21 days of travel through Asia - part VI

It’s length is as fascinating as its history, lasting over 2000 years. It got its current form between 15th and 16th century, during the Ming dynasty, who wanted to protect themselves from Mongolian and Hun raids. The defense system includes 6259,6  km of the wall, 359,7  km of trenches and 2232,5  km of natural obstacles, like hills and rivers. The average height is 9m and the fortifications are around 12m. The material used would be enough to build 120 great pyramids. The wall is not fully preserved today, for some parts have crumbled away in time and disappeared. It’s still one of the most important and famous sights of the world and one of the most daring engineering ventures. A somewhat disputed, yet interesting fact is, that the Great Wall is the only man made object which can be seen from the Moon.

At first some three hundred thousand soldiers took part in construction of the wall, but it was not nearly enough, so they added prisoners from state prisons. When even that was not enough, they conscripted a third of population into the project, among many never returned. Hundreds of thousands have died of hunger and exhaustion. The ones who died were simply built into the wall. It is why this wall is called a wall of sorrow and blood. Since the beginning of its construction many legends and stories started spreading around China. The most famous one was about Meng Jiangnu. A story made between (221 and 206 prior to modern year count) in the time of Qin dynasry. It says how her weeping tore down a part of the wall. Her husband Fan Qilianga was cought by the officials and sent to a construction sight and the wife went to look for him. Arriving to the wall, she realized he has died and started crying so bitterly and loudly a part of the wall collapsed.

We decided to visit the part of the wall named Badaling, some 70 km north of Beijing. The wall is restored here, but full of tourists, less attractive and less authentic. That’s also why I was disappointed at the trip. The sight of the mighty pile of rock was breathtaking, but the crowd climbing up it was driving me mad. As we ascended the stairs the crowd was getting lighter and finally I could feel the energy of this place. The wall was taking a steep climb and I started fighting for my breath. I also started having uncomforting thoughts about people building it. Thinking about these souls being buried under my feet didn’t leave me alone. A question arose: Why so much sorrow and pain? Patting with a red face I came to the top and saw a great view of the hills and a line stretching along the horizon. The sight of small dots, made up of people at the beginning of the wall, was quite amusing. I felt like a small atom surrounded by all these marvels. Buried in my thoughts I allowed the light wind to blow my mind away, waiting for my companion to arrive some time latter. Some great photos were made at the occasion, as you can see HERE.