China Great wall
pictures of greatwall in China
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Great wall
beauriful china greatwall
The Great Wall is very long, it crossed more than half of China. The Great Wall is starting out in the east on the banks of the Yalu River in Liaoning Province. The Wall stretches westwards for 12,700 kilometers to Jiayuguan in the Gobi desert, thus known as the Ten Thousand Li Wall in China. The Wall climbs up and down, twists and turns along the ridges of the Yanshan and Yinshan Mountain. Chains through five provinces—Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu—and two autonomous regions--Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, binding the northern China together(China Through A Lens).
Thousands of years ago, Chinses people began to build the Great Wall. The building of the Great Wall was begin as early as the 600’s BC, at that time, the Great Wall was built to protect Chinese against invaders. Qin Shi huang, Emperor of Qin dynasty is the first ruler to conceive of the Great Wall. The building continued including the Han and the Sui dynasties. When the Ming dynasty bagan in 1369, much of the Great Wall have been crumbled. Because of the growing threat of a Mongol invasion, the Ming government began to build a major wall in late 1400’s. This is most of the wall that remains today. Like the earlier one, it protected China from attacktion and it also provided defense against a major invasion. Through the years, much of the Great Wall collapsed again. And the Chinese Communist have done all the restoration works since 1949(China Through A Lens).
The wall is about 4,000 miles long. And it is simple in structure. The Great Wall is built out of dirt, stone, and brick.() Most of the Great Wall is carried out by humans, and a lot of people died because of the building of the Great Wall(Aladdin, Paperbacks).
Cool!China will create a three-dimensional digital version of the surviving sections of the Great Wall, which the public will be able to view online, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping told Xinhua Thursday.
The Tiananmen Square in the center
of Beijing, is said to be the biggest
square in the world. It is has a total
area of 440,000 square meters and
can hold one million people.
The granite Monument to the People’s
Heroes is just at the center of the
Tiananmen Square. Built in 1952, it is
the largest monument in China’s history.
- Forbidden City
- Summer Palace
18 august 2007
- Old Summer Palace
The gardens of the Old Summer Palace, which are about the same size as Central Park in New York, date back to the 12th century. Emperor Qianlong who was inspired by French and Italian palaces and had 10 palaces of his own designed and built in rococo style in the gardens.
When the British and French were unhappy with the Chinese government’s refusal to accept opium in return for silk, tea and other goods, the Europeans destroyed the 10 palaces of the emperor. The destruction occurred over three days in 1860 during the Second Opium War (1860-1862). The troops burned all the wood structures and did as much damage to the marble facades as they could.
The Old Summer Palace which is known as the Ruins of the Yuanmingyuan (the Garden of Perfection and Light) was also called the ‘garden of gardens’ or the ‘Versailles of the East’ in Europe. Hundreds of scenic spots in the Garden are made up of exquisitely constructed, earth and rock hills, rivers and ponds, exotic flowers and grasses, Grand Waterworks, and a Labyrinth. The Old Summer Palace embodies the essence of Chinese ancient landscape gardening.
15 august 2007
- Great Wall / Chinese Wall
To reach Mutianyu Great Wall there are more than 1,400 steps to climb. Mutianyu Great Wall enjoys a long history and is part of the glorious culture of China.
The wall was first built in Northern Qi Dynasty (550 - 557). In the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang, two famous patriotic generals, rebuilt it in order to strengthen its defensive potential when they guarded the strategic pass. Mutianyu Great Wall winds 1.4 miles through lofty mountains and high ridges, many sections of which are made of granite.
The unique structure makes the wall almost indestructible. There are 22 watch towers distributed at close intervals along the wall.
“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man.” - Mao Zedong
14 august 2007
- Beihai Park
Beihai Park is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved ancient imperial gardens in China located in the center of Beijing.
This ancient garden, with over 1,000 years’ history, is not only a classic combination of the grandiosity of the northern gardens and the refinement of the southern gardens in China, but also a perfect integration of magnificent imperial palaces and solemn religious constructions.
- Beihai Park, Nine-Dragon Screen
The well-known Nine-Dragon Screen, which is the only screen in the world having nine huge dragons on both sides among the most famous three. The Nine-Dragon Screen is about 27 meters (about 88.6 feet) long, 6.65 meters (about 21.8 feet) high and 1.42 meters (4.66 feet) thick.
