Great Wall of China Virtual Tour

Great Wall of China Virtual Tour

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime by learning every cool fact behind the creation of the Great Wall of China, as well as the different things Asia has to offer to its tourists, how they have adapted to this global pandemic, and how Momentum Digital can satisfy all your tour demands!

BY NELSY BOGRAN

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken, done so with the sole purpose of protecting the country’s northern region. It actually consists of numerous walls, many of them parallel to each other, built over around two millennia across the northern part of China and the southern region of Mongolia. According to Britannica, the longest and best-preserved version of the wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty (lasting from 1368-1644) and runs for about 5,5000 miles (or 8,850km) east to west. It often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains on its path across the Chinese countryside, with one-fourth of its length consisting of purely natural barriers like rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (which stands at 70% of the total length) is actually a constructed wall. While big parts of the Great Wall of China are now in ruins or lost completely, to this day, it remains as one of the most widely recognized historical landmarks in the world. To be more specific, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Some of the bigger parts of the fortification system originate from the 7th through the 4th century BCE. In the 3rd century BCE, Shihuangdi (Qin Shihuang), the first emperor of China, linked together a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. The wall’s length, discarding its branches and other secondary sections, was believed to extend for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km). However, government-sponsored investigations conducted in the early 1990s revealed sections of the wall rather proved that it stretched continuously through much of the province. The final investigation in 2012 proved it measures over 13 miles (or 13,170.69 to be exact) and was officially pronounced the latest-man made structure.

History of the Construction

The Great Wall came to be from the opposing border fortifications and castles of individual Chinese kingdoms. For many centuries, these kingdoms’ main concern was to protect the country from their closeby neighbours as well the threat of barbarian invasions or raids.

Early Building

Sometime during the 7th century BCE, the state of Chu began construction on its very own permanent defensive system. Known by historians as the “Square Wall,” this fortification was located in the northern part of the kingdom’s capital province. From the 6th to the 4th century other states followed Chu’s example and made efforts to each protect their territories. An extensive perimeter wall was created with time in areas of impassable mountain terrain using newly constructed bulwarks and already existing river dikes. Construction took place in the southern part of the Qi state. This wall was made in its majority of earth and stone, terminated at the shores of the Yellow Sea. The Zhonshan state served as the location for the building of a wall system that would thwart the invasion from the states of Zhao and Qin in the southwest. There were two defensive lines in the Wei state: the Hexi, which was west of the Yellow River, and Henan, found south of the river walls. The Hexi Wall was basically a fortress made to defend the land against the Qin state and western nomads. Built during the reign of King Hui (370–335 BCE), it was expanded from the dikes on the Luo River on the western border. It started in the south near Xiangyuan Cave, east of Mount Hua, and ended at Guyang in what is now considered the Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region. Henan Wall, constructed as well to protect Daliang (the capital, now Kaifeng), was then repaired and extended in King Hui’s later years. The Zheng state also built a wall system, which was reconstructed by the Han state after it conquered Zheng. The state of Zhao completed a southern wall and a northern wall; the southern wall was built mainly as a defense mechanism against the Wei state.

Design of the Fortifications

The Great Wall had three major components, which were passes, signal towers (beacons), and walls. Passes were major strongholds along the wall, more often than not found at key positions like the intersections with trade routes. The ramparts of many passes consisted of huge bricks and stones, and used dirt and crushed stones as filler. Each pass would give access to ramps for horses and ladders used by soldiers. The gates also served as an access point for merchants and civilians and even an exit for the garrison to counterattack raiders or to send out patrols. Signal towers were known as beacons, beacon terraces, smoke mounds, mounds, and even kiosks in certain places. They were used to send military messages without getting detected. Beacon (fires or lanterns) during the night and smoke signals in the daytime were used to communicate with other soldiers. Additional methods of communication, such as raising banners, beating clappers, or firing guns, were further used during troubling times. Signal towers, usually built on top of hills and mountains for maximum visibility, were self-contained high platforms or towers. The lower levels consisted of stables for the horses, large storage areas for guns and other weapons, as well as rooms for soldiers to rest. The wall itself was the key part of the defensive system. It usually stood at 21.3 feet (6.5 metres) wide at the base and 19 feet (5.8 metres) at the top, with an average height of 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 metres), or a bit lower on steep hills. The structure of the wall varied from place to place, all depending on the availability of the materials needed to bring it all together. Walls were made of tamped earth sandwiched between wooden boards, adobe bricks, a brick and stone mixture, rocks, or pilings and planks. Some sections made use of existing river dikes; others used rugged mountain terrain such as cliffs and gorges to take the place of man-made structures. As you can see, every single room and outside area was planned with detail the country’s specific objective: protec it’s own from the outside dangers.

