China Mutianyu Great Wall Tour

In the morning, we will meet you at your hotel. Then, we will visit Tian'anmen Square. With a history of more than 500 years, Tian’anmen Square is the largest city square in the world. It is situated in the center of Beijing, the capital of China. At the northern part of the Tian’anmen Square is Tian’anmen Rostrum. Its building started from 1417 in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and ended in 1420. At that time, it was a wooden tower, where great royal ceremonies usually be held. And the ordinary people were forbidden to get close to the tower. Later, the tower had been reconstructed due to fire disaster caused by lightning in 1457 and war in 1644. On the first day of October, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong stood on the Tian’anmen Rostrum and solemnly announced the founding of the New China. He also raised the first Chinese national flag, the Five-Starred Red Flag. Since then, the Five-Starred Red Flag will be raised every early morning on the Tian’anmen Square as the rise of the sun.

Walking north about hundreds of meters from Tian’anmen Square, we will arrive at the Forbidden City (closed on Mondays). Covering an area of about 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the world. And it is also where 24 Chinese emperors used to live. In the Forbidden City, there are over 9,000 rooms, which are still well-preserved nowadays. The Forbidden City is divided into the outer court and the inner court. The outer court is the place for dealing with national affairs and the inner court is the place for living. The outer court takes the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserved Harmony as the three main buildings, which are all located at the central axis of the Forbidden City. If you visit along the central axis, you will first see the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In front of the gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are four water vats with large capacity. In the past, the water vats were filled with water, which were used to put out a fire. Because the houses in the Forbidden City were totally wooden and they were easy to catch fire. The water in the vats could put out a fire in time and protect the buildings.

After lunch, we will drive north for about 80 kilometers to the Mutianyu Great Wall. It will take us about 1.5 hours to get there. Located in the Huairou District, Mutianyu Great Wall has a length of 5,400 meters. It is the essential section of the whole Great Wall with a history of over 600 years. Known as the important defense project in the past, Mutianyu Great Wall was built on the steep mountains. Ancient people chose granite as the material to build the Great Wall. To today, the Great Wall is still solid and well-preserved. On the Mutianyu Great Wall, there are many distinctive buildings, such as the Big Corner Tower and the Zhengguan Terrace. In the past, the position where the Big Corner Tower is located was a vantage point. Standing on the Big Corner Tower, the Chinese soldiers would get a wide view for observing the enemies. The Zhengguan Terrace is also called Mutianyu Pass. The most interesting part of the Zhengguan Terrace is the three towers side by side, which is not common in other sections of the Great Wall. What’s more, the Zhengguan Terrace played an important role in maintaining the security of Beijing in the past.

After visiting the Mutianyu Great Wall, we will pass by the Bird’s Nest(Beijing National Stadium) and Water Cube(Beijing National Aquatics Center) on our way back. Both of them are the landmarks of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Bird’s Nest covers an area of 210,000 square meters and can accommodate 91,000 spectators. After the Olympics, many competitions and major performances are held in this place. Water Cube had a seating capacity of 17,000 during the Olympics. After that, 11,000 seats were removed for increasing the available space. Nowadays, there are many aquatic recreation facilities inside. Although today we will not enter the two buildings, we can still take some nice photos with them.

Tian’anmen Square

Mutianyu Great Wall

Author: Yalin Zhao

Proofreader: Yan Liu