Great Wall - Baiyangyu

Travelling through several unrestored sections of the Wall, I arrived at Baiyangyu Wall, translated as ‘White Sheep Valley’. The Wall here was split between east and west, with a village at the centre of it in a valley. The village occupied the banks of Baiyang River.

A unique feature of Baiyangyu was the one mile (1.6km) long section that was built out of marble. It is somewhat unusual since most of the wall was constructed from rammed earth covered in bricks or occasionally quarried granite. With the average height of the Wall at around 20-30ft (6-7m), the marble wall here was quite tall at 33ft (10m) and was also a reasonable width at 16ft (5m).

Coming from the east, just before I descended into the village, I entered what is now referred to as ‘Wild City’. It was a wall-enclosed open space with a solid gatehouse at the western end. There is no record of what it was used for, leaving me with unanswered questions. Fortresses and watchtowers were built on the Wall to house troops and store grains and weapons. This could have been one purpose but it is very big in size. Is it possible that it stationed a cavalry unit as there’s plenty of space for horses as well as soldiers?

Interestingly, when I exit through the gate, I end up on a trail because there’s no connection to the Wall, which is located northwest of the gate. Of course, that raises more questions, such as, how did they get to the gate? The Wall itself is considered to have an outer wall (facing the enemy) and inner wall (friendly side). The gate to this city was on the friendly side so perhaps access was through mountainous terrain, straight up from the valley floor. What do you think?

Left pondering, I descended into the village, crossed the river on a regular bridge and started up the westside on an unrestored, but in reasonably good shape, section of the Wall.



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