Insider’s Guide

To get the most from the Great Wall, a must-visit China attraction, you should choose the section you would like to visit with great care, putting your physical capabilities and areas of interest first. Another suggestion is to make your trip to the Great Wall either in spring or fall for a better scenery, nicer weather, and to avoid large crowds visiting at the same time. Not to mention, it is highly suggested to hire a tour guide as they will be able to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the wall in regards to covid restrictions.

Best Time to Visit

As mentioned above, the best times to visit the Great Wall (around Beijing) are spring and autumn. This helps tourists avoid the terrible summer heat and large crowds, as well as winter freezing conditions that will make your visit overall unsatisfactory. Spring, which usually lasts between April and May, holds Beijing’s mountains in a cool/warm temperature, with green plants and several different types of flowers decorating the Great Wall. Fall, which starts in September until late November is the best hiking season due to the clear weather, allowing all visitors to see the Great Wall snaking off into the distance. The mountains are blanketed by colors of red, golden, yellow, and brown, which sets off the grays and paler Great Wall colors. For those that want to go during the summer or winter times, behold our previously mentioned warnings. Summer is peak season and most of the popular sections get filled up pretty quickly. The sun is hot with bright sunshine and some days of heavy rain. Winter brings cold, chilly, and even icy temperatures, which will at least clear long lines and allow guests to tour the grounds freely.

Selecting the Best Section

Now, the Great Wall of China is quite extensive, crossing a total of nine provinces from beginning to end. The four most recommended sections are all in the surrounding areas of Beijing. A couple of the facts tour guides will most suggest you factor into your decision are distance from section to Beijing (in case you want to later tour into the city), the perfect scenery (for best pictures), physical demands and crowding. Proper tourism development (current physical conditions of the particular section) and fits depending on physical condition of the visitor are also discussed.

How to Get There

Tour buses may not take you where you want to go, depending on things like the weather, holidays, and more. This will result in a guaranteed “Chinese tour experience” of being herded from place to place and suffering a bad experience. China Highlights, an agency that focuses on various tours around Asia, recommends taking a private tour instead. This will ensure you get proper transportation and quality service during your visit. They include tailored itineraries, comfortable air-conditioned vehicles, and a more personal one-to-one tour guiding. If you come all the way to China to see the Great Wall, why settle for a second-rate experience, am I right?

Coronavirus Effect on Tours

In October of 2020, CNN released pictures of visitors at the Great Wall of China looking around the attraction, truly oblivious to the current pandemic still making its impact around the world. The city of Beijing had massive crowds crammed along the winding wall, pressed together in close quarters and squeezing past each other through narrow doorways. While most are wearing their face masks, a number of people, including young children, were shown pulling down their masks to their chin, and a few seem to have foregone masks altogether. China’s official reported virus numbers have remained relatively low since the spring. There have been a few flare-ups, including a cluster in Beijing in June, but these were resolved with immediate lockdown measures enforced across the entire city and mass mandatory testing, thus being able to contain the outbreaks within a few weeks. With close to zero local transmissions, people reacted to the temporary positive news by rushing in large groups to bus stations, airports and transit hubs to travel around the country for the holiday, which kicked off on October 1. Local authorities, who were in desperate need to attract tourists despite the bad press, decided to then get help from the government. Provincial and municipal officials started to issue travel vouchers and allow for tourist attractions to offer free or discounted tickets.

