The locals call it 'Jiang Nan Zhang Cheng' or 'Great Wall South of the Yangtze River'. Its about 6000 meters long and is an exact miniature replica of the Badaling Wall in Beijing. It is said that the wall in Beijing was based on the design of this one. Even for its small size, the steps are astonishingly steep!
I hope to visit Beijing's version one of these days! |
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C H Ho (Hong Kong, China):
I visited Munyungyuan near Beijing, which is 1 of the famous tourist sites for the Great Wall. There are many towers on the wall. You can stand any tower which is at the top of the mountain ridge and feel like the famous Chinese sentence from Qin's King Shin Huang,"Everything was under my feet". |
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Rob Wilson (UK):
My friends and I walked from Jingshanling to Simatai. It was 10km of hard slog, in a 40 degree heat! But, it was worth every step. This part of the Wall is relatively unrestored and is, at times, treacherous.
Walking the wild Wall is an experience that I'll never forget. Don't go to the tourist wall, head somewhere like this - you won't regret it for a second.
One of the most memorable experiences of my entire life. |
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Chloe (Australia):
Interesting place...
I can see why that King d00d decided to build a wall.
Said his country was in despair yea?
Well the wall sure helped him.
If only we could build something similar to stop those darned terrorists! |
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Jayne Addison aged 13 (england):
I went on a school trip to china and we went to see lots of different beautiful places but my two favourate places was the great wall of china and the terrorcotter warriors me and my friend hannah walked the stepist part of the wall it was tiering but worth wile if you havnot been to china i think your next holiday you should be going to china and dont worry about the 10 and a half flite its worth the wait. |
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