Badaling Great Wall
Badaling is located at Yanqing County,
more than 70 kilometers northwest from the center of
Beijing City. It is a mountain pass of the Jundu Mountain.
Badaling is at the highest point of north end of the
Guan'gou gorge, in which the Juyongguan Pass lies. In
the history, the function of Badaling was to protect
the Juyongguan Pass. Along with Guan'gou gorge, there
are several interests and historic sites. Badaling is
a rare ancient military defense project. The elevation
of it is about 1,000 meters.
The wall of Badaling has a total length
of 3, 741 meters with an average height of 8 meters
The highest part is 15 meters. The total area for a
tour is 19, 000 square meters. The top of the wall can
permit five horses to be ridden abreast. There are arched
doors at the inner side of the wall with very little
distance between each two doors. The arched doors lead
you to the top of the wall by stone stairs.
Badaling became a very important military
strategic place since the Spring and Autumn Period (770
BC - 476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476 BC -
221 BC). Many incomplete parts of the wall were proved
to be built in the Warring States Period.
Badaling was the earliest section
to be open to the tourists among all the parts of the
whole Great Wall. 130 million tourists from China and
abroad have visited Badaling; 370 foreign leaders and
very important persons have come to climb Badaling successively.
This section of the Great Wall was
made by huge bar stones. Some of the stones have a height
of two meters with a weight of hundreds kilograms. Inside
the Wall are made of mud and stone block. The top floor
of the Great Wall is paved with square bricks which
made the floor very orderly and smooth. On the highest
place, signal fire platforms were set to send warning
signals in the ancient China. One fire with one smoke
means the enemy is about 100 men; two fires with two
smoke means 500 men, and three fires with three smoke
means more than 1,000 men... By this way, the persons
who were warned were able to know the state of the enemy.
Near Badaling, there is a large-scaled
Great-Wall-of-China Museum as well as the Great Wall
National Theater from which you can get a full and complete
view of the Great Wall.
In 1961, the State Council decided
that Badaling was a national key protected culture relic
unit. In 1987, Badaling became ' World Cultural heritage'
by the United Nation.
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