The Great Wall of China

What an exciting adventure today has been. We got up a little earlier this morning to embark on a tour of the Great Wall of China. Our bus was to depart at 7:00 am, and when we stepped outside our alley, I noticed a brand new, shiny charter bus parked along the street. I joked to mom, “There’s our bus.” Then to our amazement, we were lead up to and then in it. “Wow. This is for real,” I chuckled.

Beijing is a massive, sprawling metropolis with around 17 million people and it was nearly two hours later until we finally left its last suburbs. The longer we drove, the scenery looked increasingly more like a third world country. The gleaming high rises shrunk to lower, squat buildings with living quarters in the upper stories and small, dirty shops below. More rickshaws, bicycles and pedestrians were common instead of late model sedans. As we passed into a more agricultural area, the countryside strikingly reminded me of farming villages in India. Small, stained homes opening up to courtyards with various domestic animals milling about were dotted throughout acres of corn. Women could be seen husking corn while small groups of old men squatted together in close circles, chatting or playing cards.

As I looked out the high bus windows, I pondered the lives of these people. What do they live for? What are their hopes and dreams for the future? Most imagine happiness and success can be found in an affluent western lifestyle. Chinese are moving to the cities by the droves, hoping to get an education, find a good job and buy a house, car and flat screen TV. If only they could know the emptiness and dissatisfaction that haunts such a life. My heart was heavy for them, wishing they could discover the source of real life, the abundant, ebullient joy within that is so much more than just happiness, and realize their purpose to live in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

As we drew nearer to our destination, we began to get faint glimpses of steep, verdant mountains emerging from the dense fog. Once closer to them, I was shocked at just how sheer the sides actually were. Walls of dense vegetation shot up almost perpendicularly, and then abruptly plunged down over the top of ridge. It was then I noticed the Great Wall, stretching on an on, undulating over the highest ridge as far as the eye could see. I could hardly believe my eyes, incredulously staring as the wall climbed impossibly steep ridges and then plummeted out of sight, only to rise again to the next apex along the ridge.

The Great Wall of China began as a series of smaller walls constructed along China’s northern border to protect against invaders. Some portions dating back to the 6th century B.C., it was expanded upon and later joined into a formidable wall throughout successive dynasties. At its peak during the Ming Dynasty, it spanned approximately 4,100 miles and was guarded by over one million men.

As I climbed along the wall, I was blown away by the tremendous amount of labor that must have been required to accomplish such a feat. It was pretty hard work just hiking along the top of the wall - I couldn’t imagine hauling load upon load of bricks, stone and mortar up the mountainside. The vistas were incredible, and we all immensely enjoyed the fresh mountain air and the exercise after the smog of Beijing.
After walking along the top for about 6 miles, we came to the trail to take down to our bus. As a shortcut, a “cable route” was provided. You are strapped into a harness, clipped onto a cable, and pushed off the edge, hanging 80 or so feet above the river below. Rachelle and I were clipped on together and after the first rush of adrenaline as I fell of the edge, it was a blast. Bethany and Sarah and then Dad and Mom followed, and then we took a small boat back to the bus. It was a terrific way to end an amazing day.