Day 4 Beijing -- The Great Wall

We began this day, after a major buffet breakfast, with a long bus ride to BaDaLing, the closest place to Beijing where the Great Wall can be seen.  As we drove northward, we left the Beijing valley and began winding through mountains.  The haze was thick this morning again, so the mountains were shrouded with mist (much like the Smokies in the U.S.).   At BaDaLing, we were introduced to the State-run store that carried a variety of Chinese products such as Jade carvings and jewelry.  Soon we were walking and climbing on the Great Wall.   The Great Wall was built over centuries as a defensive mechanism against the Mongolians.  It was built along a mountain ridge and extends from the Pacific Ocean to the border with Kasakhstan, about 3,000 miles.  Much of the wall has deteriorated, but some of has been restored. It was built of bricks designed just for the wall, it contains millions of the bricks in the floor, the wall, the steps, and the battlements.  The wall is generally about 16 feet wide with forts all along it for soldiers that were stationed as China's first line of defense.  The wall is truly impressive in its size, its construction, its durability, and its beauty.  Most of the mile-long section that we walked was uphill, at times very steep.  It became so steep that the floor became steps.  As we have found in every place we have visited, there was a large crowd of people, most of whom were Chinese, who were climbing the wall.  There was no time when we were alone on the wall.  This was a different experience than I expected, but it was not unpleasant.  We enjoyed the experience along with the mass of people.  At one point, a boy from a school group asked (in English) if he could take our picture with his classmates.  Of course, we agreed and had a great time interacting with the students and their teacher.  We also encountered a young woman (Chinese) on the wall whom we had met in the Tokyo airport on the way to China.  The view (which was limited by the mist) was spectacular with the tree-covered mountains and the wall snaking along the top of the ridge.

Next we stopped at a Jade "factory" and saw artists carving Jade objects.  We had a short lecture on Jade, had Chinese food for lunch in their restaurant, and had the opportunity to browse through the store.  There were lots of intricately carved jade objects from jewelry to large urns and animals.

The last stop of the day-tour was the Ming Memorial, which contains graves of Ming Dynasty leaders and a walk through a display of statues of some of those leaders and various animals that have been important in Chinese history.

In the evening, we went to a "dinner theatre" where we were served a lavish Peking Duck dinner.  This was followed by a presentation of the Peking Opera.  The opera was a shortened version of a traditional opera, but still had detailed constumes and make-up, songs that told a story (accompanied by traditional Chinese instruments), and in the last act, acrobatics with flips and baton juggling to illustrate the story.

Unfortunately, a large amount of time during the day was spent on the bus getting from place to place.  The traffic in and around Beijing is about as thick as possible.  The roads could not handle any more cars, trucks, and busses without total gridlock.

Tomorrow, we see some more areas of Beijing including visiting in a family home, and then fly to Xian for the next phase of the tour.  

Pictures:  Great Wall, Great Wall steep part, Dwight on Great Wall, Judy with school children, Group measuring width of great wall (4 from Canada, 4 from Germany, 1 from Oklahoma), Peking Opera.