The Great Wall has been properly preparing itself up for the rush of tourists as well. The most popular section of the wall, the Badaling section, just reopened at the end of March, albeit with new restrictions like requiring visitors to reserve tickets in advance. Another notice released on September 29 of this year, the Badaling Special Administrative Region Office, a government agency that manages the Great Wall, publicly warned visitors to continue following restrictions during the holiday season. A couple of these restrictions include social distancing by keeping one meter (about 3.3 feet) of distance between every guest. “It is strictly forbidden to gather together,” officials said in a statement. “Earlier guidelines on the Great Wall website reminded tourists to wear their face masks throughout their entire visit, and urged them to “obey the guidance and management of the museum staff.” As you can see, this is something everybody is taking seriously while still trying to live a normal life.

Tour Options for Tourists

In an effort to comply with CDC guidelines and provide proper entertainment to millions of travelers around the world, China has enabled the virtual exploration of its walls. Circle One Studios is a group consisting of 30 artists, designers, programmers and visionaries all with a common love of inspiring designs, beautiful visuals and virtual reality tours. Located in Washington, D.C., the company gives free virtual showings of all sections of the Great Wall of China and offers some additional information on them. However, here at Momentum 360 we are prepared to offer you a much more detailed virtual tour for any place you would like to visit around the world. People are still adjusting to the changes brought in by the coronavirus, and the one thing that has helped us connect with others despite being in different parts of the world and enjoy some sense or normalcy is technology. Investing on a virtual tour gives businesses the opportunity to hit the ground running and dominate the tech world. Not to mention, people get to do things that make them feel good but still staying safe at home if that is what they are comfortable with. If you are interested in learning more about what we have to offer or would like to set something up for your business, reach out to us and let us know how we can help fight the changes brought in by the pandemic.

Great Wall of China Virtual Tour

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime by learning every cool fact behind the creation of the Great Wall of China, as well as the different things Asia has to offer to its tourists, how they have adapted to this global pandemic, and how Momentum Digital can satisfy all your tour demands!

BY NELSY BOGRAN

The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken, done so with the sole purpose of protecting the country’s northern region. It actually consists of numerous walls, many of them parallel to each other, built over around two millennia across the northern part of China and the southern region of Mongolia. According to Britannica, the longest and best-preserved version of the wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty (lasting from 1368-1644) and runs for about 5,5000 miles (or 8,850km) east to west. It often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains on its path across the Chinese countryside, with one-fourth of its length consisting of purely natural barriers like rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (which stands at 70% of the total length) is actually a constructed wall. While big parts of the Great Wall of China are now in ruins or lost completely, to this day, it remains as one of the most widely recognized historical landmarks in the world. To be more specific, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Some of the bigger parts of the fortification system originate from the 7th through the 4th century BCE. In the 3rd century BCE, Shihuangdi (Qin Shihuang), the first emperor of China, linked together a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. The wall’s length, discarding its branches and other secondary sections, was believed to extend for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km). However, government-sponsored investigations conducted in the early 1990s revealed sections of the wall rather proved that it stretched continuously through much of the province. The final investigation in 2012 proved it measures over 13 miles (or 13,170.69 to be exact) and was officially pronounced the latest-man made structure.

History of the Construction

The Great Wall came to be from the opposing border fortifications and castles of individual Chinese kingdoms. For many centuries, these kingdoms’ main concern was to protect the country from their closeby neighbours as well the threat of barbarian invasions or raids.

