The Great Wall of China
The moment has arrived.
It’s the mother of all of China’s tourist attractions, the Pièce de résistance of the country and the coolest landmark in the world. We all heard about it at an early age and the myth and allure of it draws 10 of millions of tourists to witness this new World Wonder.
You know what I’m talking about, The Great Wall of China.
Did it live up to the hype?
Your bet it did!
An Empty Great Wall of China
We were expecting hoards of tourists and chaos when we visited the Great Wall. Instead we got serenity and beauty during our time there.
That would be because we have smart tour guides at Intrepid Travel. They brought us to the more remote section of the wall, a two-hour bus ride outside of Beijing. The MuTianYu Great Wall section is far less crowded than the Badaling Section. The Badaling Great Wall is the most famous and most Chinese tourists go there as it was the first and most heavily promoted as a national relic. Significant events of Chinese history took place at the Badaling section of the Great Wall attracting domestic tourists. Emperor Qin himself visited this section of the wall and it was here that the Mongols crossed the Wall and took control of China under the Yuan Dynasty for nearly 100 years.
Great Wall snakes through the mountains
Foreign tourist will be very happy with making the trip to the MuTianYu section though. It has less tourists than the other sections and it is the most well preserved section of the entire wall. Made from granite it remains one of the best quality sections of the Great Wall of China.
If you want to stay away from the masses of people, we suggest the MuTianYu Great Wall.
Be Prepared to Hike!
The Great Wall snakes over hills and rolling mountains so make sure to wear the proper shoes. We saw a woman in heels!
There are 22 watchtowers at Mutianyu Section spanning 2.5 km. To make the most of the view, you can easily catch a gondola up to watchtower number 6 to start your hike. The gondola is a fun little ride to catch some panorama views of the wall and countryside on the way up.
Once you are up at number 6, you have the opportunity to either walk down the great wall or continue up to watchtower 22. We chose to walk up to check out the spectacular scenery.
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The day was just about as perfect as it could get. The brisk December air kept the clouds and pollution away and we had clear blue skies during our entire time at the site.
The walk is steep but not strenuous. This section of the Great Wall is very well restored and the stone pathway is quite even and easy to walk. I read that the Mutianyu Great Wall is narrower than other sections at 4 metres wide, but with very little crowds and 2.5 km of tourist free walking, it felt very spacious.
We stopped regularly to check out the watchtowers and look over the wall at what was once Mongolia.
The Great Wall of China actually consists of several different walls brought together after China’s warring states unified under the rule of Emperor Qin. It was during the Qin Dynasty,over 2000 years ago that the Great Wall was unified and constructed. Using hundreds of thousand of workers and prisoners, the wall was constructed over decades of work. For over a thousand years the wall served as protection from the nomadic tribes to the north. Later dynasties repaired and maintained the wall to keep their fortification in tact.
It wasn’t until Genghis Khan came along in the 13th century that the Great Wall finally fell. He unified the Mongols bringing together warring tribes and seizing control of land spanning from Eastern Europe and Russia through the Middle East and Central Asia all the way to China and South Korea. The Great Wall was of little consequence to the now organized Mongols and once they decided that they wanted China, they broke through with ease.
The Genghis Khan Empire
They held power for 100 years as the Yuan Dynasty and since the ruling party was from Mongolia and part of the nomadic tribes that the wall was built to keep out, it wasn’t needed anymore and left to fall to ruins.
When the Yuan Dynasty fell, the Great wall was once again rebuilt and restored by the Ming Dynasty over a one hundred year period only to be breached again by the Manchurians.
This was the final nail in the over 2000 year ongoing project. The wall was left and forgotten to fall into disrepair over the centuries.
It was almost destroyed completely during the Cultural Revolution under the Rule of Chairman Mao. Wanting to do away with the past and erase anything that seemed old fashioned or useless, the Great Wall was ordered demolished.
But in 1984 when a new ruler came into power, Deng Xiaoping re-opened its doors to the rest of the wold and opted to rebuilt the Great Wall to restore National Pride.
Whatever you may think of the Great Wall of China, it is an incredible feat of engineering.
With hundreds of thousands of men constructing thousands of miles of wall over the centuries, it is astounding to comprehend the history and events that took place over its lifetime.
Additional Information:
- Admission 40 Yuan
- Cable Car 45 Yuan One way
- Opening hours 8 am to 4 pm
- You can take a toboggan down instead of walking if you feel like a little fun
- The wall is 2.5 km long
- You can take a local bus from Beijing to the Great wall.
- If you go in December, dress warm, it is cold and windy on the wall
- If you take public transport remember that the wall is only open until 4 not giving you a lot of time to get there.
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What beautiful photos from the Great Wall. I visited the Juyongguan Section near Beijing, another popular tourist stop on the wall. It was very crowded, making climbing up and down those steep steps tricky for someone like me who has a fear of heights. Your tour company was smart to take you two hours away to a less crowded section of the wall. From your photos, it looks magnificent.
Thanks Donna. You are right, the Great Wall has some tricky sections that can be very scary if you are afraid of heights. I never expected that. Yet another thing that surprised me about China. I also think the time of the year was perfect. Our entire time in China is was the tail end of the tourist season so we rarely saw crowds.
