The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall was built primarily to try to control attacks from the North - so the wall extends East-West along Northern China - for over 5500 miles - which is coincidentally pretty-much the same distance as the US/Canadian border - so imagine building a stone wall the entire length of that border (though I don't know WHY we would want to isolate ourselves from the Canadians - since they're so nice!). The wall is often built in mountainous terrain to make it *more* difficult to assault - but, of course, that also made it more difficult to build - and "interesting" to get to. For more background, refer to Wikipedia's entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

Odysseys Unlimited has chosen to take us to the "Mu Tian Yu" section which is a little further from Beijing and a little less commercial. Nice choice. There is quite an elevation rise from Beijing: Beijing is essentially at sea level while the Mu Tian Yu section of the Great Wall is at nearly 2000 feet. The bus parks, and we all begin the *walk* up to the Cable Car. The pathway is utterly lined with vendors hawking everything from copies of Chairman Mao's little red book to Camel rides to T-shirts saying "I climbed the Great Wall" - but we negotiate the gamut and board the Cable Car. Our guide smilingly tells us that the cars were intended for 6 *Chinese* people, but only *4* of us will fit.


The ride up makes me ponder the mind of an Emperor who looked at this terrain and decided that "Yeah... I can build a 20-foot-high, 20-foot-wide stone wall here - with no power tools or equipment." I don't think that I could even just *hike* up to the top - let alone haul up massive stones after mounding up earth as the base.

Now. Granted. The work was largely done by forced labor from people who had been conquered - and we're told that it is estimated that over 1 *million* people *died* while constructing the wall - and that they were simply added to the "fill dirt" to compose the wall. And, by the way, this was all going on at the same time that the "Terra Cotta Army" was being constructed and buried - and *that* took over 700,000 people to accomplish (and I'll be blogging about *that* since we do visit that site in Xian). Perhaps this is no different from "Crazy Ludwig" - the German King who was responsible for the creation of opulent castles like "Neuschwanstein" - and who nearly bankrupted Germany in the process. And I'm torn: do you *have* to be crazy and irresponsible to leave something truly amazing behind you? I can't admire the motivation, but here is something that has lasted far longer than all of Western Civilization - and you *have* to admire *that*. In retrospect, Emperor Qin is still dead and gone, but should I, nonetheless, admire what was created?

We arrive at the top, and climb the stairs - and it's impossible not to admire the beauty, accomplishment, and power of the Wall. Wide. Tall. Gorgeous scenery. Stretching as far as you can see - along the ridge of the mountains.




We walk down the steep, uneven steps, through the massive guard towers. Breathtaking. And very demanding to climb. I have to stop to let my heart pound - regularly.

More to come.