Great Wall:
1: Dear tourists, our car is now driving on the Badaling Expressway and is about to enter the Badaling Scenic Area we are about to visit. The mountain in front is Jundu Mountain, and the Badaling Great Wall is entrenched on this mountain. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ancient people of our country had already begun to build the Great Wall. At that time, the princes were competing for hegemony. In order to protect their territories from being invaded, they built the Great Wall on their respective borders, which was called the Great Wall of Mutual Defense.
There have been three peaks in the construction of the Great Wall in our country, namely the Qin Great Wall, the Han Great Wall, and the Ming Great Wall. Qin Shihuang unified the Central Plains in 221 BC and established the Qin Dynasty. In order to strengthen his rule and defend against the invasion of northern nomads, he sent General Meng Tian with 300,000 troops and a lot of labor to connect the original Great Walls of Yan, Zhao and Qin in the north, and After expansion, it took 9 years to build a Great Wall that stretches thousands of miles from Lintao in the west to Liaodong. This is the first Great Wall in Chinese history. In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also built a nearly 20,000-mile Great Wall in order to strengthen defense and "not ask Huma to cross the Yin Mountains". At the same time, this also protected the newly developed Silk Road. The Han Great Wall was a forward position of the Qin Great Wall. and defense line, which started from Xinjiang in the west and reached Liaodong in the east. It was the longest dynasty in Chinese history to build the Great Wall. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty is the highest peak in the construction of the Great Wall in Chinese history. The scale of the project and the technical excellence are unique. In the process of unifying the country and establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the suggestion of "building walls high, accumulating grain widely, and becoming king slowly". Although the Yuan Dynasty had perished at that time, it still maintained relatively complete military strength. Coupled with the constant intrusion of the gradually rising Jurchen tribe, construction of the Great Wall began. The Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall on a large scale 18 times, and it was basically completed at the end of the Ming Dynasty. It stretches 6,350 kilometers from Hushan on the Yalu River in Dandong, Liaoning in the east to Jiayuguan in Gansu in the west. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty has three characteristics: complete construction, perfect management, and strict layout. The Badaling Great Wall we see today is part of the Ming Great Wall. Although the most original purpose of the Great Wall in ancient my country was defense, it also played other roles. The first is the military role, the second is the economic role, it not only promotes the development of farmland and the economic development of northern Xinjiang, but also allows the people of the Central Plains to live and work in peace and contentment, and the third is to promote the integration of various ethnic groups. In addition, it protects communications and promotes openness to the outside world. It is worth mentioning that in ancient my country, there were not only these three experiences of building the Great Wall. According to statistics, more than 20 vassal states and feudal dynasties have built the Great Wall in the past two thousand years. Some people have done rough calculations. , if the Great Wall was transformed into a large wall 5 meters high and 1 meter thick, it would be enough to circle the earth more than 10 times. Famous folklore: The Fenghuo Opera on the Princes and Meng Jiangnu Crying at the Great Wall also took place on the Great Wall. Nowadays, after several renovations, the Great Wall has basically restored its previous appearance. In 1987, it was included in the "World Cultural Heritage List" by UNESCO, and it is also the world's most beautiful "Simian Qiao Sword". There are 6 areas in Zisongye, with a total length of 108,000 miles.
The road we passed just now is located in Guangou, which is the intersection of Yanshan Mountains and Jundushan Mountains. , starting from Nankou Town in Changping District in the south to the Chengguan of Badaling Great Wall in Yanqing County, with a total length of 40 miles. It is the choke point from the Central Plains to the northwest plateau. In the Ming Dynasty, four lines of defense were deployed here, namely Nankou Pass, Juyong Pass, and Shangguan, Badaling. On the Diecui Mountain in Guangou, there was once one of the eight famous scenic spots in Yanjing in the Jin Dynasty: Juyong Pincui. Unfortunately, the landscape we just saw no longer exists.