Your photographs are awesome — as usual.
I still think our visit to the wall was the highlight of our trip.
PS> Who the hell is that chick in the BRIGHT PINK coat??
Thanks Kim. The wall was pretty amazing wasn’t it. Now about that chick in the Pink coat…I have no idea but she followed us around all of China
Wow, what an awesomely clear day you guys were blessed with! I never saw those jagged mountains when we were there because of all the haze! =)
Dan
We were lucky, we normally find ourselves surrounded by haze in our travels, so we appreciated this sunny day.
Incredibly vivid photographs and a well told story…gives me a trip down memory lane when I visited the great wall back in 1979.
Thanks for sharing these with us and a Happy New Year to you both…looking forward to all of your 2011 materials
Wow! That would have been an amazing time to visit China. I couldn’t imagine how much it has changed. I am glad that we could bring up some memories for you!
In those days you could only stay at a government assigned hotel, which usually was the Friendship Hotel, was given a personal “official” interpretor/companion upon arrival at the airport without whom you were not allowed to go anywhere and your hotel had a floor attendant sitting on an official looking desk by the floor exit keeping an eye and probably an ear on everyone on the floor…but they did provide plenty of hot water in a thermos for tea
Haha, they still have one thing that is the same…always a full pot of hot water for our tea. It is very different now, but I think it would have been more exciting to visit when you were there. Quite easy these days. They have CNN, FoxNews and BBC even.
Good lord it looks epic! There are few places in the world that live up to the hype and I would imagine the Great Wall is one of them. I just hope Machu Picchu is for me!
It is always a great surprise when a place lives up to the hype. We enjoyed Machu Picchu, to see ruins way up in the mountains was pretty incredible. I hope you like it too!
Neat information about the wall Dave and Deb and fabulous pictures too. The wall looks quite imposing from this angle. Its funny that someone would wear heels on excursions like this. Did they have some kind of letter written at the top of the mountain? I hope you also got to see Mongol horsemen on the other side, lol.
Great photos! Can’t wait to see it for ourselves!
Wow! It looks like you guys had an amazing day for it! So clear… you don’t always find that in China!
I’m pretty sure I climbed the Badaling section in November 2007. The area around the main entrance to the wall was packed with vendors and tourists, but once you got up on the wall it was actually quite quiet and not crowded at all. It could have just been because we were there in the off-season, but my Great Wall experience was great! Now you’ve inspired me to do a post about it.
It is true, we had great weather in China. I think it was being so late in the year that the pollution wasn’t too bad. Looking forward to your post about it, let us know when you do!
My photos certainly don’t stack up to yours, but here’s that Great Wall post you guys inspired me to put together!
http://wp.me/p10Ebd-1ls
Thanks for sharing Amanda. Those were great tips too! It is cool to see the other section of the wall that we didn’t get to visit. I am glad we could inspire you to write about it.
Oh Cool! That is a place I can’t wait to visit as well. Looks awesome! Great pics to Dave.
It was definitely cool to visit. Especially this section. It just seemed surreal to be there.
Love, love, love your photographs Dave and the blog is packed with so much useful info. I love your idea with the little box at the end.
Thanks Leigh, we try to pack as much info in as possible while keeping people entertained. The photos definitely help to move the story along.
It’s so spectacular I’ve been twice!!!!!! Love the pics, especially the one where you are kissing!
Thanks Andi, That is amazing that you have been to the Great Wall twice! What part of the wall were you at?
You can guarantee in all these places there is normally one woman wearing heels. I went on a hike recently through a gorge and yes, there was a woman wearing heels. Lovely pictures though and still a place that I am determined to visit before I die.
Haha, I am glad to see that other people notice the women in heels. At the Forbidden City, it was freezing and a long walk around the place and we saw a woman in a mini skirt and high heels. Very strange.
Wonderful photos! I love the Great Wall.
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As always, stunning photos. Great tips – can’t wait to get to China.
Just simply amazing. I am so excited that you were able to go to a spot with so few visitors. I will have to remember that the MuTianYu Great Wall section is far less traveled. Great photos as well. I guess I better get to see the wall soon before this section’s secret is out. Thanks for the awesome info!
Hi Dave and Deb, great pics with a side of history lesson! I am totally fascinated with China. I have to figure out a way to get there this year.
Wow guys, the great wall looks amazing with no people around. I’m taking a note about the MuTianYu section for when June finally comes around and we head out there ourselves. Thanks for the heads up
Wow! Really nice pictures! We were even lucky to be alone on the Great Wall at the Badaling section in the late afternoon and my boyfriend proposed to me on the wall
I can’t wait to come back!
I went here. Yay!
Mutianyu Great wall was said as the most beautiful great wall in Beijing. I was there in last summer. It need about 40 minutes walk from the entrance up to the great wall. But the path is in very good condition. Once i stepped on the great wall, i was impressed by the breathtaking scenery of the surrounding. Next time, i would like to challenge the wild great wall sections in Beijing.
You captured the feeling perfectly. The views from the Great wall are astounding.
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