To Be a Real Hero

This morning, I woke up early and Skyped with Anna and then John and Maria. Made a cup of Nescafe in my little silver pot! I leave for a tour of the Great Wall at 10:30. Before then, I am going to see if I can get one of the desk people downstairs to help me transfer some photos from my camera to my I-PAD... Faithful readers will know if I meet with success.

Our tour guide for the visit to the Great Wall introduced herself. She said her English name is "Angel", but she is no angel, and her Chinese name is Ms. Wang. Wang means "King', but she is no king! So EVERYBODY, you can call me Angel, or you can call me Ms. Wang. Now EVERYBODY, do you know how old is China? 3000 years old. EVERYBODY, do you know how long Beijing is the capital of China? 800 years. EVERYBODY, do you know how many dynasties are there in these 800 years? The Yuen (Mongolia), the Ming (Han) and the Ching (People from Manchuria). Now EVERYBODY, the emperor could do whatever he want. If he want to marry you and you no want to marry him, he cut off your head. Now, EVERYBODY, today in China, people can do everything we want. On October 1, 1949 Chairman Mao is founding People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, and since 1949, we can do everything we like.

Now EVERYBODY, let me tell you ....,different color, different meaning. EVERYBODY, do you know emperor's favorite color? EVERYBODY?? Emperor's color is yellow. Today, we can wear yellow, but during emperor's life, you wear yellow, you get head cut off!

Angel was a plethora of information. We learned that in Beijing, 34% of the people are locals and the other 66% are people who work, study or travel here. EVERYBODY, do you know how much is it a ticket to ride the subway in Beijing? Only 2 RMB. Living is very expensive, and many people who work full-time will never be able to own their own home. SOMEBODY LIKE BEIJING SO MUCH. SOMEBODY HATE BEIJING SO MUCH!

On the bus were a couple from Japan, two families from France, a father and son from China, and Austrian man and me! The Austrian turned out to be a great walking buddy. Married with two young sons, he is a project manager for a steal company.



Mom, we tried to get a good photo of me on the wall for next year's calendar!

Angel told us that the Great Wall is 6800 kilometers long. In Beijing, there are 900 of these kilometers. It is 2600 years old. It began with the Ching Dynasty. It is called 1 Ly Chang Chung. It is also called the longest cemetery. There were no machines to carry or cut the stone. It was all manpower; climbing the mountain to get the material and then hauling it down. Many died building the wall and were buried along it's base. Somewhere between 1 and 2 million men. EVERYBODY to be heroes in China, we need to climb The Great Wall. But, the workers were the real heroes!
The Wall is awe inspiring. I was struck by the size of the steps. Huge,over-sized blocks of stone rise, in some places almost vertically. I can only imagine what it took to set set these in place.


In the distance you can see miles and miles of The Great Wall snaking its way across the mountainsides. Exactly who was the emperor afraid of? Sheltered inside his beautiful palaces, he had little idea about the lives of those dying as they struggled to do his bidding!

Three hours later, after having purchased a YELLOW "I Climbed the Wall" t- shirt, we headed back into the city.

EVERYBODY, do you like The Great Wall? EVERYBODY, do you like this English guide? I hope so EVERYBODY!

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Location:The Great Wall at Mutianyo August 11, 2012