That railway was the first railway designed and built by the Chinese, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway designed by Zhan Tianyou. Because the Badaling area has complex terrain and many technical difficulties, the herringbone railway designed by Zhan Tianyou successfully solved it. The problem that the car cannot climb directly and turn has been solved, and the opening of the 1091-meter-long tunnel has also impressed Chinese and foreign people. The bronze statue erected at Qinglongqiao Railway Station is of Zhan Tianyou, and the Guangou is famous for Juyongguan. , we can see that the magnificent building in front is Juyongguan. Its name originated from the Qin Dynasty. It was named after Qin Shihuang moved "mediocre people" to live here. There is a famous white marble platform in the pass, which is Yuntai. It was a street-crossing pagoda in the Yuan Dynasty. There were originally three Tibetan pagodas on it, but they were destroyed in the subsequent earthquake. The Tai'an Temple was built in the same place in the Ming Dynasty, and it was destroyed again during the Kangxi period, leaving only what we have today. The pillar base and pillars you can see. The area of ????the cloud platform is 310 square meters. The gate under the platform is engraved with reliefs such as lions, elephants, four elephants, and Garuda, which respectively represent the five directions and five Buddhas of Buddhism. There are also reliefs of the mounts and the eight guardian gods of heaven and dragons. There are also reliefs of the four heavenly kings and patterns of mythical beasts on the inner wall. The top of the coupon is also covered with mandala patterns, and there are 2,215 Buddha statues engraved in the flowers. There are also "Dharani Sutras" and "Pagoda Building Merits" engraved in six languages. These are fine works of art from the Yuan Dynasty and have high artistic value.
The Badaling Great Wall is the Ming Great Wall. Because it is connected in all directions, it is called Badaling. You may ask, why is the Great Wall built here? In fact, this is mainly because of the important geographical location of the Badaling area, which not only guards the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum, but also the capital. Northwest gate.
The Badaling Great Wall is the witness of many major events in history, such as Empress Dowager Xiao's inspection tour, Yuan Taizu's entry into the Pass, Empress Dowager Cixi's escape to the west, etc. Badaling is the final road. Speaking of which, there is another story to tell you: There is a huge stone beside the East Gate Road in Guancheng. Legend has it that in 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, Cixi passed by here on her way to the west and stood on this stone. Last time we looked at the capital city, so this stone was also called the Wangjing Stone. But now the stone is less prominent.
There is a saying that everyone must know: If you don’t reach the Great Wall, you are not a true man. I have just introduced so many sights. You must be eager to visit the scenic spots. Don’t worry, you will become a hero soon. Well, here is the famous Badaling Great Wall. There is a magnificent scenery in the distance, and looking down is Wengcheng, an important part of the Great Wall. It is usually built on traffic arteries with difficult terrain. The distance between the two gates of Wengcheng is 63.9 meters. The west gate has a plaque saying: North Gate Key, as I have already said before. The plaque on the east gate reads: Juyongwai Town, which means another important town outside Juyong Pass. Now we look down to the right, and there is a cannon on display on the south side of the city entrance, named: General Shenwei. It was made during the Chongzhen period.
The Badaling Great Wall consists of three platforms and two walls. What are three platforms and two walls? Now let me explain to you that the three towers are the city tower and the enemy tower. The city tower is very simple in structure and is just a place for the garrisoned officers and soldiers to avoid the wind and cold. The structure of the enemy platform is relatively complicated, divided into two layers. The lower layer is composed of fields, wells, Hui, and other glyphs. The upper layer has crenels and observation holes for observing military conditions and shooting arrows, so it also has the function of defending against the enemy.
The following is the beacon tower, also called beacon tower and wolf smoke tower. It is an independent building not connected to the Great Wall. Once the enemy invaded, they would light a beacon fire to report the military situation. The ancients called the smoke lit during the day a beacon, and the smoke lit at night called a flint. In the Ming Dynasty, there were strict regulations on the relationship between beacon fire and the enemy: if there were more than a hundred enemies, one smoke would light one cannon; if there were five white people, two smokes would light two cannons; if there were more than a thousand people, three smokes would light three cannons; if there were more than a thousand enemies, three smokes would light three cannons; If there are more than 1,000 people, four smokes and four cannons will be used; if there are more than 1,000 people, there will be five smokes and five cannons. In this way, military information at the border can be quickly transmitted to the imperial city.
