| BEIJING
-Badaling Great Wall
Badaling means "giving access to every
direction", the name itself suggests its strategic importance.
Badaling Great Wall lies in Ya nqing
County, northwest of Beijing. It covers five counties and
one district, namely: Miyun, Huairou, Pinggu, Yanqing and
Changping County and Mentougou District.
Badaling Great Wall was the best preserved part
of the Ming Great Wall. Here, the wall averages 7.8 metres
high, 6.5 metres wide of the base, and 5.8 metres at the top.
The wall was designed to allow five horsemen or ten soldiers
to march side by side along the wall. The flights of stairs
up to the outer wall are fairely widely spaced.
The wall could almost be considered as a superhighway
on the rough mountain terrain. On the highway, news, men or
even food could travel rapidly. Suppose you were a solider
500 years ago in the Ming Dynasty, when you found some enemies
were about to invade your country, in the daytime, they should
start a heavy smoke to tell the other soliders to get ready,
when seeing their signal, would start another smoke in the
distance, this signal would be relayed until finally it reached
the capital and the whole country would be ready for the war.
But what if the enemies invade the country at night, as most
invasion started, they should light up beconfires to communicate
military information to the emperor at a very rapid speed.
For every few hundred metres, you can see a
watchtower. Also, the wall of this section was built of giant
rocks and bricks of similar size. It was faced with stone,
and the inside was filled with earth and rubber, therefore,
Badaling Great Wall was also regarded the strongest section
of the Ming Great Wall.
To  experience
the real splendor of the Great Wall, you should not only see
the Great Wall and take pictures from down here, but also
walk on it. There're two entrances where you can climb the
Badaling Great Wall, most people, however, climb the Great
Wall from the right entrance because it is an easier way.
It takes about an hour to climb to the top of the raised towers
either way. From the top on the right looking northwest, you
can see the famous Guanting Reservoir; The wall on the left
is a little more steep, naturally, less people climb the wall
from this side.
Different people may have very different
preferences. Make your choice and start climbing now!
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