Beijing Municipality 长城，北京市, Jiankou & Mutianyu Sections 箭扣,慕田峪
This was the perfect way to start my trip. First of all, I love Beijing. It gets a bad rap from a lot of people, but I dig it.
I spent a day hiking the Great Wall on a beautiful day outside Beijing. I chose this location because it provided both restored and wild sections of the Wall. I loved every minute of it.
I know the trees are not in bloom so it can feel like a dull, gray place without the color contrast, but that's OK. Just think about how bizarre it is that they built such a massive wall. A symptom of paranoia if I've ever seen one.
The Great Wall first began construction during the 7th century, BCE. That was a long time ago. Obviously it was built to keep out invaders but also to regulate trade and enforce taxes.
In the early 1600's the Ming dynasty 明朝 was having serious problems with rebels in western Xinjiang and northern Mongolia. The Ming dynasty leaders overburdened the peasant class with taxes, leading many farmers to become homeless and desolate. As a result, these peasants became bandits and rebelled, wrecking havoc alongside outsiders throughout northern China.
In order to crush the rebellion, Chinese military general Wu Sangui 吳三桂 needed help as his military was insufficient and poorly equipped to do it themselves. General Wu decided to let the neighboring Manchu military in from north of the Great Wall (currently Heilongjiang 黑龙江 and surrounding area) to assist the weak Ming military. The Manchu people promised to help crush the rebels and go home, but after essentially being given the keys to Beijing, they decided to stay.
This is quite bizarre to think about (and this isn't the first time this happened- the Mongols took over from 1271-1368 led by Genghis Khan). The Chinese have this huge, awesome wall to keep out invaders and what do they do? They open the gates to invaders which leads to the fall of the legendary Ming dynasty in 1644. This was the last time an ethnically Han Chinese emperor was in power. As we know, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty fell in 1911 concluding a 4,500 year streak of emperors in China. The Qing dynasty is remembered as one of the least-favorite dynasties by Han Chinese for this reason. (It was also the Manchu-led Qing dynasty that implemented that hideous bald-in-front long-ponytail-in-back haircut for men).
Taken by a stranger.
