The Great Wall Of China

"The strength of a wall is neither greater nor less than the courage of the men who defend it." - Genghis Khan

In 221 BC, a man by the name of Qin Shi Huang unified the warring city-states of China establishing the Qin Dynasty. To protect his empire against intrusions from the north, he ordered the building of a wall. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls and little of that wall remains today. The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century. During this time, signal towers were built along the wall as a form of communication between army units, permitting them to call reinforcements and warn garrisons of enemy movements. It’s interesting to note that the wall stretches over 5,000 miles and that hundreds of thousands of workers died during its construction.

As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming emperors devoted considerable resources to additional construction of the wall, which towards the end of the Ming Dynasty helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. The Ming army under the command of Yuan Chonghuan held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had fallen to rebels and the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by the commanding Ming general Wu Sangui, who hoped to use the Manchus to expel the rebels from Beijing. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated both the rebel-founded army and the remaining Ming resistance, giving them control over all of China beginning a new dynasty (Wikipedia.com).

Today we visited the Great Wall of China! It was something that I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. This particular section of the wall, rides the crest of the surrounding mountains. Through the centuries that pasted, the wall fell into disrepair, but much has now been renovated to appear as it once did. The majority of tourists entering this section wander along the wall to the left, which continues on as far as the eye could see. Taking Br. Galer’s advice we decided to instead take the path to the right. I like to refer to this part of the wall now, as “the road less traveled.” It was a steep hike but we eventually came to the end of the renovated part and to a sign telling us to go back. Walking around this sign, opened our eyes to a whole new experience that most tourists never get to see. Yes, this part of the wall is overgrown but it was thrilling to know that every stone we were walking on were the original stones laid during the Ming Dynasty. I couldn’t help but marvel about the history within these walls. If that in itself wasn’t enough, there were breath-taking views of the mountains and surrounding valleys.