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Badaling
 The Great Wall, (Wanli Changcheng) literally means the
Ten Thousand Mile Wall, is a great fortification in ancient China. The
section at Badaling is the most famous of all due to its proximity to
Beijing City and condition of restoration. The imposing Badaling Great
Wall climbs up and down, twists and turns along the high mountain
ridges. It fully shows the lofty quality of ancient Chinese labor
people.
Badaling Great Wall, with more than 1000 meters above
sea level, occupies a commanding and strategic position. It is a
defensive outpost of the Great Wall. It is called "Bada" as it
stretches in all directions.
Badaling Great wall was built in the 18th year of the
Ming Hong Zhi reign (1505). The wall, built with high stone slabs on
the outside, is 7.8 meters high on the average, some even reaches
8.4meters. The base of the wall was built with more than 2000 large
rectangular slab of granite stones. It is about 6.5 meters wide on the
average at its base and 5.7 meters wide on the average on the
ramparts. The wall is wide enough for five horses to gallop abreast
and ten people to advance shoulder to shoulder. The outside of the
wall is called rampart wall. The rampart wall was built with bricks
1.7 meters high. Built for the purpose of defense, there are holes on
the tip of the wall called watch-hole, and peepholes under the wall
called embrasures. Inside of the wall, there are low walls with one
meter high called parapets, which can be used as railings. There is a
scroll door not far from the inside wall, with is a stone ladder for
climbing up and down.
The wall is narrow on the top and broad on the bottom
forming an adder-shape structure. This made the wall stands firmly on
the rise and fall ridges. The wall was built with 10-14 rectangular
slab of stones surrounding its outside, filled with soils and stones
in the middle, and paved with square bricks on the top between the
bricks were stuck with lime stones. This makes the wall tidy,
beautiful, and firm. There are gutters with gargoyles to drain
rain-water off the parapet wall.
The landscape of Badaling Great Wall changes every
season, with numerous scenery to catch your attention. A sunlit and
enchanting scene of spring, with the valley covered with greens. When
the rain from mountain comes, the vista will look vast and hazy. The
sky in autumn is high with unsoiled stratosphere, while the maple
forest is dyed in golden colour. White snow covers the whole scene in
winter.
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