Travel to Beijing (2) The Great Wall 北京之旅 (2) 萬人長城

Mao Zedong, our great Chairman said, “He who doesn’t reach the Great Wall in no hero”. It’s a must to visit the Great Wall in Beijing. In the morning of the second day, we went to the Great Wall!

毛主席有云：「不到長城非好漢」，來到了北京，怎可以不到長城！所以我們第二天的一早，就出發前往長城！

First let me introduce the Great Wall. The Great Wall is a military building used to protect the northern nomads in ancient China. It is also the largest single building since human civilisation, with a total length of 21196.18 km. Since ancient time, Chinese started to use wall as a defensive tool. As early as the Zhou Dynasty over two thousand years ago, nations had built walls on the border. After Qin She Huang united China, he moved all the wall to the north and built the Great Wall to defence the invasion of XiongNu. After two thousand years of continuous construction, Great Wall becomes what we can see today.

先介紹一下長城。長城是中國古代用來扺禦北方遊牧民族的軍事建築，也是人類文明以來最巨大的單一建築物，全長21196.18公里。中國自古就愛以城牆作為防禦工具，早在二千多年前的春秋戰國時代，各國已在邊界修築城牆。直到秦國統一天下，秦始皇為了扺抗北方匈奴入侵，將六國城牆全搬到北方，築起第一條意義上的萬里長城，後經過二千年各朝各代的不斷修築，終成為今天的模樣。

Today, the Great Wall has lost its original function, but it has become a symbol of Chinese. It is of great cultural significance. In the national anthem of China, we have the lyric: “With our flesh and blood, let us build a new Great Wall!”. At the same time, the Great Wall has immersed into the daily life of Chinese. For example, the internet blockade of China is called the “Digital Great Wall” by Chinese. Thousands of Chinese are suffering from “climbing over the Great Wall”.

今天的長城當然已失去了本來的作用，但已成為了中國人的象徵，極具文化意義，正如中國國歌的一句：「把我們的血肉築成我們新的長城」。同時長城也應用在中國人的生活文化當中，如中國的網絡封鎖，就被中國人稱呼為「數字長城」，讓萬千中國人為了「翻牆」而苦不堪言。

The current Great Wall was mainly built during the Ming Dynasty, cover the whole northern China. Three sections in Beijing were opened to visitors now. As dad is old, we chose the easiest one. We took the bus from Beijing and arrive the Great Wall after 2 hours.
Arrive the entrance of Great Wall, the most shocking thing was not the Great Wall but the crowd! Tourist coming car by car. There were always people outside the ticket office!

現時的長城主要都是明代時修建而成的，橫誇整個中國北部，而在北京就開放了三段供遊人參觀。由於老豆年紀大了，我們就選了最輕鬆的八達嶺長城一段。所謂最輕鬆，其實也不輕鬆，我們從北京市中心坐車，也坐了差不多兩個小時才到。
到達長城腳下，最讓我震撼的不是長城，而是人群！一車又一車的遊客到來，售票處外長時間都堆滿了人！

After buying ticket, we walked up and saw a lot of restaurants, snack shops, and also a bear zoo….there’re really bears…..

幾經辛苦購票後，沿路所見是很多的餐廳、小吃店，還有一個熊樂園......裡面真的有熊.......

We took the sliding car. It’s a Chinese style sliding car. On the way up the mountain, I can open the security lock and jump out at any time. When the sliding car was passing through a cave, I could see cartoon murals on the wall…..and later, I found that track was only made of wood and iron.

我們是坐滑車上去的，中國式滑車是比較不同，在上山的途中，我是隨時可以打開安全鎖跳出去。滑車中途穿過一個山洞，詭異的是，山洞內有很多卡通壁畫在牆上........後來我再細心一看，滑車軌道是用木及鐵造成的。

Arrived at The Great Wall! We can see the endless Great Wall, as well as the endless crowds! At the starting point there was a big rock. I didn’t why so many people were taking photos at the rock. This should be the “charm” of the Great Wall.

到達長城了！遙目遠看，連綿的長城就在眼前，當然，還有連綿的人群！一開始起行就見到一塊巨石，不知為何，很多人在那裡拍照，這就是萬人長城的魅力。

發現一枚自拍的妹紙，真的很想過去幫她拍

Frankly speaking, being the largest building of human being, I could not tell how great it is by words. It will be much greater if there are not so many people. By the way, I found many people writing their names on the bricks. Why should you do that?

但不得不說，成為人類史大最巨大的建築，萬人長城的氣勢的確不能以筆墨，如果，沒有那麼多人就好了，只可惜沿途見到很多的到此一遊，為何大家要這樣做？

There were people selling certificate of visiting the Great Wall. Actually they just take a photo of you and edit the background to the Great Wall by photoshop. It’s so funny that I can see such things on the Great Wall!

在中國的景點，總會見到証書黨，為你即場修圖，而這次我更發現了他們的數部列印機，投資可是不少！試想像在長城上有列印機是多麼有趣的事！

Such a magnificent building was built by Chinese, Am I proud? No, as I know it’s built with thousands of lives. I am not proud of it. So, don’t think too much and enjoy the photos!