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The Great Wall, (Wanli Changcheng) literally means the Ten Thousand
Mile Wall, is a great fortification in ancient China. The section
at Badaling is the most famous of all due to its proximity to
Beijing City and condition of restoration. The imposing Badaling
Great Wall climbs up and down, twists and turns along the high
mountain ridges. It fully shows the lofty quality
of ancient Chinese labor people.
Badaling Great Wall, with more than 1000 meters
above sea level, occupies a commanding and strategic position.
It is a defensive outpost of the Great Wall. It is called "Bada"
as it stretches in all directions.
Badaling Great wall was built in the 18th year
of the Ming Hong Zhi reign (1505). The wall, built with high stone
slabs on the outside, is 7.8 meters high on the average, some
even reaches 8.4meters. The base of the wall was built with more
than 2000 large rectangular slab of granite stones. It is about
6.5 meters wide on the average at its base and 5.7 meters wide
on the average on the ramparts. The wall is wide enough for five
horses to gallop abreast and ten people to advance shoulder to
shoulder. The outside of the wall is called rampart wall. The
rampart wall was built with bricks 1.7 meters high. Built for
the purpose of defense, there are holes on the tip of the wall
called watch-hole, and peepholes under the wall called embrasures.
Inside of the wall, there are low walls with one meter high called parapets, which can be used as railings. There is
a scroll door not far from the inside wall, with is a stone ladder
for climbing up and down.
The wall is narrow on the top and broad on
the bottom forming an adder-shape structure. This made the wall
stands firmly on the rise and fall ridges. The wall was built
with 10-14 rectangular slab of stones surrounding its outside,
filled with soils and stones in the middle, and paved with square
bricks on the top between the bricks were stuck with lime stones.
This makes the wall tidy, beautiful, and firm. There are gutters
with gargoyles to drain rain-water off the parapet wall.
The landscape of Badaling Great Wall changes
every season, with numerous scenery to catch your attention. A
sunlit and enchanting scene of spring, with the valley covered
with greens. When the rain from mountain comes, the vista will
look vast and hazy. The sky in autumn is high with unsoiled stratosphere,
while the maple forest is dyed in golden colour. White snow covers
the whole scene in winter.
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