I Climbed The Great Wall With Tiff, Cubb & bb Slideshow: Priyanka’s trip from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Beijing, China was created by TripAdvisor. See another Beijing slideshow.
One of China's most scenic attractions that calls for repeated visits, the Great Wall’s lengthy span passes through diverse landscapes and geographical terrains. Great Wall winds up and down mountains, through grasslands and deserts, passing through Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, before ending at Jiayu Pass in Gansu.
Each wall section is fortified with a series of double- or triple-lined walls and military structures, including watchtowers, beacon towers, fortresses, garrison towns and blockhouses. Some of the sections are merged with natural defensive barriers, such as rivers and hills.
Up until the early Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911), China was in constant warfare with neighbouring states and northern invaders. When Qin Shih Huang – the first Chinese emperor – unified the fragmented warring states under his Qin Empire, he linked the existing fortification system together as well as expanding it westward in hopes of warding off the northern nomadic tribes for once and for all.
Finally, what started off as an expansive fortification project turned into the largest military defense system in the world. Constructed using the rammed-earth technique, little of the ‘original’ Great Wall – built during the reign of Qin Shih Huang – has survived the test of time. Much of what is left standing today was constructed with stones and kiln-fired bricks, an engineering innovation under the Ming emperors. The Great Wall was made longer and more robust, with multi-line walls and additional structures, such as canon towers, observations posts, fortresses and beacons.
