Great Wall of China

History

The Great Wall of China was built in the year 200 BC by the first emperor of China, Shi Huangdi. He built it to protect himself from enemies. The wall was reinforced during the Ming dynasty, between the years 1400-1600 and was in all about 3700 miles long.

Most of the wall is more or less decayed and gone today, but there are several sections north of Beijing that is well preserved and even restored to new condition.

Badaling

Most tourists visit Badaling, which is located about 50 miles northwest of Beijing. It was renovated during the 50’s and was the first section of the wall which was made available for tourists. It is quite easy accessible from Beijing, which means it gets flooded by tourists. It can be quite annoying to continuously defend oneself from approaching sales persons, which always appears where tourists go. Yet, it is a nice stretch of the wall.

Mutianyu

Mutianyu is located about 45 miles northeast of Beijing and is also renovated. Not as many people go there as to Badaling, but almost.

There are also a lot of sales people here, but it is probably not the right place to shop if you want to make a good deal. They don’t have anything unique there that can’t be found everywhere else.

Simatai

Simatai ought to be the best part of the Great Wall, and is located about 80 miles northeast of Beijing, where the landscape is very dramatic. The wall is at times very steep, almost vertical in places. It was originally built in the 6th century, but was reinforced in the 16th century. It has not been renovated since then, and you can still see damages from wars on the wall. A lot of people choose to walk on top of the wall between Simatai and Jinshanling, but you need to have in mind that it can be very strenuous due to the steepness of the wall. The wall is built on top of the mountains, and it can be quite hard work just to get to it. However, a healthy person could do it without any bigger problems. There are stairs with railings all the way up, so you don’t need to walk on trails. For the lazy one’s, there is a cable car from the valley all the way to the wall.

Is it possible to see the Great Wall from the moon?

No, it is not. The wall is only about 12-24 feet wide and it would be impossible to see it from the moon, without a very strong telescope. If any of this website’s visitors go to the moon, please report to us if you saw the Great Wall or not.

However, it might be possible to see the Great Wall from space. Space actually begins just a few miles above the Earth’s surface. From there it might be easier to spot the wall, but you would also see all the roads, and what is what… But you would still need a telescope.