Early Building

Sometime during the 7th century BCE, the state of Chu began construction on its very own permanent defensive system. Known by historians as the “Square Wall,” this fortification was located in the northern part of the kingdom’s capital province. From the 6th to the 4th century other states followed Chu’s example and made efforts to each protect their territories. An extensive perimeter wall was created with time in areas of impassable mountain terrain using newly constructed bulwarks and already existing river dikes. Construction took place in the southern part of the Qi state. This wall was made in its majority of earth and stone, terminated at the shores of the Yellow Sea. The Zhonshan state served as the location for the building of a wall system that would thwart the invasion from the states of Zhao and Qin in the southwest. There were two defensive lines in the Wei state: the Hexi, which was west of the Yellow River, and Henan, found south of the river walls. The Hexi Wall was basically a fortress made to defend the land against the Qin state and western nomads. Built during the reign of King Hui (370–335 BCE), it was expanded from the dikes on the Luo River on the western border. It started in the south near Xiangyuan Cave, east of Mount Hua, and ended at Guyang in what is now considered the Inner MongoliaAutonomous Region. Henan Wall, constructed as well to protect Daliang (the capital, now Kaifeng), was then repaired and extended in King Hui’s later years. The Zheng state also built a wall system, which was reconstructed by the Han state after it conquered Zheng. The state of Zhao completed a southern wall and a northern wall; the southern wall was built mainly as a defense mechanism against the Wei state.

Design of the Fortifications

The Great Wall had three major components, which were passes, signal towers (beacons), and walls. Passes were major strongholds along the wall, more often than not found at key positions like the intersections with trade routes. The ramparts of many passes consisted of huge bricks and stones, and used dirt and crushed stones as filler. Each pass would give access to ramps for horses and ladders used by soldiers. The gates also served as an access point for merchants and civilians and even an exit for the garrison to counterattack raiders or to send out patrols. Signal towers were known as beacons, beacon terraces, smoke mounds, mounds, and even kiosks in certain places. They were used to send military messages without getting detected. Beacon (fires or lanterns) during the night and smoke signals in the daytime were used to communicate with other soldiers. Additional methods of communication, such as raising banners, beating clappers, or firing guns, were further used during troubling times. Signal towers, usually built on top of hills and mountains for maximum visibility, were self-contained high platforms or towers. The lower levels consisted of stables for the horses, large storage areas for guns and other weapons, as well as rooms for soldiers to rest. The wall itself was the key part of the defensive system. It usually stood at 21.3 feet (6.5 metres) wide at the base and 19 feet (5.8 metres) at the top, with an average height of 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 metres), or a bit lower on steep hills. The structure of the wall varied from place to place, all depending on the availability of the materials needed to bring it all together. Walls were made of tamped earth sandwiched between wooden boards, adobe bricks, a brick and stone mixture, rocks, or pilings and planks. Some sections made use of existing river dikes; others used rugged mountain terrain such as cliffs and gorges to take the place of man-made structures. As you can see, every single room and outside area was planned with detail the country’s specific objective: protec it’s own from the outside dangers.

Insider’s Guide

To get the most from the Great Wall, a must-visit China attraction, you should choose the section you would like to visit with great care, putting your physical capabilities and areas of interest first. Another suggestion is to make your trip to the Great Wall either in spring or fall for a better scenery, nicer weather, and to avoid large crowds visiting at the same time. Not to mention, it is highly suggested to hire a tour guide as they will be able to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the wall in regards to covid restrictions.

Best Time to Visit

As mentioned above, the best times to visit the Great Wall (around Beijing) are spring and autumn. This helps tourists avoid the terrible summer heat and large crowds, as well as winter freezing conditions that will make your visit overall unsatisfactory. Spring, which usually lasts between April and May, holds Beijing’s mountains in a cool/warm temperature, with green plants and several different types of flowers decorating the Great Wall. Fall, which starts in September until late November is the best hiking season due to the clear weather, allowing all visitors to see the Great Wall snaking off into the distance. The mountains are blanketed by colors of red, golden, yellow, and brown, which sets off the grays and paler Great Wall colors. For those that want to go during the summer or winter times, behold our previously mentioned warnings. Summer is peak season and most of the popular sections get filled up pretty quickly. The sun is hot with bright sunshine and some days of heavy rain. Winter brings cold, chilly, and even icy temperatures, which will at least clear long lines and allow guests to tour the grounds freely.

