Live Wire Blog

Great Wall and great throngs

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Karen Pojmann
Category: Mizzou in China

GUEST BLOG

I have been most excited about seeing the wall. We arrived in the morning just as the president of Mexico was taking his own personal walk along the wall. Because of him, all the tourists were forced to stay off the wall. It was so crowded and very, very hot when we were waiting to go in. People were very aggressive, and being the claustrophobic person I am, I was a little put off by the massive number of people around me. When we did finally get in, it was amazing. We only had an hour, so I walked as far as I could to a lookout point. We got lucky because that day was the clearest day I have seen in Beijing so far. -Paige Hansen Paige Hansen’s photos

Great Wall, great wonder
There is a good reason why the Great Wall is listed among the New Seven Wonders of the World. Land rises up in every direction, and then this man-made snake barrier stretches and winds with it. There’s no way to see it all (partly because some of it is rubble, or the government hasn’t opened it). It’s just that big. As our fearless professor put it so nicely: The experience is similar to standing on the beach at sunrise or sunset and feeling the waves stretch into the distance and knowing you’ll never be able to fully grasp the magnitude [of the ocean]. And knowing that they did this all with very basic tools is even more [impressive]. The pyramids are similar in a way, but they aren’t on mountain cliffs.

To get the full effect, one must climb. Not a stroll up, but a 50-degree incline separated every 200 or 300 meters by platforms and a few stairs. Gripping tennis shoes are a minimum. Breathing is labored whether the sky is blue or smoggy. Water, though heated from the sun above, is most welcome. And the experience. Oh, the experience. Though mocked by the “I climbed the Great Wall” T-shirts, it is certainly a bragging point if you can get to the top. I settled for halfway up our section, since the royal visit cut our trip to only an hour of freedom (half-hour up, half-hour back). And while my panoramas don’t quite show the intensity, I hope you can get the sensation. -Laura Dotson Laura Dotson’s photos

Beautiful day to climb the Great Wall of China I have done it! I have been to the Great Wall of China, and I climbed to the highest point along the route I took. I took more photos than were probably necessary. But the trip was not without adventure. The police and military presence was stepped up for the visit of Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon, who chose to visit the Wall at the same time as our group. We had a mini parade of official cars go past us while we were walking up to the wall, and our trip was delayed about 30 minutes. When the wall reopened to visitors who weren’t Calderon or his entourage, the result was a human crush at the entrance to the wall. My sunglasses prevented me from being poked in the eye once by an umbrella (parasol?). I understand now why the Chinese say one man could prevent 1,000 attackers: the entrances to the wall are pretty small. Frankly, I’m impressed with the undertaking to build the wall. Although I’m not entirely sure why it was necessary; the mountain’s pretty steep. The day was possibly the most beautiful I’ve seen in Beijing. There was hardly a cloud in the bright blue sky. I did not realize the mountains were so close to Beijing. -Beth Androuais Beth Androuais’s photos

Amazing. Unbelievable.
I climbed the GREAT WALL!! Our day was delayed because the Mexican President decided to show up, and his security shut down a whole side of the wall, not letting people enter or exit. We were shoved together with the other 100,000 people waiting to get up. This was where the real hatred for umbrellas started. The people I was with decided to hike up one side on the wall and then hike down alongside the wall, under a humungous sign that read “One World, One Dream.” We only had time for one side of the section we were at, but I was really surprised by the angles this giant stone structure takes. Some points you are pulling yourself up at a 60-degree angle or smashing your way through tiny passageways that were once part of the watchtowers. You and, like, 10,000 of your new closest, umbrella-wielding friends. -Allison Bennett Allison Bennett’s photos

Goodness, gracious, Great Wall of China Lindsay on The Wall.