Today’s itinerary was extra special. Not only is the Great Wall yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it is also one of the 7 Modern or Man-Made Wonders of the World. Until now, I’ve only been to the Colosseum, so this was my 2nd Wonder (I’ve since been to 2 more). However, for one of our travel companions, Tom, this was the last one on his 7 Wonders Bucket List. I was very excited for him and I look forward to the day that I’ll be visiting my 7th! In addition to the Wall, we visited a family in their home for lunch, stopped by the Olympic Park, took the subway, and had a new culinary experience (for me anyway), Mongolian hotpot. Another full, amazing day!
In case you’re curious, the 7 Modern Wonders of the World are:
The Great Wall (China)
The Roman Colosseum (Rome, Italy)
Christ the Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Chichen Itza (Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico)
Petra (Jordan)
Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
Machu Picchu (Peru)
We left early for the Wall on our big, comfy tour bus. It’s nice that there are so few of us, we can each have our own window. It was about 1-1/2 hours to get to the section of the wall that we would be visiting, Shixia Pass, a section far less crowded and less restored than the more touristy areas. There was even a section of the wall that was falling apart, but the nice thing about that was you could really see how it had been constructed.
The Great Wall was AMAZING, and the fact that we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves really heightened the experience. Just as we got there, another small group of about 8 people also arrived, but there was literally no one else at this section of the wall, and we didn’t see much of the other group at all. Later, we did meet one other guy who was riding his bike from England to New Zealand. Yes, you read that right. He’d been on the road for 6 months already and had 6 more months to go.
We got our rundown on the history and statistics of the wall from our guides, then had 2 hours of free time, which was just about perfect. Lynda, my dad, and I walked 3 sections (and back) and got lots of pictures with no one in the shot but us. My mom didn’t cover quite as much ground as we did and stayed a little closer to the entrance. Because there is one thing about the Wall that we soon discovered (and kept discovering for days after), and that is that the Great Wall is made up of a GREAT number of steps! Every one of us was sore for the next 3 days.
The Great Wall Info
ChángChéng, or the “Long Wall” was actually built off and on over the course of some 2,300 years. It was started in 770 BC to protect the northern region of China against the Xiongnu. It was added onto up until 220 AD at which point it was mainly used to help protect the Silk Road trade. They continued to use it for that reason for quite a long time.
However, most of the Wall that still exists today was built or restored between 1368-1644 during the Ming Dynasty. The building of the Ming Wall was initiated when a much smaller force of an estimated 20,000 Mongols defeated the 500,000 strong Chinese army and captured the Emperor Zhengtong, almost bringing down the Ming Dynasty. The wall was built along the northern border to protect it against successive and repeated Mongolian raids. This new wall would be stronger and more elaborate than the ancient wall.
How long is the wall? That depends. The wall is actually not even a wall, but at least 16 sections of walls with branches and segments built by different rulers in different eras for different reasons. It also includes natural barriers such as trenches, rivers, and hills. An archaeological survey using modern measurement techniques has the official length of the Wall at 13,170 miles long (21,196 km).
The Ming Wall
The wall that was built by the Ming Dynasty and is thought of as “The Great Wall of China” is 5,500 miles (8,850 km) long. About ¼ of that is natural barriers. It is 16-26 ft high (5-8 m)—the thought being that it should at least be the height of 3 men—20 ft wide at the base and 16 ft wide along the top. It was built along the top of the natural ridges, making it seem taller. The wall includes at least 25,000 watchtowers, beacon towers, fortresses, and gates.
It is thought that as many as 400,000 workers made up of soldiers, peasants, and convicts died building the Wall. Legend has it that their bodies are buried inside the wall itself.
Was the wall breached? Yes. More than once. According to a sign at the entrance, even the section of wall we visited had been broken through by King Chuang of Mongolia. Better known breaches include when the Mongol leader Genghis Kahn broke through in 1214 and pillaged northern China. Then in 1550, the leader of the western Mongolian tribes, Altan Khan, crossed the wall and lay siege to Beijing. In 1644, the Manchus from northeastern China were simply let through an open gate when a Ming general was hoping they could stop a rebellion in Beijing. The Manchus took control of Beijing and the Ming Dynasty came to an end. The Qing Dynasty which followed, annexed the Mongolian area, eliminating the need for a fortified wall.