The Nine-Dragon Screen is still bright in color and complete in appearance, showing the high techniques of Chinese arts and crafts in ancient times.
The Great Wall is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC, the most famous being the one built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. That wall was much further north than the current wall, built during the Ming Dynasty, and little of it remains.
China great wall 
I finally made my way over the Hebei province to visit the famous Shanhaiguan Great Wall(长城,山海关段). Its pretty straight forward to get there; there are a number of trains and buses from BJ lasting anywhere from 2.5 hours to 6 hours. I took the D5 which left around 9am from BJ train station arriving in Shanhaiguan at 11.30am. Though I was looking for a place to stay within the walled city, it was impossible to get a homestay (due to Olympic hosting restrictions for foreigner). So, after about an hour looking for an affordable place I came across the newly opened Guan Yun hotel, about 5 minutes walk from the south gate. The staff was EXTREMELY friendly; I thought for a moment I am in another country. Mind you that the hotel seems to worship the goddess Guanyin and this devotion seems to spell over to the guests.
Shan hai guan(山海关) - Great Wall of China
travel in China- Shan hai guan(山海关) - Great Wall
The hotel opened about 2 months ago and has sparkling clean rooms, some prettier that others. The beautiful double rooms were available for 150 Yuan; I paid 100 yuan for my room.
I had 3 days to wander around Shanhaiguan, taking in the walled city, hiking up to Jiaoshan Mountain and spending about 5 hours at Laolongtou (Old Dragon's Head). While there, I chatted with the wonderful girls of the Tourist Information Center. Miffy showed me around and told me much about the history. She and her collegue are English majors at the university in Beidahe.
At Shanhaiguan, the Great Wall juts out into the sea. This part of the wall is known as the "Old Dragon's Head". Bus 25 will take you to the entrance for ¥1. If you turn left before the entrance, that road will take you under the wall and to the beach. From there you can see where the wall reaches the ocean without paying entrance fees. At low tide it is possible, albeit illegal and dishonest of course, to walk around the end of the wall and enter the paid-area without a ticket.
Further inland, The pass of Shanhaiguan is to be found. The pass of Shanhaiguan is a square, with a perimeter of around 4 kilometers long. The walls reach the heigh of 14 meters, and are 7 meters thick. The pass's east, south and north side is surrounded by a moat of 8 feet deep and 17 feet wide. There are drawbridges to get over the moat, and in the middle of the pass stands a tall bell tower.
All four sides of Shanhaiguan had a gate: Zhendong (East), Yinun (West), Mangyang (South), and Weiyuan (North). Due to disrepair over the centuries, only Zhendong gate still remains today. Zhendong Gate is the most important gate in Shanhaiguan due to its position, which faces outside the pass. On the gate hangs the board, written on it "First Pass Under the Heaven."
About 4 km from the walled city is a forest park, with Jiaoshan Mountain, near another section of the wall. Here, the wall can be seen snaking it's way over the hills. It is possible to take a chairlift/cablecar to get a better view, or if you're feeling fit, you can walk up a steep section of the wall. On a clear day (which I didnt have) the mountain offers views to the lake and supposedly to the Bohai see.
There's also a museum dedicated to the Great wall in the centre of Shanhaiguan (which was clsed due to renovation).
Much of Shanhaiguan has been extensively restored in the 80s. Currently much of the "old" town is being completely reconstructed. Quite a few entire city blocks are being remade into a faux-old Chinese city that, in fact, promises to be quite fake looking when construction is complete. As of the time of writing, September 2008, the walled city or "old town" was still under construction with only a few restaurants open. Come back in a year and you should see some activity in the "old town".
via http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grizzly/rtw_2004/1221547200.html
The construction of defensive walls has a long history in China. Early in the Spring and Autumn Period, every state was active in buildingprotective walls against their enemies. Yan State was no exception.As it was one of the seven powerful warring states at the time.The western region of today's Liaoning Province is proved to be under the jurisdiction of Yan State, so here one can find manyrelics of the wall. The wall of Yan State in Jianping County is said to be the earliest wall in Liaoning, which was originallycalled "earth dragon" or the "stone dragon" bythe local inhabitants.The wall construction didn't end with the following dynasties.Qin, Han, Northern Qi, Liao and Ming Dynasties all put substantiallabor and money into the wall construction, which made Liaoningan area full of wall resource. The known walls in this regionmeasure 2,350 kilometers (1,460 miles), Liaoning is proud to havethe easternmost part of Great Wall, the Hushan Great Wall. Thisis a recent discovery in Chinese archaeological history, to widespreadsurprise, as it repudiates the earlier theory that consideredShanhaiguan Pass as the easternmost section of the Great Wall.
