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75km (47 miles) northwest of Beijing, the Badaling Great Wall is typical of the wall during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644AD). This section of the Great Wall attracts the most tourists as they enjoy walking along the stretches of the wall and also because the gigantic feat of construction is most impressive. Guard rails and cable cars make Badaling a safe and almost easy way to see the Great Wall.

The government has restored this part of the wall so that every tower and turret stands just as it did when the Mongols overran the country 700 years ago. Observation holes are available on the upper part of the battlements. Badaling is also the outer gate to Juyoung pass, a strategic defense post for Beijing during the Ming dynasty.

This section of the wall also houses a museum of Chinese history, which includes a photo gallery and the Great Wall Circle Vision Theater, a 360 degree amphitheater which shows a 15 minute film on the history and legends of the wall.

Great Wall is a symbol of China's greatness and of the ability of man to achieve. It functioned for hundreds of years to spare the villages the random raids of tribes from the north, lending a stability to life and continuity to the culture and government. It marked the boundary; China -- not China and its defense and maintenance for the common good united the feudal states as well as costing them wealth and untold lives.

The Great Wall is difficult to comprehend -- to photograph, impossible. At one time it stretched 12,700 li ( a li is a third of a mile) across the border between China and the Hun territories in the north. I've read that if you dismantle it and rebuild it, it could go around the entire world; probably if you stretched it by molecule it could reach Andromeda. Different guide books give different dimensions, poetically the Chinese call it the Wall of 10,000 li. The point is, it's big. It isn't one place but many. It's size is better seen on a map or from an aerial photograph. Its beauty is caught in glimpses through the mountains and clouds, its human cost is experienced through climbing it step by step.

It started as earth works thrown up for protection by different States. The individual sections weren't connected until the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Qin Shihuangdi, First Emperor of Qin began conscripting peasants, enemies, and anyone else who wasn't tied to the land to go to work on the wall. The tradition lasted for centuries. Each dynasty added to the height, breadth, length, and elaborated the design mostly through forced labor.

There is a traditional story about Meng Jiangnü . Shortly after she and her husband were married he was conscripted to work on the wall. Meng Jiangnü worried that he would suffer from the cold in the north and began to make a padded cotton jacket. After it was sewn she began the long walk from her home in the south to the site of the Great Wall. When she got there and finally found the other men from her village, she was told that her husband had died. She went to the wall and began keening and mourning with such pathos that 20 li of the wall collapsed and in the pit at the center, she found the body of her husband. Meng Jinagnü threw herself into the sea to join her husband. Her suicide personalizes the losses due to the Great Wall.

It was during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) that the Wall took on its present form. The brick and granite work was enlarged and sophisticated designs were added. The watch towers were redesigned and modern canon were mounted in strategic areas. The Portuguese had found a ready market for guns and canon in China, one of the few items of trade that China didn't already have in abundance. The Ming Emperors, having overthrown the Hun dominance and expelled their Mongol rulers of the North devoted large portions of available material and manpower to making sure that they didn't return.

Since the 1600's parts of the Wall in some areas have been either dismantled to provide building materials in the area or have been buried by silt. We visited a restored section of the Wall at Badaling. When you stand on the Wall and look to the north you see the beginning of the great desert flatlands of the Hun. The view to the South is like a Chinese painting of layers of rolling hills covered by short brush and trees. The terrain is rough on both sides, and even today it is only accessible by a narrow road.

2006-11-28 10:39:55 補充：
Throughout the centuries, armies were garrisoned along the length of the Wall to provide early warning of invasion and a first line of defense. Great piles of straw and dung used to build signal fires have been found during excavations.

2006-11-28 10:42:12 補充：
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