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Badaling
Great Wall
 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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