Local time China: 04:04am
Hiking Great Wall
We will leave the city at 8 o'clock in the morning. Today's goal is an old section called Jiankou Great Wall from where we start our hike. Jiankou is also renowned for its fantastic view and reputed as "photographer's paradise". So do not forget your camera at home. First we will have to walk about 40 minutes to the Great Wall, and then we hike for 3 hours along the unrestored Great Wall until we arrive on the restored section of the Mutianyu Great Wall. From there it will be another one hour's walk to the final point of this hike. Optionally you can also take the cable car for the descent from the Great Wall to the coach.
The Great Wall - also known to the Chinese as the "10'000 Li Wall (the Li is a Chinese unit of distance now standardised at a half a kilometre)" - stretches from Shanhai Pass on the east coast to Jiayu Pass in the Gobi desert - an important link on the Silk Road. The "original" wall was begun 2000 years ago during the Qin dynasty (221-207), when China was unified under Emperor Qin Shihuang. Separate walls, built by independent kingdoms to keep out "barbarians" and nomads, were linked up. The construction required hundreds of thousands of workers and according to legends, one of the building materials apart from the estimated 180 million cubic meters of rammed earth was the bodies of deceased workers. The wall actually never performed its function as a defense line. However, it worked very well as a kind of highway, along which men and equipment could be transported across mountainous terrain. Its beacon tower system using smoke signals transmitted news of enemy movements quickly back to the capital.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) the wall was faced with stone slabs and bricks. This project took over 100 years and the cost in resources and human lives was astronomical. After the Manchu conquered China, the Wall was of no strategic value and was largely forgotten, mainly because the Manchu extended their political control far to the north. Lengthy sections have returned to dust during and after the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).
Note: As the walk will be around 5.5 hours and there is no possibility of a shortcut, participants need to be in good shape and have good footwear (outdoor or hiking boots). This trip is NOT suitable for people with vertigo.
Departure: 08:00
Return: 18:00