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SiMaTai Great Wall |
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SiMaTai Great Wall |
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SiMaTai Great Wall, 120 km northeast of Beijing, is 5.4 km long with 35 watchtowers. Hanging precariously onto the YanShan Mountains, SiMaTai Great Wall is known for its steepness, ruggedness and outstanding beauty. SiMaTai Great Wall connects with JinShanLing Great Wall to the west.
SiMaTai Great WallSiMaTai holds the access to GuBeiKou, a strategic pass in the eastern part of the Great Wall. Originally built during the Northern Qi dynasty and rebuilt in the HongWu years of the Ming dynasty by Qi JiGuang, this section of the Great Wall is the only part of the wall that retains all the original features of the Ming Dynasty wall. The bricks used to build the walls here were stamped with the date on which they were made and the code numbers of the armies that made them.
Ingeniously conceived and uniquely designed, this section of Great Wall, inimitable and diversified, has incorporated the different characteristics of other sections of the Great Wall. Built on precipitous mountain ridges, there are many places that are unmatched among other sections of Great Wall. The 'Heavenly Ladder' and the 'Sky Bridge' are particularly dangerous - they can make even the most intrepid tremble with fear.
SiMaTai is densely dotted with watchtowers; the nearest two are only 44m apart. The walls are in single, double and trapeze forms and the watchtowers are sometimes round in shape and composed of 2 or 3 floors. Even the roofs of the towers are diverse: some are flat, some cymbi form and some domical shapes. There are two springs called the 'Mandarin Duck Springs' at the foot of SiMaTai Great Wall. The east one is cold, while the west is warm. The 2 springs join into one lake so half the lake is cold and the other half is warm. In winter, hot steam rises from the lake, forming a marvelous spectacle. SiMaTai Great Wall is separated into two parts (east and west) by a valley. The west part is relatively gentle with 20 well-preserved watchtowers. The east part is steep and precipitous with 15 watchtowers on the 1000 m high peaks, making a journey you will never forget.
In the east part, the main
attractions include Watching Beijing Tower, Fairy Tower,
Heavenly Ladder and Sky Bridge. 'Watching Beijing Tower'This is regarded as the
summit of the Simatai Section of the Great Wall with an
elevation of 986 m. It is the highest cultural relic in
Beijing. From the tower at night one can see the distant
lights of downtown Beijing. 'Fairy Maiden Tower'This is the most beautiful
of all the watchtowers, with a sculpture of twin lotus
flowers above the arched doorway. There is a legend that
it was the dwelling place for an antelope who had been
reincarnated in the form of an angel who fell in love
with a shepherd. 'Heavenly Ladder'Leaning against a mountain
slope with an almost 90-degree gradient, this is the way
to the Watching Beijing and the Fairy Maiden Towers.
Stretching upwards along the steep mountain cliff, the
narrowest part is just half a meter wide. It is like a
ladder that leads into the heavens. 'Sky Bridge'With a width of a mere 40
cm, this very narrow 100 m path connects the Fairy Tower
to Watching Beijing Tower. Only a very brave, or perhaps
foolish, man would want to pass across this stretch of
wall. The sides of the ridge on which it sits are so
steep that it seems one is walking along a narrow rope
bridge.
At SiMaTai, it is a good idea to take the chair lift up to (or down from) the wall. It is also a good idea to take a lightweight rain jacket in your bag; because of the height of the mountains here, storms can arise suddenly on hot summer days.
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