Exploring Beijing
The Great Wall is perhaps China’s most famous site, and stretches some 6,000 kilometres from Shanghaiguan fortress on the Bohai Gulf in the east to the Jiayuguan fortress in the west. Several sections of wall are accessible from Beijing, including Badaling and Mutianyu, about 70 kilometres northwest and 90 kilometres northeast of the city, respectively. Built to guard against Mongol forces to the north, the Beijing section of the Great Wall dates back to the Ming dynasty and was built to take up to six horsemen riding abreast. The Wall today serves as an iconic symbol of China’s cultural and national identity.