Advertisement
Published: August 12th 2006
Edit Blog Post
The Great Wall of China
This small section of the wall is little reflection as to its actual length, covering thousands of miles. What are the expections for a first time visitor to the greatest and largest construction- site known to human kind?
To walk along man-made fortifications, that are reputed to be "the only human-made structures discernible from the moon", and are an amazing 16,000 miles long?
Whose planning and building began some 3,000 years ago, one thousand years before the birth of Christ, and still being improved by the Ming Dynasty less than 350 years ago, while Louis IV reigned supreme over France? (The 16 Ming Emperors alone contributed defensive works made up of some 4,500 miles, and they are the best preserved.)
How is it possible to describe a super-fortification, whose bricks alone, could create and "encircle" the earth in a 16 foot high wall?
Whose millions of hand-chisseled-stones snake over thousands of miles, atop some of the steepest and longest mountain-ridges I have ever seen - as if asleep, waiting for its next prey?
How does one make it up to the base of this Wall, much less get over it or through it??
Each range of mountains, on which the foundations of the Wall and Towers are constructed, undoubtedly became the first great
Looking down at the Badeling section of the wall.
The climb became an exercise of the mind as well as the body. obstacles for the intruders into China or the escapees from China. (Having made it up the sheer-mountains-cliffs, conquering the Wall would have been considered as the "gravy".)
Modern technology has given an astonished 21th Century visitor the means of easy access: The cable car :-) !!
Arriving on top the ramparts of the Wall has been made quite easy. Hoping to walk the Wall, through the crowds and concession stands, is of course another "typically China experience". (Remember that each wishes to be ahead and first, regardless of the time of arrival, and it will test ones patience.) :-)
Adventurers, explorers, missionaries, and invading armies had no such great technological assistance.
The sweat, blood, and rotting corpses of uncountable construction-crew-victims, and those butchered in the many gory battles for the trophy, that is China, must be the 'fertilizer' for the Wall's surrounding vegetation.
How else can there be so much green on these "steep-rock-cliffs", the combs of which provide the perch for this imposing "Mother of all Fortress-Fortifications"??
To keep out the "Foreign Devils" and to maintain the harmony of "Their Empire", the Great Wall of China was constructed, as if to give meaning
Welcome to China Mr. Marco Polo.
Thousands of these towers along the Wall housed the emperor's border troops. an often debated phrase: " East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet".
Throughout history and into modern times, walls have been erected, not only to keep strange influences out, but also to protect and insulate the culture within its boundry. We saw it in Berlin, and we see it in the Middle East, and we see it again, today, on our own home-borders; but never anything like this, and never on this mammoth scale.
Historical documents indicate, that this project kept 300,000 men working for 10 years on just a "small section" of the Wall. Hundreds of thousands of bodies must be part of the foundation of this massive construction, conceived out of fear of the unfamiliar, the building of which is often associated with acts of great cruelty.
It is clear, that this Wall was to make a statement beyond history, and offer anyone the time and opportunity, to ponder and reconsider their entry through its gates, legally or illegally.
To reach this fortress-wall was the challenge of a lifeteme for adventurers and conquerors, attempting to enter this mysterious and immense country from the North and the West.
What a Public Works Project !
Many sections of the Wall are dangerous to visit, especially in bad weather. But they can be admired from other sections of the wall. The encounter of these fortifications, must have left Marco Polo, in the 13th Century, and the Jesuit Priests in later centuries speachless for some time.
Finally reaching almost vertical hights and gasping for air, surely they were then wondering out loud: "What mystery lies hidden beyond and is protected by walls and fortifications, that seem to have been created by gods??"
Oh boy! Were they in for a surprise! What these individuals wrote in their travel-journals is available for all to read and is scattered throughout the world's libraries and the Internet. They struggled to find words to convey their encounter and their wonderment as witness to this "once" forbidden place.
To pay homage to their words is a great personal joy, though it is an exercise of futility to imitate their colorful accounts. It is only possible to express my awe in minimalistic and simplistic phrases and through some humble photos, that might mitigate a lack of descriptive adjectives.
Constraints limited the visit to the "Badaling" part of the Wall, this time! This rather small stretch of the ramparts is the best known and the best maintained section, but also the most commercial. It took
us 4 hrs. to reach our car and driver.
Overwhelming summer-travel-crowds, mostly from China itself, would have provided a fierce defense of the Wall for the Emperor, had they been available in his time of need, then.
It was crowded, it was hot, yet mind-blowing to imagine the goings on, here, only a few centuries ago. With or without the crowds, it is a sight to behold.
There was no doubt in anyone's mind, and there we were thousands around me, that each one of us was walking on history, quite cruel in its creation, though something to behold as one of, if not: The Wonder of the World.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 32; dbt: 0.0382s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
celia
non-member comment
beautiful pictures
simply amazing. i hope i'll get to see that for myself one day.