Selecting the Best Section

Now, the Great Wall of China is quite extensive, crossing a total of nine provinces from beginning to end. The four most recommended sections are all in the surrounding areas of Beijing. A couple of the facts tour guides will most suggest you factor into your decision are distance from section to Beijing (in case you want to later tour into the city), the perfect scenery (for best pictures), physical demands and crowding. Proper tourism development (current physical conditions of the particular section) and fits depending on physical condition of the visitor are also discussed.

How to Get There

Tour buses may not take you where you want to go, depending on things like the weather, holidays, and more. This will result in a guaranteed “Chinese tour experience” of being herded from place to place and suffering a bad experience. China Highlights, an agency that focuses on various tours around Asia, recommends taking a private tour instead. This will ensure you get proper transportation and quality service during your visit. They include tailored itineraries, comfortable air-conditioned vehicles, and a more personal one-to-one tour guiding. If you come all the way to China to see the Great Wall, why settle for a second-rate experience, am I right?

Coronavirus Effect on Tours

In October of 2020, CNN released pictures of visitors at the Great Wall of China looking around the attraction, truly oblivious to the current pandemic still making its impact around the world. The city of Beijing had massive crowds crammed along the winding wall, pressed together in close quarters and squeezing past each other through narrow doorways. While most are wearing their face masks, a number of people, including young children, were shown pulling down their masks to their chin, and a few seem to have foregone masks altogether. China’s official reported virus numbers have remained relatively low since the spring. There have been a few flare-ups, including a cluster in Beijing in June, but these were resolved with immediate lockdown measures enforced across the entire city and mass mandatory testing, thus being able to contain the outbreaks within a few weeks. With close to zero local transmissions, people reacted to the temporary positive news by rushing in large groups to bus stations, airports and transit hubs to travel around the country for the holiday, which kicked off on October 1. Local authorities, who were in desperate need to attract tourists despite the bad press, decided to then get help from the government. Provincial and municipal officials started to issue travel vouchers and allow for tourist attractions to offer free or discounted tickets.

The Great Wall has been properly preparing itself up for the rush of tourists as well. The most popular section of the wall, the Badaling section, just reopened at the end of March, albeit with new restrictions like requiring visitors to reserve tickets in advance. Another notice released on September 29 of this year, the Badaling Special Administrative Region Office, a government agency that manages the Great Wall, publicly warned visitors to continue following restrictions during the holiday season. A couple of these restrictions include social distancing by keeping one meter (about 3.3 feet) of distance between every guest. “It is strictly forbidden to gather together,” officials said in a statement. “Earlier guidelines on the Great Wall website reminded tourists to wear their face masks throughout their entire visit, and urged them to “obey the guidance and management of the museum staff.” As you can see, this is something everybody is taking seriously while still trying to live a normal life.

Tour Options for Tourists

In an effort to comply with CDC guidelines and provide proper entertainment to millions of travelers around the world, China has enabled the virtual exploration of its walls. Circle One Studios is a group consisting of 30 artists, designers, programmers and visionaries all with a common love of inspiring designs, beautiful visuals and virtual reality tours. Located in Washington, D.C., the company gives free virtual showings of all sections of the Great Wall of China and offers some additional information on them. However, here at Momentum 360 we are prepared to offer you a much more detailed virtual tour for any place you would like to visit around the world. People are still adjusting to the changes brought in by the coronavirus, and the one thing that has helped us connect with others despite being in different parts of the world and enjoy some sense or normalcy is technology. Investing on a virtual tour gives businesses the opportunity to hit the ground running and dominate the tech world. Not to mention, people get to do things that make them feel good but still staying safe at home if that is what they are comfortable with. If you are interested in learning more about what we have to offer or would like to set something up for your business, reach out to us and let us know how we can help fight the changes brought in by the pandemic.