The Great Wall of China tourist attraction
If if you have traveled to China for a vacation holiday, people will
inevitably ask you whether you have visited The Great Wall of China? Why is
this tourist attraction in China so attractive? It is because if you have not
gone sightseeing at the Great Wall of China, then your China vacation is
missing out a great deal. Here is why.
Why visit the Great Wall of China
The Great Wall is an integral feature of the geography of Northern China and
has captured the imaginations of people throughout its long and distinguished
history or some people may wish to think as notorious history. The Chinese
calls the wall Wan Li Chang Cheng meaning Wall of Ten Thousand Li. Li is a
Chinese measurement of distance such as a mile or kilometer.
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The Great Wall of
China saw its first piecemeal construction from the
fifth century BC down to the 16th century AD as a strategic
deterrence against raids, plunders and even invasions from northern nomadic
tribes of which the Chinese at that time regarded as hostile barbarians.
When the Chinese were unified under Qin Shi Huang or Shi Huangdi in 221 BC,
the first emperor of China
started the construction of the Great Wall to protect China's
northern border towns and villages against the Huns, Xiong Nu tribesman. The
words Xiong Nu when directly translated from Chinese literally means Fierce
Fury. You can imagine how the Chinese was so fearful of this tribe by labeling
it with such a name.
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The Xiong Nus were finally driven to the far flung corners of the Gobi
desert after 3 Chinese military search and destroy expeditions. Even then, the
walls failed to curb the invasion of China
by the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty) and the Manchurians (Ching Dynasty).
Historical records show that as many as 300,000 men working for ten years on
the first phase of the wall's construction. Stories of hardship and thousands
of tragic death suffered by the conscripted laborers are passed down to show
that Shi Huangdi was a hated tyrant.
Constructed mostly with bricks and masonry, the wall was built by Chinese
rulers of 10 dynasties and the length of the wall, meandering through
mountains and vallys totaled an incredible 25,000 km or almost 16,000 miles
long.
Since the 1950s, five parts of the wall have been restored and like most
tourists, I visited the wall from the Badaling section one winter afternoon in Nankou
Pass after a visit to the Ming Tombs. I was awestruck with the
wall structure as well as the fantastically stunning winter scenery and
landscape.
The second most popular access to the Great Wall is through Mutianyu,
northeast of Beijing in Huairou
County. The advantage of visiting the Great
Wall of China from this point is that it is less crowded than the
Badaling access. Is it any wonder then that tourists visiting China
usually include a sightseeing trip to the majestic Great
Wall of China?