Plan your Great Wall tour? The Great Wall of China is not a continuous wall. The wall exists in bits. These bits don’t form a continuous line. Most of the bits of the remaining Wall have their own names. Usually their names are given with regard to their geographic location, historical factors or the necessity of the local…
Shijingshan District is one of the six urban districts under the administration of Beijing. As an international traveler first time visiting Beijing, you would rarely think of visiting this unknown district on the west edge of Beijing city proper. Shijingshan District is not a place rich in historical sites or natural landscapes. But if you are interested…
Dazhenyu Great Wall is located above Dazhenyu Village, about 80km north of center Beijing, hence the name Dazhenyu Great Wall. “Dazhenyu” literally means “Big Nut-tree Valley”. Dazhenyu Village is nestled on a small basin in the valley surrounded by the mountains. The whole village is made of 5 natural villages with 450 households and 850 villagers. The village has…
Like Juyongguan Great Wall (Juyongguan Pass Great Wall), Moshikou Pass (or Xiangshuihu Great Wall) is also an important pass or fort in the Ming Dynasty Great Wall in Huairou District, about 80km north of Beijing center. “Moshikou” literally means a stone polished by the flowing water in the narrow pass. The pass was a strong military bulding. The pass building also…
“Yanhecheng” literally means “a riverside city”. It used to be a fortress built in 1578 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), as part of the Great Wall in Ming Dynasty, a stronghold between Beijing and the northern frontier. The fortress was built by the Yongding River, hence the name of Yanhecheng. The fortress and the river…
Yangsheng Ravine, or Health Preserving Ravine, or officially translated as Health Care Canyon, is located within Xiangshuihu Scenic Area in Huairou Disgtrict, 80km north of the center Beijing. A rock stands at the entrance carved with the four Chinese characters written by Lian Zhan, a politician in Taiwan. There is a stream flowing through…
Lingshan is the highest mountain in Beijing with its highest peak (Dong Lingshan ) at the sea-level of 2302 meters. Lingshan Mountain is about 122km from the downtown, easily accessible. Lingshan Mountain takes an area of 15 square kilometers. To its east is Longmenjian; its west is Xiaolongmen Forest Park and the National Highway G109…
Freshed up from yesterday’s great wall hiking, at 8:30am we start from our lodging hotel in city center of Qinhuangdao for our first target today – Liujiakou Great Wall. We follow the Jingha Expressway westward for 63km where we turn off the highway at Lulong County. Then we driver north to Liujiakou Great Wall. The whole driving…