Great Wall of China, Also know n to the Chinese as the 10,000 Li Wall, the Great Wall of China stretches from Shanhaiguan Pass on the east coast to Jiayuguan Pass in the Gobi Desert. Standard histories emphasize the unity of the wall.

History of the great wall of China begun 2000 years ago during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), when China was unified under Emperor Oin Shihuang. Separate walls, constructed by independent kingdoms to keep out marauding nomads, were linked up. The effort required hundreds of thousands of workers, many of them political prisoners, and 10 years of hard labor under General Meng Tian. An estimated 180 million cubic metres of rammed earth was used to form the core of the original wall, and legend has it that one of the building materials used was the bodies of deceased workers.

The wall never really did perform its function as a defence line to keep invaders out. As Genghis Khan supposedly said, The strength of a wall depends on the courage of those who defend it. Sentries could be bribed. However, it did work very well as a kind of elevated highway, transporting men and equipment across mountainous terrain. Its beacon tower system, using smoke signals generated by burning wolves dung, transmitted news of enemy movements quickly back to the capital.

The wall was largely forgotten after that. Lengthy sections of it returned to dust. The wall might have disappeared entirely had it not been rescued by the tourist industry. Several important sections have recently been rebuilt, dressed up with souvenir hops, restaurants and amusement park rides. Oddly, the depiction of the wall as an object of great beauty is a bizarre one. Its often been a symbol of tyranny, as the Berlin Wall once was. Badaling Great Wall

The majority of visitors see the Great Wall at Badaling, 70km northwest of Beijing at an elevation of 1000m. This section of the wall was restored in 1957, with the addition of guard rails. Since the 1980s, Badaling has become exceedingly crowded with visitors so a cable car was added to enhance the flow of tourist traffic.

There is an admission fee of Y25, which also gets you into the China Great Wall museum. You can spend plenty more for a tacky I Climbed the Great Wall T-shirt, a talking panda doll, a cuckoo clock that plays The East Is Red or a plastic reclining Buddha statue with a light-bulb in its mouth. For an additional fee you can get your snapshot taken aboard a camel and pretend to be Marco Polo.

Badaling Great Wall

Address: Yanqing County, 70 km from Beijings city proper;
Entry ticket: 45 yuan;
Traffic: Tourist Bus No.s 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; or Bus No. 919 from Deshengmen Bus Station; or drive along the Badaling Expressway via Madian Overpass;
Tel: 86-10-69121235, 86-10-69121338.

Juyongguan Great Wall

Address: North of Changping, government seat of Changping District;
Entry Ticket: 45 yuan;  
Traffic: Bus No. 919 from Deshengmen; or Tourist Bus No.s 1-5; or drive along the Badaling Expressway;
Tel: 86-10-69771665.

Simatai Great Wall

Address: Gubeikou Town, Miyun County;
Entry ticket: 40 yuan;
Traffic: Tourist Bus No. 12 from Xuanwumen and Dongsi Shitiao; or take bus from Dongzhimen to Miyun and then change to a local bus or hire a taxi;
Tel: 86-10-69031051, 86-10-69035025.

Jinshanling Great Wall

Address: On the border between Beijings Miyun County and Hebeis Luanping County.
Entry ticket: 30 yuan;
Traffic: Take a bus from Dongzhimen to Miyun and then change to a local bus or hire a taxi.

Mutianyu Great Wall

Address: Huairou District;
Entry ticket: 35 yuan;
Traffic: Tourist Bus No. 6 from Xuanwumen, Qianmen and Dongsi Shitiao; or take Bus No. 916 from Dongzhimen to Huairou, and then change to a local bus or hire a taxi (17 km);
Tel: 86-10-61626873, 86-10-61626022.

Jiankou Great Wall

Address: nortwest to Zhenzhuquan Village, Bohai Town, Huairou District;
Traffic:Tourist Bus No. 6 from Xuanwumen, Qianmen and Dongsi Shitiao; or take Bus No. 916 from Dongzhimen to Huairou, and then change to a local bus or hire a taxi;
Ticket: 10 yuan;
Warning: Some tourists got lost there. Finding a guide is a wise choice and the danger is there, be careful.

Recommended Tours: Hiking the Great Wall 9 days

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