Jinshanling
Interesting facts
- China's national anthem video, broadcast as part of CCTV's morning opening, was filmed on a brick platform of the Jinshanling wall.
- Thousands of bricks along about 500 metres of wall are stamped with the year they were made and the army unit that made them.
- The qilin screen in one tower is assembled from 15 bricks into a relief about 2.5 metres long and 2 metres high, showing the beast among clouds.
- Watchtowers here stand only 50 to 100 metres apart, much closer than on most stretches of the Great Wall.
- The two-storey Big Jinshan Tower, about 11 metres high, combines a brick lower floor with an upper floor of brick and timber.
- General Qi Jiguang rebuilt the wall together with the local governor Tan Lun, starting in 1567 and continuing into the 1570s.
- The section takes its name from the Big and Small Jinshan hills, whose crests the wall follows.
- The wall runs at about 700 metres above sea level, with walls between five and eight metres high.
- Openings in the parapet served both for planting flags and as firing slots, and overhanging holes let guards watch the foot of the wall.
Why it is worth it
Jinshanling is the Great Wall as most people imagine it: a crenellated ridge line switching back and forth across steep mountains, crowded with watchtowers that march away to the horizon. The section lies in Luanping County, Hebei, on the border with Beijing's Miyun district, and runs about 10.5 km with 5 passes, 67 watchtowers and 3 beacon towers. The eastern end joins the Simatai section, and the wall changes character along the way: carefully restored near the main entrance, it becomes rougher and more overgrown the further east one walks.
The wall here belongs to the Ming dynasty and was largely rebuilt from about 1570 under the direction of General Qi Jiguang, who spent years on this frontier training troops and turning the old defences into a tighter system. The towers stand unusually close together. On steep slopes, short cross walls were built across the walkway so that defenders could keep fighting even if attackers gained the top of the wall. Some stretches are built of bricks bearing inscribed characters, and one tower carries a carved brick screen showing a qilin, a mythical beast, which is unique along the whole Great Wall.
The mountains are part of the Yanshan range, and the wall follows their ridges so closely that its line reads like a drawing of the landscape, especially at sunrise, at sunset or under snow, which is why Jinshanling is a favourite of photographers and hikers. It was listed as a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level in 1988.
Getting there
Jinshanling lies about 125 km north-east of central Beijing; the nearest town in the selection is Sanhe, about 79 km away. Tourist buses and hired cars make the trip from Beijing, and walkers can follow the wall itself east towards Simatai. The nearest airport is Beijing Capital International (PEK), about 87 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Jinshanling is a section of the Great Wall of China located in the mountainous area in Luanping County, Chengde, Hebei Province, 125 km northeast of Beijing. This section of the wall is connected with the Simatai section to the east. Some distance to the west lies the Mutianyu section. Jinshanling was built from 1570 CE during the Ming dynasty.
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