Another Brick In The Wall

The Great Wall of China is an ancient wonder with a number of common misunderstandings. You cannot see it from outer space as was once believed (it is only as wide as a highway). The actual length of the wall is not exact because it was built over many centuries and some parts have been restored and others have slowly disintegrated with weathering and time. The closest estimate is almost nine thousand kilometres but even that is disputed. Before the second century BC there were many walls built between the various states. These early walls were made of stamped earth between wooden frames. When Emperor Qin united all these states, he destroyed these walls and connected and strengthened the ones along the northern frontier to protect against an invasion. Over the years Emperor Qin's walls were extended and rebuilt until the Ming Dynasty (fourteenth to seventeenth century) created the brick walls that people recognize today. Even these walls are in disrepair and only the very recently 'renovated' walls are visited by tourists. Many of the bricks have been taken away and used to build other buildings and some parts of the wall have even been covered by sandstorms. Despite their incredible length and height, the walls were often not successful in keeping out the northern 'hordes'.

We visited  the Great Wall near Jinshanling eleven years ago and found that part of the wall to be very impressive. This time we traveled (with Rod and Chris) to a newly restored part of the wall at Mutianyu. It was a sunny, rainy day (it kept changing) and it was exhilirating to walk this historic landmark again. We had forgotten how high up the mountain the wall went and found the climb to be quite a workout. We walked as far as the unrestored part of the wall before turning back. It is quite hard to comprehend how many millions of workers over the years it took to build this fortification across the top of mountain ranges. It was not an assignment people volunteered for!

Rod and Kathi took us along for a family getaway weekend in the country. We were joined by Chris and special friend Alex as well as Jessie and his special friend Jessy. We drove up a long windy narrow road to a large stone house that had been built by an American businessman whose first name was Tom so we nicknamed it 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'. We had a wonderful time breathing in the relatively clean country air, playing games, reading, and going on a hike to a mountain ridge where we could see the Great Wall in the distance. When some of us walked down the other side, we found a small village tucked into the valley. In China every town, village, or neighbourhood seems to have exercise equipment on the side of the street. With all the hiking we didn't really need to use it. On the way back to Beijing (the smog just started dropping like a curtain as we got closer) we saw some good old propaganda paintings on the side of a long building. After some fun posing with them, it was back to the city.