 Badaling means "giving access to every direction", the
name itself suggests its strategic importance. Badaling Great Wall lies in Yanqing 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!
Click here to see the map of Badaling |