After talking about the three units, let’s talk about the two walls. The high wall on the outside of the Great Wall is called the ultimatum wall, and it has crenellations for defense against enemies. The one on the inside that is less than one meter high is called the parapet, also called the Yuqiang. In the beginning, there was no parapet on the inside of the Great Wall, but people often fell off the cliff, so this wall was built. There are small ditches not far away from the root of the Great Wall. On rainy days, the water is drained out by spouts to prevent water from washing away the city wall. The walls of the Great Wall are made of stone blocks on the inside, bricks are laid on the outside, and stone slabs are laid on top, making the building very strong!
2: The Great Wall is one of the world-famous wonders. It is like a giant dragon entrenched in the vast land of northern China. It is the crystallization of the blood and sweat of the working people in ancient China. It is also a symbol of ancient Chinese culture and the pride of the Chinese nation. Our car was running on the Badaling Expressway and was about to enter the scenic spot. The mountain in front
is called Jundu Mountain, and the Badaling Great Wall hovers over Jundu Mountain. The road the car travels on is located in the 20-kilometer-long Guangou, which is named after the famous ancient pass Juyongguan. We can see that the magnificent building in front is Juyongguan. Juyongguan is an important pass on the Great Wall. It was built in the Ming Dynasty. The pass has two gates, the north and the south, and there are urns outside the gates. The ancient buildings have long been destroyed. After restoration in recent years, the ancient pass has regained its former glory. There is a famous white marble building in Juyongguan called Yuntai. It is the base of a street-crossing tower built in the second year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, that is, 1342. The Ming Dynasty built a Tai'an Temple here, but it was also burned down by fire in 1702, and only the base of the pagoda remained. Yuntai is the foundation of the earliest and largest existing street-crossing tower in my country. It is also an important physical object of stone architecture in the Yuan Dynasty. It has high cultural relic value and is now listed as one of the national key cultural relics protection units.
On the mountains on both sides, there used to be green pines and cypresses, good clouds covering the fog, birds singing in harmony, and gurgling streams. Everything was full of poetry and painting. One of the famous eight scenic spots in Yanjiu in the Jin Dynasty, "Juyong Pinnacle" refers to this place. Unfortunately, it was completely destroyed by a wildfire in 1500, the thirteenth year of Hongzhi's reign in the Ming Dynasty. Although a lot of effort has been put into planting trees in this area in recent years, due to lack of rain, it is difficult to recreate the historical landscape. At the same time, due to human factors such as road construction, the 72 scenic spots spread in Guangou in the past, such as Mu Guiying's Dianjiang Terrace, Xianren Bridge, Tanqin Gorge, etc., can only be heard from people but cannot be seen.
In order to let everyone have a better understanding of the Great Wall, I will now introduce to you the knowledge about the Great Wall.
The development of anything has a process. The Great Wall is no exception. The Great Wall of China originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, around the 7th century BC. At that time, the princes were competing for hegemony. In order to protect their territories from infringement, they built the Great Wall one after another. The Great Walls at that time were all located on their respective borders, and they were section by section. They could be called the "Great Wall of Mutual Defense". Qin Shihuang annexed the six countries in 221 BC, unified the Central Plains, and established a feudal dynasty. In order to strengthen its rule and prevent the intrusion of northern nomads, the Qin Dynasty invested huge manpower and material resources in building the Great Wall. They connected the original Great Walls of Yan, Zhao and Qin in the north, rebuilt and strengthened them, and expanded them a lot. They built a Great Wall that stretched for more than 10,000 miles from Lintao in the west to Liaodong in the east.
