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| Great Wall at Badaling, Part 1 |
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| Great Wall of China |
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| The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty. |
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| Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. |
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| The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi). This is made up of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) sections of actual wall, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi). |
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| Source: Wikipedia Wikipedia® CC |
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| Great Wall gate, Badaling |
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| Badaling (8 Reaches Ridge) is the best preserved section of the Great Wall. It is called Bada (8 Reaches) as the maze of ridges stretch in all directions. It is located 70 kilometres north west from the centre of Beijing City, 1000 meters above sea level, and commands a strategic position on the north passage of Juyongguan (Mediocre House Pass). |
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| The Great Wall at Badaling was built in the 18th year of the reign of the Ming emperor Hong Zhi (1505). The wall, built with tall granite slabs on the outside, is 7.8 meters high on average, some sections even reaching 8.4 meters in height. It is about 6.5 meters wide on average at its base, and 5.7 meters wide on average at the ramparts. The wall is wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast and ten people to advance shoulder to shoulder. |
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| Source: wikimapia Wikimapia CC-BY-SA, Licenses: cc crative commons |
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