China - The Great Wall

Wow! I have just got back from a surreal experience that I recommend everyone put on his or her bucket list. I have been to The Great Wall of China and it is akin to visiting the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Ephesus and driving a Lexus. Apart from the Lexus, with air-conditioned seats, the others share a humid, hot climate that makes the experience sticky to say the least. By the time I climbed to the top of a steep section of the Wall there was not a dry part of my clothing.

The Great wall is three hours from the coast. We drove on six lane highways that had garden quality manicured shrubs and flowers bordering the road. Each village competes for the prettiest part of the highway and lovingly tends the roadside gardens. The journey was an excellent entrée to our destination.

Picture this; a few of us arrived at the bottom of part of the Great Wall and looked up. Anyone who had wheels or sticks of any sort went looking for souvenirs, the rest of us started up the steps. The Great Wall has not yet been made disabled friendly. The steps are uneven and different heights. Some are up to ½ a metre high per step in some of the steeper sections.

The climb became a fitness test as people slowed, sat and turned back. There was much back-slapping and encouragement with mixed success. Towards the top of the valley the chatter had stopped and wheezing was the noise of choice. For those who made it the view was breathtaking, literally, as you looked over the hill at the next section of the 6500km long wall. Going down was way harder than going up and back at the valley floor, “jelly legs” was a common description of how one felt but it was worth every rasping breath, every drop of sweat and the damp ride home.

Qin Shi Huangdi the first emperor of China built the Great Wall of China over 2,000 years ago. Amusingly, the Chinese name for the wall, "Wan-Li Qang-Qeng" is actually its measurement. It means 10,000-Li Long Wall (10,000 Li = about 5,000 km). Its purpose was to protect China from outside aggression, but also to preserve its culture from the customs of foreign barbarians.

Armies were stationed along the wall as a first line of defense against the invading nomadic Hsiung Nu tribes north of China (the Huns). The Huns were hunters and foragers and the Chinese were agriculturalist farmers hence the collision of cultures. Signal fires from the Wall provided early warning of an attack. One-fire meant 100 attackers, 2 fires meant 200 attackers.

The Great Wall is one of the largest building construction projects ever completed. It stretches across the mountains of northern China, winding north and northwest of Beijing. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall was enlarged to 6,400 kilometers and renovated over a 200-year period, with watchtowers and cannons added.

The Great Wall can be seen from Earth orbit, but, contrary to legend, is not visible from the moon, according to recently deceased astronaut Neil Armstrong. The Great Wall was being built at the same time as the Egyptian Pyramids, the Amphitheatre of Turkey and the tombs of Petra, all of which I have had the good fortune to experience.

The wall is testimony to the far-sighted strategic thinking and mighty military and national defence forces of 2500-year-old empires in ancient China. As the Pyramids are to Egypt, the Great Wall is to China a demonstration of visionary architecture, technology and art. The Wall embodies unparalleled significance spanning thousands of years as a national symbol for safeguarding the security of the country, its people and it’s culture.

Over 1 million people died building the Great Wall and they were buried in the wall as a final honour. Local Chinese say that the Wall is also the world’s longest and largest tomb.