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The 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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