Introduction:
Jinshanling Great Wall:
140 kilometers at the north-east end of Beijing City , there is a section of the Great Wall, called Jinshanling Great Wall. The Jinshanling Great Wall was initially built from 1368 to 1389 in the Ming Dynasty. The total length of this section is about eleven kilometers (6.8 miles), and the scenic spot of the Jinshanling Great Wall has an area of 32 square kilometers. The Wall is about seven to eight meters high and five to six meters wide, which is made of brick and stone. The Jinshanling Great Wall has an elevation of 700 meters. Watching Beijing Tower is on the highest position, from which you can see Beijing .
Simatai Great wall
Simatai is the most unspoilt section of the Great Wall around Beijing , and, as it snakes across purple hills that resemble crumpled velvet from afar, with blue mountains in the distance, it's easily the most beautiful. Uncrowded, peaceful and semi-ruined, it fulfils the expectations of most visitors more than the other sections.
At the entrance, merely a booth in a car park, there is only a handful of souvenir stalls, and none near the wall itself, though a cable car is under construction, so no doubt Simatai's underdeveloped status will not last long.The only vendors around are local villagers. Make it understood from the outset that you are not interested in what they have to sell, otherwise it is quite likely that some poor kid with two cans of soft drink and a few postcards will follow you all afternoon.
Most of this section is unrenovated, dating back to the Ming dynasty, and sporting a few late innovations such as spaces for cannon, with its inner walls at right angles to the outer wall to thwart invaders who have already breached the first defence. From the small car park, a winding path takes you up to the wall and regularly spaced watchtowers allow you to measure your progress uphill along the ridge. The walk over the ruins is not an easy one, and gets increasingly precipitous after about the tenth watchtower, with sheer drops and steep angles. The views are sublime, though. After about the fourteenth tower (2hr), the wall peters out and the climb becomes quite dangerous, and there's no point going any farther ¡£ |
