Day 5 - The Great Wall and the Summer Palace

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, earth, wood, and other materials, built along an east-to-west line across the northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states against the raids and invasions of the nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppes. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BCE and then later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. It stretches 8850 km. Especially famous is the wall built 220–206 BCE by the first Emperor of a unified China. Who built the wall...........mostly peasants who could not pay their taxes.  They were conscripted for life as labourers where many of them died.  The Chinese consider the Great Wall as a 5,000 mile long cemetery.

The Great Wall was also used for border control, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road ,  and the control of immigration and emigration. The defensive characteristics of the Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation corridor. Soldiers placed on the wall would serve for 10 years and during that time would never go home.

As you can see it is a very steep climb.  There are 3 more towers beyond what you see in the picture above.  The higher you went the fewer people you met.  Garry made it to the top but his knees took a beating on the way down.

Next we went to the Summer Palace.  About 700 years ago  a Chinese engineer rerouted water from an underground spring to form a lake to use as a water source for the Emperors Palace in what is now Beijing.

This area was also used as the royal stables and then further developed into extensive gardens.  Eunuchs who fell out of favour for some misdemeanour would be sent there to cut the grass and to pull weeds

In 1750 an Emperor built a summer palace for his mother around this man made lake which keeps the temperature several degrees cooler than the city.  The Imperial court would move there for a few weeks every summer.

They built an island in the middle of the lake connected by a bridge which they named after the famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo.

One of the Emperors even built a marble boat.  I can't imagine it could go very far.

The British destroyed the Summer Palace in 1860 in retaliation after the second Opium War.  However the Dowager Empress Cici rebuilt it in grand style using money meant for the Chinese navy.  She was called the "Dragon Lady" because she was ruthless when it came to holding on to power.  After her husband the Emperor died she installed 2 young boys as puppet emperors that she could control. In fact when one of them tried to rebel against her she imprisoned him for 10 years in the Summer Palace.

By the time she died in 1908 she had controlled The affairs of China for  47 years.  Emperor Puyi who followed her was forced to abdicate in 1912 and became the last Emperor of China.