Jinshanling Great Wall

Introduction 

Jinshanling Great Wall is situated 130km northeast of Beijing on the branches of Yanshan Mountain between Minyun County in Beijing city and Luanping County in Chengde City. Jinshanling Great Wall was initially constructed in 1368 AD during the Ming Dynasty by senior general, Xuda. In 1567 it was expanded and repaired by Qi Jiguang; crowned a hero for defending his county from the enemies. This section of the Great Wall remains wild and unrestored unlike other sections with 5 towers, 3 beacon towers and 5 passes. It is a complete defensive site with watchtowers, shooting holes, barrier walls, battlement walls, gun emplacements, horse blocking walls and branch cities.

The wall snakes from Longyu Pass in the west and ends at Wangjing Tower in the east covering a total length of 10.5 kilometers at a height of 5 meters by 8 meters at an altitude of 700 meters above sea level. The watchtowers are either one storey, two storeys or three storeys and are different because of the different materials used in their construction each having different patterns of roofs and number of tiers. Some are made out of bricks and stones while others are made from bricks and wood. Some roofs are flat, others are octagonal, others are squared while others are dome shaped.

Things to see and do on a visit

Big Jinshan Tower

The Big Jinshan Tower measures 12 by 8 by 11 meters with its base paved with seven tiers of stone slabs. On the west and east side are stone arched doors and on the north and south side are four shooting holes with two more located on the east and west side. On the second floor is a delicate storehouse made out of wood and bricks. The Big Jinshan Tower has a unique feature in that finding its gates is quite tricky.

Small Jinshan Tower

The Small Jinshan Tower measures 12 by 11  by 8 meters. On the west and east side of the tower is a stone arched door and on the north side are four shooting holes while on the east is one shooting hole and three on the west and south side. On the upper story is a storehouse with two windows and one door.

General Tower

The General Tower also known as the storehouse Tower and the “Most Representative Enemy Tower" measures 10 meters long by 11 meters wide. Outside the tower there are different complexes such as the horse blocking walls, beacon towers, barrier walls and buttress walls. The horse blocking walls were used to prevent cavalry from approaching the Great Wall, the beacon towers were used to detect and transfer military information, the buttress walls were used to stop enemies from attacking the General Tower directly, barrier walls were used to defend against enemies ascending the wall to attack the General Tower and the branch walls were used to protect the General Tower, Zhuanduokou Pass and Shalingkou Pass from being attacked. On the upper story of tower is a sleeping den and there is a storehouse on the lowest floor. 

Kylin Screen Wall

The Kylin Screen Wall is located on the small pot tower which is also known as Xiaohu Tower between the three window tower and the five window tower on the east. The screen wall measures 2.5 meters long by 2 meters high made out of 15 blue bricks with exquisite relief sculptures on the wall creating an architectural masterpiece at this Great Wall. Looking from a distance visitors can see the Kylin standing conspicuously through the clouds. In addition, there are no stairs leading up the tower top so many visitors might actually miss out on the Kylin Screen Wall.

Bricks with Characters

At Jinshanling Great Wall, visitors can see thousands of bricks engraved with characters from the time that they were made by troops. For instance, some of the characters read "In the Six Year of the Wanli Period, By the Zhenlu Cavalry Battalion".

Jinshanling Great Wall Marathon

Visitors can attend the Jinshanling Marathon held annually in April at the wall to test their stamina in either the full, half marathon, or 10 kilometer race. This marathon takes visitors to different sections of the wall to not only participate in the race but rather appreciate the wall’s distinct beauty seen in apricot blossoms blooming around the wall around this time. The local government also organizes for Apricot Blossom Festival every April annually for visitors to experience this season.