Most of today's walls in Liaoning are but historical ruins, scatteredacross the mountains and towns. In order to salvage these precioushistorical remains, Chinese government spares no effort to restoreand protect them, with the hope of retaining their ancient andimportant magnificence.
Tourist Map of the great wall in Beijing
Beacon towers : Beacon towers were used for passing military messages. They were often built on the tops of the mountains or rises for convenience in watching the enemies’ movements. Due to its unique function, it is regarded as the oldest effective telegraph system in Chinese history.
Walls : Walls are the main part of the construction, averaging about 26.6 feet tall. They serve as the important nexus connecting the passes, beacon towers, watch towers and other military structures together, thus allowing the dragon to fly freely over the vast land of northern China.
The Qin Wall starts from Liaodong (today's east and south of Liaoning Province) in the east and ends at Lintao (today's Lintao County in Gansu Province) in the west. The wall was built according to the local conditions and used local materials. Generally speaking, the Qin Wall was made of large pieces of stones. Between the stones, huge amounts of detritus was accumulated and filled in. It measures about 4.4 to 5.5 yards. The steep cliffs were used as natural walls after being chiseled a little. In Gobi area, the wall was built by mixing grit with the local plants such as red willows, reeds, and poplars. In flat plains, the wall was built from pounded yellow earth, layer upon layer. Besides connecting the scattered sections of previous states, Qin Wall was augmented with rather complicated military structures such as blockhouses, barriers, passes and beacon towers.
Han Wall followed the basic characteristic of Qin Wall, that is, to build the wall according to the local conditions and used local materials. The difference lies in the constructional types. The Han Wall mainly wound through grasslands where big stones were not available. The compressed earth construction was favored. For example, in Dunhuang, where large amount of bulrush, poplar, red willow and dogbane grew, these were used for wall construction. The branches of these plants served as groundwork which was covered by a layer of sun-dried mud bricks mixed with grit and above was the rammed bulrush. On average, the thickness of the bulrush layer measured 1.6 to 2.0 inches and the grit layer measured 7.9 inches. Remnants of this work remain till this day. The willow branch and bulrush could bear strong tension, and stones and grit were not easy to be destroyed after being compacted in layers, so the wall became rather solid.
The military system of Han Wall included barriers, beacon towers, strongholds, trenches, castles besides passes and blockhouses. Tiantian, a newly created observation object, was built by placing a layer of silver sand inside the trench. If the Huns dared to set foot in, they would certainly leave footprint on the sand, which would be noticed by sentries. Besides, the strict beacon system was formed in Han Dynasty. The regulation prescribed that a beacon be built at the interval of 1.6 miles, a block at the interval of 3.1 miles, a fortress at the interval of 18.6 miles and a pass at the interval of 62.1 miles. In the daytime, smoke columns were used to warn the coming of attacks. One smoke column indicated that less than one thousand enemies invaded, if more than one thousand enemies attacked, two smoke columns would be raised. Three smoke columns would be lifted in case more enemies came. At night, soldiers would kindle firebrands to warn of coming dangers.
The Ming Wall is the solidest and most complete one compared with walls in other dynasties. The Ming Dynasty drew the experience from the previous dynasties when they built the wall. More important military fortifications were added on the wall. In flat areas, outside the wall, big wide moats were dug to make approach difficult.
Watch towers were often square in shape and towered above the top of the wall about 13.1 feet. While at places of strategical importance, the watch towers were round and raised high above the wall. They were built for soldiers to live in, to store food and weapons for a long period of time. The Ming Dynasty still raised smoke to warn of dangers. Besides, the boom of cannon was added to strengthen the alarm effect. In ancient times when telephone and wireless communication were not available, this method to transfer the military message was obviously fast. Beacon towers in Ming Wall were also used for ensuring the safety of ambassadors, supplying them with room and board and offering forage for their horses.
