Day 21 (31 July 2014) the Great Wall of China

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We had a very early start (well early for us) as we were collected at 8:30am by Richard and Cheng for our ride to the Great Wall of China. And it was - great in many respects. We visited the Mutianyu section.

The history books say that the wall was built to keep out marauders but our guide clarified the reason it was built was economic. In the 7th century BCE China was made up of seven countries. Three of these were agrarian and four had nomads who raised animals. The nomads wanted to graze their flocks further south but the farming communities wanted to keep the animals out of their fields so they built barriers. Then during the 7th to 5th centuries BCE the barriers were more deeply entrenched and became three walls. The names of those three kingdoms were Qian, Yan and Zhao. In 221 BCE Qian became the first empire when it conquered the other six countries and gave the name Chien (China) or Central Kingdom to the new empire.

The first emperor decided to link the wall and it took nine years to link it. The wall is 6400 kilometres long. The foundations are 7 meters high and 5 meters wide. On top of the foundation sits the wall with a series of battlements and watchtowers. The wall is built in the mountain ranges and all the stones were carried from quarries to the foundations by men carrying the stones on their backs. The battlements are two meters high.

Between 1404 and 1435 the wall was strengthened by local families. If a builder broke an arm or leg he was placed in the wall to die. When the wall was being excavated bones were discovered but they were left in situ. Today 46% of the wall remains intact.

The drive to the wall was through the country route. We passed tree farms. People realized they could make more money by growing and selling trees for furniture etc than by growing food crops. It took about 90 minutes to reach the Mutianyu section of wall.

We arrived at the tourist centre where I had my first encounter with Chinese toilets. These are porcelain toilets except that instead of being on a pedestal they are embedded directly into the ground so that one has to squat over them. They have foot plates on which to place ones feet. One has to be very precise or ...

We walked up and up and up and that was only to reach the cable car station. We then went up in the cable car which was a "look no hands" ride. At the top there was a further walk up to the wall. Lesley's legs gave out at this stage so she sat down at the 14th watchtower and left Don and Richard to walk up and down the wall.

Don was amazed and impressed by the scale of the wall. The day was hazy and the wall went up and down the mountain fading into the distance. He and Richard walked through several minor guard posts, with holes for shooting arrows and room to house just a couple of soldiers. Eventually they reached tower 16. This was large enough to contain fireplaces and provide housing for several guards. It was hard for Don to estimate how far he was walking up and down, although our knowledgeable guide Richard quoted many of the statistics.

Eventually we regrouped and went down the same way we came up!

Then we went for lunch. Richard was unable to find a vegetarian restaurant near this Great Wall section but he found a farmer's restaurant where the speciality was fresh caught fish. We had some steamed trout with rice.

Then on to the Ming tombs. These are of an incredibly grand scale. The site is 13,000 square meters for 1300 tombs. Not only are the emperors buried here but also close family and of course the concubines.

These were begun in 1409 by the third emperor Yung-lo. He only had two concubines. There were nine rankings of concubines. A woman could increase her status and standing in the court by having a son with the emperor. At the same time as starting to build the tombs, this emperor also built the Forbidden City (more about that tomorrow), connected the Great Wall and opened up trade with the west. He also commissioned the Yongle encyclopaedia which was in 22,877 volumes.

By this time my hips had given out and I was unable to do the long walk on the Main Sacred Way to see the large statues of people and animals that accompanied the emperors to their final resting place. Don and Richard went and covered the mile walk a lot quicker than if I were with them. I stayed with Cheng who drove the car to the other end of the area, where I took a short walk to see the totems there.

It was back to the hotel for pain killers and dinner. We went across the road to Dini's kosher restaurant. This in itself was a saga. Don asked the hotel to find out its opening times. There was a look of surprise on the face of the concierge when he called the restaurant. He told Don that the restaurant was open, that it only took cash and didn't give receipts! Then we had to cross the road. Pedestrians, cars and bicycles fight for the right of the road. Even when the green man is flashing cars come at you from all angles. Pedestrians take their lives in their hands (feet?) to cross the road. We made it there safely. The meal was really nice. I had mushroom soup and Don had vegetable soup and we each had a Chinese chicken dish. Then back across to the hotel and bed as we have another full day tomorrow.

NOTE: scroll down to see more pictures of the Great Wall and Ming Tombs areas than are shown within this text.

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