Great Wall - Badaling

First built in 1505 to protect the Juyong Pass, Badaling was fully restored in the 1950s and was the first section to open to tourism. Badaling is also the last major tourist centre and is where the Wall that most people know about ends.

Stretching across mountain ridges, the width of the Wall is 19ft (5.7m), intentionally built to accommodate five horsemen galloping across side by side or ten soldiers marching shoulder to shoulder. Split into north and south, Badaling has 30 watchtowers – eight south of the main gate and 12 north of it. Its highest point is at 3,300ft (1,500m) with grand panoramic views of lush landscape and rocky terrain. Boardwalks and railings have been installed as part of the renovations.

Close to Beijing, Badaling was a major defence border on the northern frontier. When Genghis Khan unified the Mongolian tribes and established his empire, he set his sights on China. Many military conquests north of the Wall ensued over the next sixty years until his grandson, Kublai Khan, ascended the throne as Mongol Emperor in 1260. Establishing the Yuan Dynasty a decade later, he set up his capital in modern-day Beijing. When in 1279, he conquered the Song Dynasty in southern China, Kublai reunified the country and became the first Mongol to rule all of China. The Yuan Dynasty ruled until 1368 when they were defeated by the rebel leader Zhou Yuanzhang, who founded the Ming Dynasty.

Famous merchant and explorer, Marco Polo, spent 17 years in Kublai Khan’s court. He learned the language and served as a messenger. He was promoted several times to government official positions, something that was unheard of before, when most of China was closed to foreigners. Kublai Khan encouraged foreign trade and many envoys travelled by sea to visit China. When Polo returned to Venice, it was a turbulent time and he found himself thrown in jail. It was in jail where he penned his book, ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’. For a long time, his book was seen more as fiction than fact but in recent times his accounts have been verified by academics and other explorers.

When Christopher Columbus set off across the Atlantic two hundred years later, he carried with him Marco Polo’s book. Fact or fiction, Marco Polo inspired generations of globetrotting adventurers.



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Great Wall - Laolongtou

The Great Wall of China (‘’the Wall”) is one of the most remarkable man-made structures in the world, with the longest building timeline. Beginning in the 7th century BC it continued on and off over several centuries until it peaked in the mid-17th century AD.

The Chinese were masters at building walls. First, they built them around their homes and cities as protection from their ferocious nomadic neighbours. Then, they built them to protect their borders from the wars that raged within their own nation. Most walls were of varying lengths and scattered throughout the land.

The Qin Dynasty squashed the various internal wars, unifying China in 221BC and established the First Empire. Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor and a ruthless ruler, used hundreds of thousands of people to connect and extend the existing walls for defence. By the end of this dynasty 3,000mi (4,800km) of wall ran along the northern border.

The Han Dynasty came next and building on the Wall ceased for a short period. Focus turned to peacetime and opening trade with the West. However, the nomads began raiding again, reprising the need for the Wall to be repaired and extended further. Safeguarding travelling traders became just as important as keeping the nomads out.

After the Han, the Wall was left neglected and crumbling. Vulnerable to attack, it was the sheer size of the Chinese army that kept most intruders at bay until Kublai Khan, a fierce Mongol warrior, forced his way into the capital and took the throne. With both sides of the Wall now Mongol territory, the Wall was no longer needed. Abandoned, much of the early construction disintegrated over time and very little now remains.

The Mongol rule was never accepted. A few decades after Kublai’s death, an uprising forced all the Mongols out and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644AD) came into power. With the capital city in Beijing, it was much too close to the enemy border. A new wall was rebuilt from scratch. At time of completion, the Wall was 5,500mi (8,850km) long, built by millions of soldiers and forced labourers over a period of 200 years. It is the remnants of this Wall that continues to exist today.

This journey of 2,183mi (3,513km) will begin at its most eastern end where the Wall meets the sea. Regarded as the start of the Great Wall, it is known as Laolongtou (Old Dragon’s Head) because the structure, consisting of a beacon tower and battlement walls, resembles a dragon drinking water from the sea.

The Wall twists and turns its way through the landscape, just like the legendary Chinese Dragon. It crosses mountains tightly straddling narrow cliffs, over lakes and sometimes under, into valleys and through deserts until it reaches the westernmost point ending in a remote outpost in Yangguan.

From the sea breeze on the wall of Laolongtou to the searing sun of the Gobi Desert, I hope to piece together the lengthy story of the Great Wall and the Emperors, Dynasties and Generals that left their mark on it.

Fast facts to give some sense of timeline and the main dynasties during the Wall’s construction:

5th to 3rd century BC – Warring States (Chinese states fighting amongst each other)

221 to 206 BC – Qin Dynasty (First Empire)

206 BC to 220 AD – Han Dynasty

386 to 577 AD – Northern and Southern Dynasties

1125 to 1234 AD – Jin Dynasty (conquered by Mongols)

1368 to 1644 AD – Ming Dynasty (Builders of currently existing wall)



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