Great Wall Helicopter Tour

After breakfast, your Beijing tour will start. In the morning, Tian’anmen Square is the first stop of your Beijing tour this time. This world’s largest city-central square covers a total area of 440,000 square meters, which is five times as big as that of the Red Square in Moscow. Do you know how tall the national flag hoisted is on Tian’anmen Square? That is 28.3 meters. Do you know why? The founding dates of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China are July 1st, 1921 and October 1st, 1949 respectively. There are 28 years and 3 months between the two exact dates. So the national flag is required to hoist 28.3 meters for commemorating heroes who devote themselves to the country’s revolution.

Then you will enter the Forbidden City (closed each Monday) from the Tian’anmen Gate Tower. The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 in the Ming Dynasty. It is one of the largest existing and best-preserved wooden architectures in the world. After entering the Forbidden City, you will see a sundial placed in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It is a timekeeper. It tells time according to the shadows cast by the sun. The sundial contains three parts – a sundial plate, a gnomon, and a base. Both two sides of the plate are calibrated dials. During the daytime, the shadow of the gnomon shows under the plate in winter while appearing on the upper side in summer. Through the shadow of the gnomon, ancient people could know the local time. However, the sundial cannot inform the time on the days of the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox. Do you know why? On the days of the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox, the Earth’s orbit around the sun is parallel with the plate, so there will be no shadow on the plate and we cannot read the actual local time. It might be the sole shortcoming of this sundial. If you want to know more about the Forbidden City while visiting, your local guide will explain it to you in detail.

After visiting the Forbidden City, you will be driven north for about 1 hour and 20 minutes to the Mutianyu Great Wall, 72 kilometers away. The Great Wall started to be built in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). It functioned as the military defense construction in ancient times of China. Today, we will drive you to the Mutianyu Great Wall, one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall. The scenery of Mutianyu is the most beautiful among all sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. Therefore, more and more foreigners have made a journey to the Mutianyu Great Wall, and it has become a well-known tourist destination both in China and abroad in recent years. First, we will arrange a helicopter tour of the Mutianyu Great Wall for you for around 10-15 minutes. With the help of the pilot, you will overlook the whole scenery of the Mutianyu Great Wall and might praise, “Wow, it’s magnificent!” It might be the most awesome experience of your Beijing tour this time. After that, you can also ascend the Mutianyu Great Wall. There are 2 ways for you to reach the top of the Mutianyu Great Wall: cable car and chairlift. Taking a cable car is a conventional way. If you long for a more fantastic journey, you could choose a chairlift up and a toboggan down.

After visiting the Mutianyu Great Wall, your pleasant Beijing tour will come to an end. It will be a pleasure to accompany you on a wonderful one-day Beijing tour. We will look forward to meeting you in other cities in China. Goodbye and good luck! 

Mutianyu Great Wall 

Tian'anmen Square

Author: Liu Na

Proofreader: Vivian Zhou