Great Wall - Yumen City

Located west of the Hexi Corridor on the edge of Gobi Desert is the small city of Yumen. Today it is an industrial city, primarily focused on oil drilling, wind power-generation and large-scale factories. However, 2,100 years ago, when it came under Han Dynasty control, it was a thoroughfare for merchants, warriors, diplomats and missionaries to trade goods and exchange knowledge, technology and religious beliefs.

This ancient trade route, along with several others, made up the renowned Silk Road. This overland route began in the city of Xi’an, then travelled along the northwest section of the Great Wall, over the Pamir Mountains, through Afghanistan and to the Mediterranean Sea where the goods were shipped to Europe.

At 4,000mi (6,400km) in length, the Silk Road was a melting pot of cultures and ethnic diversity. Very few people travelled it in its entirety, giving rise to a number of middlemen and trading posts along the way. Bandits were a major threat to travellers. To protect themselves, they would often join together in caravans and over time, inns to accommodate them cropped up.

Silk was one of the major goods exported by China to the west, hence the name Silk Road. Production of silk was a closely guarded secret in China and the fabric was highly prized by the Roman elite. Being of high value but low weight, silk was an ideal product to carry on long distances. Other significant items used for trade were: horses, jade, paper, spices, glassware, furs and unfortunately also slaves.

Marco Polo was one of the first Europeans to travel to China via the Silk Road. He was 17 years old when he embarked on a journey with his father to the far east. Leaving Italy by ship, they sailed to Acre, in modern-day Israel and then travelled by camel to Persia (present-day Iran) where they planned to sail straight into China. The ships, however, were not seaworthy and so they decided to continue overland through the Silk Road. During their trip, the Polos joined a travelling caravan that was soon ambushed by bandits who used a sandstorm as cover. They were fortunate to escape through a nearby town but sadly many of the caravan members were killed or enslaved. It took the Polos three years to reach Kublai Khan’s summer palace in Shangdu, China.

Trade on the Silk Road came to an end in the 15th century when transportation shifted to the sea, this became known as the Maritime Silk Road. The ability to carry more goods at a cheaper price marked the decline of the overland route.

The Silk Road could be seen as an early example of globalisation. It connected the Orient to Europe through trade and cultural exchange and at its end it inspired Europeans to cross the ocean and explore the New World (the Americas).



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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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