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Published: June 26th 2011
Pictures updated 7.7!!
Wednesday, 6/22: WE CLIMB THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!
OK, just a small portion. But a very steep portion. In the heat. With lots of folks around us. It was pretty hard work—long, steep, uneven steps, railings lower than you’d like. But exhilarating in that you were ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!! I made it up from Beacon 7 to 8 to 9!! No, really, that’s saying something. We drove outside of the city to the Great Wall of China, one of the world’s most awesome and impressive sights. The Great Wall snakes its way from east to west for nearly 4,000 miles, and has been in existence for over 2,600 years. Some history from the ride up: the Wall was begun during the Warring States Period, 475-221 BC. The last emperor of the Chou Dynasty had 7 sons and after his death seven states existed and were at war. It was built section-by-section by different states. By 221 BC, the Qin united under feudalism (replacing the slavery system—when the master died, all slaves were buried alive with him.) The first Qin emperor abolished slavery and sent General Meng to finish the wall, linking the
various sections. 10,000 li wall, about 6,000 km, about 1500 miles remain. At one point, there was a population of 16 million and 30% of them were involved in building (or gathering supplies, etc) the wall. Law said the wall had to reach a certain point. Floods and other occurrences kept that from being met. This caused the first farmers uprising. Han was the next dynasty. Xi’an, head of the silk road was not originally for silk but for the Han to send diplomats to the borders for negotiation. What of the wall we now see was mostly built during the Ming Dynasty—they were the only ones to use bricks. The entire wall was built on blood and flesh. Mao said that if you want to be a true hero of the revolution, you need to touch the Great Wall. I got a 'true hero' card with my picture on it part way up--surprisingly good picture, considering the shape I was in!
On the way from Beijing to the Wall, we went by a jade carving factory. OOOhhh, jade—all kinds of colors of jade. Green, yellow, blue, lavendar, pink, purple, white, gold….jade, jadeite, agate. Another ‘show tell & sell’
demo. Yes, I bought myself a purple jade pendant!
After the Great Wall, we went to lunch which included a birthday cake for Kenneth (left my camera in the bus so I’ll steal pictures later). The lunch was in the restaurant of the “Friendship House”. These used to be government-run industries which, I understand, weren’t so very Friendly. However, since they’ve gotten the entrepreneural spirit, it seems to have changed. This one was a cloisonne factory, show room and, you got it!!! Sales room. Beautiful work and lots of it, very fine.
We continued with a visit to the ruins of the Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace and Gardens). The palace was destroyed during the Eight Powers Invasion (Boxer Rebellion) and is now a park. They’re getting ready to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party so lots of decorations, very bright and fanciful. It was a lovely park but I was a bit knackered—just kind of wandered around. Did wander into a sort of warehouse where they were setting up a display of beautiful art work to sell, mostly what you’d think of as traditional but some more contemporary. Some of the others
went farther back into the park itself and saw more of the ruins than I did—one arch of a bridge! That’s ok, I guess I needed to be in a daze for a while. It was still fairly hot and very humid. I keep trying to drink plenty of water but sort of need to be wary of having to use the restroom! So far, so good, and glad I brought the Charmin. I think we’ve all taken a picture of the toilets in one place or another!
We rushed back to the hotel to have about 20 minutes to get ready for the Peking Opera. Somehow, Drew and I each managed to shower and change into something a bit fresher feeling than the clothes we’d climbed the Wall wearing! The Beijing Opera is not what we think of as European opera. It’s a combination of story, acrobatics, acting, singing, and comedy. The costumes were gorgeous, the acrobatics were great, the singing more like caterwalling, and the English subtitles ‘interesting’. A great treat!
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Beth White-O'connor
non-member comment
Wow
Hi Sue, Wow the pics are amazing...thanks for sharing. What an adventure.