More than 75 kilometers (46.6 miles) northwest of the downtown Beijing is a stretch of the famous Great Wall of China. The road leads up to the fort of Badaling (Eight Prominent Peaks), where a magnificent view of the wall is enjoyed by large numbers of Chinese and foreign visitors.

The Great Wall is a gigantic defensive project whose beginnings can be traced as far back as the 7th century B.C. At that time the rival feudal kingdoms of central and northern China built walls around their territories for self-protection. The high walls and fortresses constructed by three kingdoms, Qin, Zhao and Yan, around the 4th century B.C. as a defence against the nomadic tribes further north, laid the foundations of the present Great Wall.

Following unification of the separate kingdoms under Qin Shihuang (First Emperor of the Qin) in 221 B.C., the existing fortifications were linked up and extended. As the crow flies, this is about 2,000 kilometers (1243 miles). However, the wall wound over high mountain ranges and valleys. and at some strategic passes, doubled back or redoubled. Therefore, its total length is actually more than 6,700 kilometers (4163 miles).

The Qin Grate Wall was located to the north of the present wall. The construction of such an immense engineering project over such difficult terrain was an extraordinary feat for ancient times. Qin Shihuang employed a work force of almost a million, composed of soldiers, peasants and convicts, representing a fifth of the whole labour force of the country at that time.

The Badaling Section is a strategic pass in the Great Wall, with a ladder-shaped outer city. This section was constructed in the 18th year of the Hongzhi Emperor in the Ming Dynasty (1505 A.D.). The wall is 10 meters (33 feet) high, and more than one kilometer (0.6 mile) in circumference, According to the records, there were 3 officers, 788 men, 23 horses and a great quantity of arms, showing the importance of the fortress at that time. The west gate is connected at both ends with the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was not only an immense defensive edifice, but also served as an important path of communication through northern China. It also serves as a valuable museum of military life and battle conditions in ancient China. Such is its extraordinary world-wide fame that even in the depths of winter or the fiercest heat of summer, the stream of tourists never stops.

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