This is the first Great Wall in Chinese history. During the Han Dynasty, the Qin Great Wall was extended westward to Yanze, which is now the Lop Nur area of ??Xinjiang. The Great Wall of the Han Dynasty was more than 10,000 kilometers long, making it the longest dynasty to build the Great Wall in Chinese history. The Ming Dynasty was also the peak of the development of the Great Wall. The vastness of the project and the exquisite construction technology were unique in Chinese history. Most of the Great Wall that is still intact today was built in the Ming Dynasty. It should be reminded that in the history of China, not only the Han rulers such as Qin, Han, and Ming built the Great Wall, but also the rulers of ethnic minorities such as the Northern Wei, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Eastern Wei, and Jin all built the Great Wall, and the Jin Dynasty built the Great Wall. The Great Wall of China is 2,500 kilometers long, making it the longest dynasty in which ethnic minorities built the Great Wall. To put it into perspective, over a period of more than 2,000 years from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Ming Dynasty, more than 20 vassal states and feudal dynasties built the Great Wall. These Great Walls vary in length and are criss-crossed in 17 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in my country. If the Great Wall built by all dynasties were added up, the total length would be more than 100,000 miles. It can be said to be "two thousand years up and down, one hundred thousand miles vertically and horizontally". Someone has made a rough calculation. If the masonry and earthwork used in the construction of the Great Wall in various dynasties were piled up to build a large wall 5 meters high and 1 meter thick, then this large wall could circle the earth more than 10 times.
The Badaling Great Wall we are going to visit today was built in the Ming Dynasty.
With its magnificent architecture and complete defense facilities, it is the essence of the Great Wall and the most outstanding representative of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. At this point, someone might as well ask, why did the Ming Dynasty build such a strong Great Wall in the Badaling area? This is mainly determined by the geographical location of Badaling. It not only plays the role of guarding the imperial mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty, but also serves as the northwest gateway to the capital. After a while, you will see the four characters "North Gate Lock and Key" written on the banner at the Badaling Pass gate. The North Gate refers to the north gate of the capital. The lock and key means the strength and danger of the Great Wall, like an unbreakable giant. Lock, lock it here. As long as you keep this pass, the capital will be safe. However, the corrupt Ming Dynasty was eventually overthrown by the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng. However, it is said that when they entered Beijing, they did not attack the Badaling Pass, but bypassed the Liugou in Yanqing. In order to strengthen its rule, the Ming Dynasty indeed made great efforts. After driving away the remaining forces of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to prevent their intrusion, the Ming Dynasty put forward the slogan of "building a high wall" at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang also sent generals Xu Da and Feng Sheng to lead their troops to build a barrier system in the north. Fortress, build the Great Wall. During the more than 270 years of rule of the Ming Dynasty, there were 18 large-scale construction projects, and finally the Great Wall was built, starting from the Yalu River in Liaoning Province in the east and ending at Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu Province in the west. This is what we usually call it, and it can still be seen today. The Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty is more than 6,300 kilometers long and passes through 9 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in northern my country. Regardless of the level of engineering technology and the tightness of the fortification, it is unmatched by the previous Great Wall. At the same time, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was no longer a single high wall, but was built into an in-depth defense system with "layers of defense". Multiple walls and passes were also built in key areas. Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei and other places have built double tracks on the Great Wall. Shanxi has built four double tracks on the Great Wall. In important transportation and military locations, multiple gates and shorter walls were built. For example, in the 10-mile valley of Yanmen Pass, there were 28 stone walls.
For defense, the Ming Dynasty deployed more than 900,000 troops along the Great Wall. The Great Wall is divided into 9 defense zones from east to west (called Jiubian, equivalent to the current military zone). Each zone is guarded by generals. Such defense zones are called "towns". They are: Liaodong Town, Ji Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town, Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town, Gansu Town.
The Badaling Great Wall is a subordinate pass of Juyongguan in Ji Town. Juyongguan is a "road" level defense area, with its jurisdiction extending 45 kilometers from the boundary of Huanghua Town in Xishui Valley in the east, 60 kilometers from the Zijing Pass boundary at Jianzigukou, the border town of the town, in the west, to Wanping County in the south, and to Tumuyi Xuanfu boundary in the north. Juyongguan Guancheng is located on the north choke point, and Badaling is at the north entrance of the key point. Three passes were built south of Badaling, namely Nankou, Juyongguan and Shangguan. Together with Badaling, there are four passes in one month.
