A second day in Beijing today and, being a Sunday, we got to watch the Chinese at play. One of the things the locals like to do is apparently to head out to the Summer Palace to the north of the city. This was also exactly where we headed as well! The summer palace, like many things here is UNESCO World Heritage listed. Its origins are in the Qing Dynasty which was the last Chinese dynasty from 1644 to 1912. The work started in 1712 and the Emperor decided to build the palace for his mother’s 60th birthday. Not a bad present really considering that the building process meant digging and 2.2 square kilometre lake and using all the spoil to extend the hill higher. This was then named Longevity Hill.
As part of the building, they created what is considered the longest corridor in the world – more than 700 metres long and all extensively painted and decorated. In many ways the name of the hill has been a misnomer as the palace itself has struggled with longevity. In 1860 we (the Brits), along with the French destroyed it and looted it as part of the Second Opium War. The Chinese rebuilt it, only for it to burn down again in 1900 as part of the Boxer rebellion (an anti-imperialist rebellion against the Qing Dynasty). It was rebuilt once again and, once the emperor was thrown out of power, it was opened to the public in 1914. It had a brief period in Mao’s time as a school for Communists, but presumably the opulent surroundings didn’t quite tally with the teachings of communism as this didn’t last long.
From there, we drove out to the Great Wall. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall which is quite spectacular as it weaves around the mountains. This section has much closer spaced watchtowers as it directly protected the capital – just over 40 miles away. To get to this section of wall you have to take a shuttle bus, then a cable car (or chairlift) which drops you close to the main watchtower. From there you can walk in either direction for some way, though it is quite steep with a lot of steps. Unfortunately it was quite hazy today, but we still had a great view of the wall snaking off into the distance. However, courtesy of Wikipedia, below is what it looks like on a clear day (and in summer!).
The wall itself is another UNESCO world heritage listing and is a remarkable architectural and engineering feat. It is in total 13,171 miles long and though some stretches were built earlier, most of it was built during the Ming Dynasty to help protect China from the Mongol hordes, something which it did quite successfully.