Home Visit
After The Wall, we went on our first home visit, which I was very excited about. Getting to visit a local family in their home is an extra special experience. This family lives in a village near the section of wall we were at, in an area that is considered fairly rural and agricultural. They had a courtyard in the middle of their small complex that was completely filled by a vegetable garden and apple trees. They had tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, and the biggest squash I’ve ever seen. We had some of the apples with our lunch, and they were delicious.
The food at lunch was the best we’ve had so far. A lot of vegetable dishes, but they were so tasty. My favorite was made from a plant the grandmother actually picked wild. A few things we’re learning about traditional Chinese food and meals are:
Chopstick rules: don’t point them at other people and don’t stick them into the food so they stand up vertically. Very rude.
You’re plate and bowl are typically very small. The bowl is for putting small amounts of food into, and adding to it from the shared dishes as you want. The plate is for waste like bones or scraps.
The Chinese don’t typically eat sweet desserts. Almost every dessert we had on this trip was watermelon, even in the restaurants.
Family style shared dishes are super common, which is great, because then you get to try a little bit of everything.
There are some meat dishes, but there are a lot of vegetable dishes: bok choy, eggplant, tofu, celery, tomatoes, just to name a few. We had a few vegetarians in our group, and they had no problem getting enough to eat.
They don’t use napkins in the sizes Americans are used to. All the paper napkins are VERY small, even in restaurants.
When we were done eating lunch, we had a chance to chat with the mother and grandmother, with Cassie interpreting for us. As is typical, this was a family with 4 generations living together. Then we were allowed to take a look around their home. One of the things I found most fascinating was the fact that the beds they sleep on are basically wooden platforms with just a thin foam cushion and maybe a blanket. Cassie says this is very common in China, that they like very firm beds as they think it’s better for their backs. Under the platform there is a small access door where they can put coals in the winter to help warm up the bed.
Olympic Village
We made a brief stop at the Beijing Olympic Park where we saw the Beijing National Stadium (also known as the Bird’s Nest) and the Aquatic Center that were used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. We didn’t go inside or anything, just were able to take some photos from outside. The Bird’s Nest is where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies took place, as well as Track and Field and some other events. It was a really beautiful area and the venues were gorgeous. We also saw the Athlete’s Village and drove by the National Tennis Center. In the 2008, there were 37 venues used for the Olympics, 31 of them in Beijing!
Fun Fact: Beijing has also been awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the first city to host both Summer and Winter Games.
Next to the Bird’s Nest is a set of five buildings that make up the Pangu Plaza which combined looks like a dragon. I had mentioned in an earlier post how interesting some the modern buildings are, and this is just one example.
There were a few souvenir sellers near here, but only a few. For the most part in China, we didn't run into the hoards of hawkers that can be so pushy at popular tourism sites around the world. When we did see them, they were much more reserved and respectful.
On the way back to the hotel, about ½ of us got off early and took the subway the rest of the way back. It was very new, clean, and safe. You have to put your bags through a security scan before going down to the trains, but that didn’t hold us up any. And it was nice to get off the bus, walk a little, and take local transportation.
Mongolian Hot Pot
The hot pot was an experience. The food was good--and I’m really glad we did it--but for me, once was enough. My first clue as to what I should expect came right as we walked in the door and I saw a guy with his shirt halfway up his stomach, cooling off his body. There’s a reason it’s called hotpot! The place was packed, which is always a good sign, but unfortunately, China hasn’t fully adopted the no smoking in restaurants that we Americans have come to enjoy, and this place was no exception. Yuck.
Luckily, we were led to a room upstairs, so we could avoid the smoke and some of the noise. Already I could feel the warmth of the place. Anyway, the hot pot was brought in and immediately the room started to heat up.
The concept of the hotpot is a little like fondue. There are hot coals in the center chimney that keep the water at a boiling temperature. One half side is a very spicy soup stock, and the other is a mild flavored soup stock. You put the meat and vegetables in the water to cook, and that’s about it.
Lynda did a great job of keeping our pot full of vegetables and meat, and also dishing out. By the end of the evening though, her face was beet red and she was sweating pretty good, as were we all. As soon as the pot was taken away, I could feel the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. Afterwards, we were all ready to get outside into the cool night air for a nice walk back to the hotel.
We were already getting an idea of how full and incredible our days in China were going to be. I mean, we did ALL of this in one day and I love it!
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