The Great Wall Tour

By Sally Franz

First thing you have to say about The Great Wall is that you have to see it to believe it. Not only is it tall and wide, it is steep with narrow stairs (people had smaller feet when it was constructed). So bring a walking stick or two friends, especially if it is wet outside. It goes on for as long as the eye can see, 13,170 miles to be exact (over ½ the length of the Equator). There are 5,723 known beacon towers and 7,062 watch towers; several of which are open for touring as your walk the wall. Of that about 327 miles of wall is near Beijing. The structure is about 20-23 feet high and on average 21.3 feet wide on top where you walk. It was originally built with bricks and mortar made with rice paste. It had been under construction since 7^th century BC. Ergo it is more like a collection of connected walls. Rumored to be seen from outer space, it cannot. But it is big.

The Emperor Qin Shi started the wall based on a false prophesy that nomads were coming to get him. Since his goal was to live forever (hey some people have lofty goals) he feared an early demise. Notably he was freaked out that he would be “offed” before Lu his palace necromancer could conjure up immortality. So fear built the earliest parts of the wall. More than 20 following fearful dynasties added to the wall. It was especially cost effective if they could connect the existing parts to then cover their own provinces. And here is a key factoid for scholars of everything border walls. The wall did not work. It did not keep China safe from invasion. Oh sure the few straggling bands of lowlife nomads were repelled, but there were gates and lakes and rivers to contend with.

It did not keep the Mongol hordes out. Genghis Khan breached the wall and subjugated north and central China for 10 years. In 1644 the Manchus breached the wall again which was the collapse of the Ming dynasty. Though built by fear and only marginally good as a defense, it is impressive and beautiful as it winds over hill and dale.

Considered the most extensive manmade engineering project in history. It took 1 million laborers with an estimated 400,000 death toll of workers. (Hope they got hazard pay.) On the bright side, if you lived it was a massive public works infra-structure project employing lots of people and it also gave prisoners something to do.

The two parts of the wall I have seen near Beijing are Badaling (which you can reach by subway and train) or Mutianyu, which I chose for this trip. From the parking lot there was a short-ish uphill hike to the base of a gondola. For a small price you are whisked up to the edge of the wall. It is up to you to make the last 20 feet. However, there is a ramp (and a snack shop where you can get a Dove bar for energy).

It was easy to arrange a tour in Beijing. I simply went to the front desk of my hotel and asked for a small group tour. It was half the price than booking at home in the states. The tour included the Ming Tombs, a jade factory and a tea ceremony, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We arrived on a damp fall day. The leaves were changing color. The clouds were rolling back and forth over the far reaches of the wall. It was slick under foot but inspiring for moody photos. The wonderful thing about a tour to The Great Wall is you can walk a great deal up and down steep hills through watch towers and get a sense of what it was like when filled with armies, while the only marauding hordes these days have to buy a ticket to see it, The Great Wall certainly qualifies as one of the Seven Manmade Wonders of the World.