In 1505, the 18th year of Hongzhi's reign, Badaling built Guancheng. During the same period, more than 100 piers, abutments and beacons were built at mountain intersections and traffic thoroughfares in Yanqing County, north of Guancheng. During this period, the Anda tribe in the north arose and continued to plunder southward. In the tenth year of Zhengde (1515), the Anda cavalry invaded Badaling, killed and plundered the pipits. I replied that the cavalry came and went very quickly and erratically. The following year, they harassed the Yanqing area, threatening the capital and making the people uneasy. In order to strengthen defense, in 1539, the 18th year of Jiajing's reign, the east gate of Badaling Pass was rebuilt. In the 30th year of Jiajing reign (1551), a barracks was built 3 miles northwest of Badaling Guancheng, named Chadaocheng. Qi Jiguang, who stationed heavy troops in the city, was transferred to the north and prime minister Ji, Chang, and Bao were deployed in defense. He rebuilt the 600-kilometer Great Wall from Shanhaiguan in the east to Juyongguan in the west. Due to the important strategic position of Badaling, it is a key area for construction. The city walls are tall and strong, with dense watchtowers and exquisite materials. In the tenth year of Wanli (1582), the west gate of Guancheng was rebuilt. After operating for more than 80 years, the Badaling Great Wall has become a defense system with connected city gates, facing each other with piers and fortresses, heavy city protection, and beacon fire alarms.
Badaling is also a witness to many major events in history.
After the first emperor, Qin Shihuang, came east to Jieshi, he took the road from Badaling to Datong and then returned to Xianyang. Empress Dowager Xiao visited the country, Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty entered the customs, the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty traveled between Beijing and Shangdu twice a year, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty went on the Northern Expedition. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor personally conquered and the Empress Dowager Cixi fled westward~~ Badaling was a must-go place. To this day, outside the east gate of Badaling Pass, there is still a scene of "Wangjing Stone" left behind by Cixi's flight to the west. In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled westward to Badaling. Cixi stood on a stone and looked back at the capital. She stood there for a long time, unwilling to leave. She didn't know when she would be able to return to Beijing, and she couldn't help crying. , hence the name Wangjing Stone. If you are interested, you can go and take a look after getting off the car.
After the Qing Dynasty, the Badaling Great Wall, which had already promoted military value, gradually fell into disuse. The walls, watchtowers, etc. of the Great Wall are in ruins due to destruction by natural and man-made factors. After the founding of New China, all the buildings of the Great Wall were protected by the state, and relevant departments were organized to carry out repairs. In 1961, the State Council designated the Badaling Great Wall and the city wall as key cultural relics protection units open to tourists. In 1984, under the initiative of Comrade Deng Xiaoping to "accept China and build the Great Wall", the ancient Xiongguan was renovated and 19 watchtowers were restored. The total length of the city wall was 3,741 meters, bringing the tourist area to 19,000 square meters. In 1986, it was rated as one of the sixteen scenic spots in New Beijing. In 1987, the Great Wall was included in the "World Cultural Heritage" list by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, and a certificate was issued. Badaling received the certificate as a representative of the Great Wall. The original certificate is now preserved in the Great Wall of China at the foot of the Badaling Great Wall. museum. In 1991, Badaling was rated as the top 40 tourist attractions in China by the National Tourism Administration with an absolute majority.
The Badaling Great Wall is the earliest section of the Great Wall open to tourists, and it is also the most famous. So far, Badaling has received more than 60 million Chinese and foreign tourists, including Richard Nixon, Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Gorbachev. , Queen Elizabeth, the Japanese Emperor and his wife, and more than 300 foreign heads of state and many world figures have boarded the Badaling Great Wall for sightseeing. This situation is also rare among the world's scenic spots. "You are not a hero until you reach the Great Wall." Don't worry, you will soon become a hero when you climb the Great Wall.