Located
in the district of Huairou, 90 km northeast of Beijing, Mutianyu
section of the Great
Wall is notable for its numerous watchtowers and natural scenery.
Carefully restored in 1980s, as an alternative to Badaling, Mutianyu
is even more appealing, though not as steep as the former. The atmosphere
here is comparatively quite and peathful, packed with tourists only
on weekends.
Originally
built around the 5th century (period of the Northern and Southern
dynasties), and reconstructed twice in the Ming period, the Mutianyu
section is a good example of the Ming Great
Wall. One of its unusual features are battlements at both ends
of this section of the Great
Wall. Besides, "branching walls" were built to allow
soldiers to shoot at the enemy in two directions. To intensify its
defence force, more watchtowers were added when it was reconstructed
for the second time around 1570.
Although
this stretch of wall is not an genuinely old one, it does recreate
a complete appearance of the Ming Great
Wall. The walk along the renovated wall is not so strenuous,
covering as far as 2.5km, passing about 20 watchtowers until barriers
block both ends.
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